Hi everyone!

I was confused by this sentence in "Seacht mbuaidh and Éirghe-amach" by Pádraic Ó Conaire:

"Ní raibh de chairdibh ag Pól Dubh acht a ghléas ceóil, agus fear bhíos ar aon charaid sa saoghal áluinn seo ní maith leis aon achar fada chaitheamh ar a chuideachtain."

The bit in bold is the part I'm having trouble with. Would anyone be so obliging as to provide me with a translation?

Go raibh míle maith agaibh.

A bit of help and you might be able to translate yourself:

caraid is the dative of cara = friend.

bhíos = a bhíonns = a bhíonn = who does be (Hiberno-English)/ who is (Standard English)

achar fada = a long time

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The dialect I use is Cork Irish.
Ar sgáth a chéile a mhairid na daoine, lag agus láidir, uasal is íseal

Yeah, the word "bhíos" was confusing me here.
Why isn't "aige" used in this sentence, i.e. "fear bhíos ar aon charaid aige sa saoghal áluinn seo..." ? Is "aige" implied in this case without the word actually being used?

... who is the only friend in this beautiful world who doesn't like to spend much time in his company

I don't think aige is implied.

Oh, I understand now. I didn't realise that it was referring to the instrument. Thanks for helping me with this.

Labhrás, I think you've misinterpreted it. Your translation doesn't fit the grammar. Wouldn't the Irish version of your translation be 'ar an aon charaid...nach maith leis...'?

I understand it as: 'a man with/who has (only) one friend in this beautiful world doesn't like to spend much time in his company'. (Actually, the literal 'any long time' would be more accurate than 'much time', but that's a minor detail).

('fear bhíos ar aon charaid' = 'fear nach bhfuil ach aon chara [amháin] aige')

Open to correction, of course.

You are of course right regarding ... ní / nach maith ...
but ...


fear (a) bhíos ar aon charaid sa saol seo ...

Hmm, something I still don't understand here.

Can you use bhíos ar charaid for have a friend?

I'm regarding it as akin to expressions such as "bheith ar an anás, ar leathshúil" - albeit a more figurative, and somewhat unusual use of the structure.