Cúmhaí wrote:
Labhrás wrote:
I had recommemded Cé leis ar mhaith etc. but I doubt this now.
The tendency (not sure if it is a rule) for prepositions to follow directly after the question word seems to me to be powerful. I would probably prefer Cé leis ar mhaith in this context if I thought of it, although I would be more likely to spontaneously create the other. Of course, with practice I could easily change that likelihood so it isn't very meaningful.
A phrase like
is maith liom is a unit. This unit is the predicative of the sentence. So, it should be (part of) the predicative of a wh-queston, as well.
But if we tear it apart by saying
Cé leis ar maith [caife]? this unit wouldn't exist anymore. The relative clause
... ar maith [caife] would be subject,
cé leis being the predicate. I'd guess this is the reason why it sounds strange and perhaps is wrong.
In
Cér maith leis caife? the unit is safe: cé + ar maith leis + caife.
But still, apparently nobody (?) says so.
I found only one (!) example in this nice grammar page about copula constructions ("Long Kesh Documents",
https://sites.google.com/site/longkeshd ... an-chopail) I haven't seen before.
The unknown (?) author recommends
Cér maith leis ...?.
But there are a few other minor errors in this page so I doubt I can rely on such a single mention.
Usually grammar books say that these indirect relative copula constructions with "cér" (cé + ar) are rare. They mention
Cér díobh thú?.
Quote:
Consider also this interesting selection
Cér mhaith leis a phósadh?
Cér mhaith leis pósadh?
Cé leis ar mhaith pósadh?
Two with one meaning, one with another, two with one structure, one with another, but the groupings are different. Be eliminating the one, we have a more pleasing dichotomy. But shall we?

The first is
Who'd like to marry him?, the second (and third)
Who'd like to marry?Quote:
I have encountered before this sentence (I think I am remembering it verbatim):
Cad air ar mhaith le do mhac staidéar a dhéanamh?
It was from a source I consider reputable. This also leads me to lean towards your initially suggested word order. Leaving aside the contraction cér, there are probably more examples with cad or céard to be found.
Here, the unit
ba mhaith leis is unchanged.
Staidéar a dhéanamh air isn't such an inseparable unit, so separating air is okay.
The same is true for most prepositional phrases, so you can ask cad air, cad leis, cé faoi, etc.