dia daoibh. I've finally got all the reg endings stuck in my head buíochas le Dia. Tá ceist bheag a'm faoin fhuaimniú.

Tóg an briathar líon mar shampla.

I was writing out the endings and i the modh.coinn it's líonfeadh sé... and in the past habitual líonadh sé....

Is it just me or are the pronunciation of both quite similar? I would read the first as "leeun-hach" and the second as "leeun-ach"

I just wanted to make sure I'm in the right ball park here, I can't help but feel it would be easy to mix the two up if you were to hear them, I'm assuming you really emphasise the "h" sound for the modh.coinn version?

grma

It can be difficult to differentiate them phonetically. But the context will let you know which one is being used/ which one you should use.

just a small typo: Líonfadh

Cian

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Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice

Well, accord to An Teanga Bheo: Gaeilge Chonamara, they sound different (in Connemara), as does the <-(e)adh> that ends some verbal nouns.

Basically, the MC is /əx/, where as the past habitual is -/u:/ for the first declension (i.e. casadh = casú) and /v/ for the second (i.e. ceannaíodh = ceannaíobh). Now, that's a generalization for Connemara, butt hey are different.

Are you confusing the past habitual (an Aimsir Ghnáthchaite) with the passive past (briathair saor) by any chance?

i.e.

Líonadh sé an gloine le braon uisce = he used to fill the glass with a drop of water
Líonadh an gloine le braon uisce = the glass was filled with a drop of water (ní fios cé a líon é)

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Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice

In Cois Fhairrge these are identical in pronunciation. In the rest of Connacht, the f in líonfadh sé would be pronounced /h/.

HOWEVER, before a pronoun starting with an s, i.e., sé, sí, sibh, and siad, the dh in these two tenses usually becomes a stopped t sound /ṭ/, as if the ending were spelled -at:

líonadh muid LEE-un-ukh mwij /l´i:Nəx mid´/
líonadh sé LEE-un-ut sheh /l´i:Nəṭ s´e(:)/

líonfadh muid LEE-un-(h)ukh mwij /l´i:N(h)əx mid´/
líonfadh sé LEE-un-(h)ut sheh /l´i:N(h)əṭ s´e(:)/

This change from /x/ to /ṭ/ before sé, sí, sibh applies to the conditional mood (modh coinníollach), habitual past (ghnáthchaite), and the imperative (ordaitheach).

@galaxyrocker:
Better have a closer look at An Teanga Bheo: Gaeilge Chonamara p.40 - as Cian pointed out, only the autonomous past (saorbhriathar caite) -adh is pronounced /u:/ in Conamara.

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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).

wow, I feel like an idiot! I just read the "adh" part of the words, and went off. I blame Duolingo, where I was having this exact same discussion. Thanks for pointing that out!

Iontach ar fad lads! Ba mhíniú deas é sin. Chuirfeadh an m.coinn eagla ar do chroí scáití. 'maith agaibhse.

You could devoice the n -[ʎiːn̥ˠɘṭʃɛ] or just get rid of the past habitual completely.

Anyway, devoiced sounds are easy to both make and hear, so let's use them

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