dia daoibh, just reading Pearse's "An Bhean Chaointe" and i keep coming across a particular sentence structure in the past tense, for example, instead of saying "Shuigh mé ar an mbinnsín..." Pearse writes "Do shuigh mé ar an mbnnsín..." he seems to use it a few times, "Do bhí teach an an am sin...", "Do bhí sí ina seasamh...", "Do bhí an mac seo go rí-shásta..."

theres a few more but id be all day typing them all, so my question, whats the story with the "do" at the start of the sentences?

'maith agaibh as always

Do is the original particle that causes lenition in the past tenses and the reason that verbs like fan have d', i.e., d'fhan, prefixed in the past tense in standard Irish. (I think I read somewhere that it is related to the prefix ró-, but don't quote me on that. )

Nowadays, it is usually only used in Munster Irish, but it was more common in old fashioned standard Irish from shortly after the revival (such as Pearse's works).

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

Yep. I thought I had posted this a few hours ago. Oh well.