agaitagalega wrote:
From
http://www.focloir.ie I got this sentence:
Is é an rud céanna a tharlódh agus bíodh sé féin i láthair
Translation: The same thing would happen were he himself present
...shouldn't that be 'bhíodh'? Doesn't the past habitual get used here after the conditional tense of tarlaigh, acting as a kind of imperfect tense?
I thought 'bíodh sé' was the imperative.
Can anyone help?! Many thanks to anyone who would like to give advice...
It is "bíodh" and should be "bíodh".
You are right: Bíodh is imperative mood (and never lenited).
But you can describe conditions using imperative mood
(introduced by "agus" when second part of the sentence):
Is é an rud céanna a tharlódh agus bíodh sé féin i láthairis principally the same as conditional mood with dá:
Is é an rud céanna a tharlódh dá mbeadh sé féin i láthair(The same thing would happen if he would be present himself.)
Imperative mood in conditions is at least common in Connacht Irish.