Audio will follow shortly
Failte! – Welcome, in this lesson we will talking about the verb to be. Sometimes in written Gaelic you might see a little “´” above some of the letters, we will talk about those later. I have not included them yet.
The verb “to be” is rather easy in Gaelic:
Tha mi…………………………. I am
Tha sibh / thu………………You are
Tha e…………………………..He / It is
Tha i…………………………….She / it is
Tha sinn………………………We are
Tha sibh / thu………………You are
Tha Iad…………………………They are
As you can see from last time, and the example above for “you”, there are two forms “sibh” and “thu”. Like many other countries in the world, Gaelic uses “sibh” when talking to older people or people who need respect like strangers or people we don´t know well.
“Thu” is used with friends family and younger people.
You can also see a little clue to the word order in Gaelic, the verb comes first, except in Questions – Ciamar a tha thu?
Tha i breagha an diugh – it is a lovely day today
Co as a tha sibh? – where are you from?
Co as a tha sibh fein? – where are you from yourself?
Tha mi Sgith – I am tired
Tha gu math – I am fine
gle mhath – very good
maidainn mhath – good morning
Tha iad a´tighinn – They are coming
Tha mi a Paislig – I am from Paisley
Tapadh leat / tapadh leibh – thanks (polite version leibh)
Kilbirnie & Beyond 