Haigh a chomrádaithe!

I'm not too sure about the construction
'The (noun) I (verb - past tense)'
Is it the infinitive you use?

mar shampla: 'An cúrsa a rinne mé' / 'An cúrsa a dhearna mé'

Am I just getting confused because 'déan' is irregular? Because I would usually have no doubt about
'An leabhar a léigh mé'.

Would anyone have a go at explaining? Please and thank you.

No. Never the infinitive, which doesn’t exist in Irish and is expressed via the verbal noun (an cúrsa a dhéanamh mé?!?!?).


In that case, yes. You’re just getting confused because déan is irregular.

The relative pronoun (or particle) a ‘that/which/who(m)’ has two forms in Irish:

1. The direct relative. Always a. Lenites and is followed by the absolute form of the verb. Is used when a stands for the subject or the object in the relative clause.

This is the case here: an cúrsa a rinne mé = a stands for an cúrsa, and the relative clause, if turned into a full sentence, would read rinne mé an cúrsa, with an cúrsa (= a) being the object in the sentence.

2. The indirect relative. A with present and future tense forms (and past and conditional forms of some irregular verbs), ar with past and conditional forms. A eclipses and ar lenites. Both are used with the dependent form of the verb. Used when the relative stands for anything other than the subject or object in the relative clause, or when it stands for something that is then repeated later on in the relative clause.

This would be the case if the sentence had been (sin é) an duine a ndearna mé cúrsa leis ‘the person I did the course with’. If you turn the relative part of that into a full sentence, you get rinne mé an cúrsa leis an duine (sin); in other words, a = an duine (sin), which is the object of the preposition le—meaning it’s part of an adverbial phrase, not subject or object. When made into a relative clause, le includes its object (it’s still leis), so what the relative particle stands for is actually repeated later on in the relative clause. Therefore, we need to use the indirect relative particle.


Remember that the indirect particle a is also sometimes (but not always) used with irregular verbs in the past and conditional, if the verb has separate absolute and dependent forms. So:

An cúrsa a rinne mé / an cúrsa a lean mé (direct), but
An cúrsa ar fhreastal mé air / an cúrsa a ndearna mé é (indirect, since what a(r) stands for is repeated later in the relative clause, underlined)

In the latter, it’s ar before freastal ’cause that’s a regular verb; but a before (n)dearna, since that’s an irregular verb that has separate absolute (rinne) and dependent (dearna) forms.



Hope this makes it clearer (rather than muddier).

_________________
Not a native speaker.

Always wait for at least three people to agree on a translation, especially if it’s for something permanent.

My translations are usually GU (Ulster Irish), unless CO (Standard Orthography) is requested.

Go raibh míle míle maith agat kokoshneta, a comprehensive and helpful reply as always!



I'm not sure why you would need to repeat the object in
'an cúrsa a dhearna mé é' - does that not mean 'the course that I did it'? Why is there repetition?


but in 'an chúrsa a dhearna mé é' there is lenition instead of eclipsion (if that's a word) - is this, again, because 'déan' is irregular?

One more thing (sorry) - could you give me a couple of examples if you could of the use of the indirect relative, both 'a' and 'ar'? I'm still a bit muddy

Thanks so much for the help!

It’s just a (not very common) variation. It means exactly the same thing as an cúrsa a rinne mé.

It can sometimes be handy to disambiguate; for example, an cailín a bhuail mé can mean both ‘the girl I hit’ and ‘the girl that hit me’, whereas an cailín ar bhuail sí mé can only mean the former, and an cailín ar bhuail mé í can only mean the latter.

But it’s not that commonly used.


Aaaaarrh, sorry. No, that’s because I was just copying straight from your post instead of paying attention to what I was writing.

It should be an cúrsa a ndearna mé é, of course.

(There are some exceptions, though—the direct relative a doesn’t lenite forms of deir and past forms of faigh, for example … there might be more)



Some simple ones, to delineate the different functions of the particle, grouped by which function the particle has in the relative clause:

Subject
An teach atá thall ansin
An bhean a fuair an bronntanas
An cailín a bhuail sé
An fear a rinne an obair

Object
An teach a fheicim thall ansin
An bronntanas a fuair an bhean
An cailín a bhuail é
An obair a rinne an fear

Adverbial phrase (on its own), part of adverbial phrase (as object of preposition), etc. — OR — repeated anaphor
An teach ina bhfuil sé ina chónaí / a bhfuil sé ina chónaí ann (part of adverbial [preposition] phrase)
An bhean óna bhfuair sé an bronntanas / a bhfuair sé an bronntanas uaithi (same)
An cailín ar bhuail sé í / ar bhuail sí é (repetition of anaphor)
An dóigh a ndearna an fear an obair (adverbial phrase [on its own])

_________________
Not a native speaker.

Always wait for at least three people to agree on a translation, especially if it’s for something permanent.

My translations are usually GU (Ulster Irish), unless CO (Standard Orthography) is requested.

Kokoshneta, you're an absolute star, thanks for your time. I'm going to read through this tomorrow morning again with a clear head when I can fully appreciate it!

Go raibh míle maith agat!