How to the pronouns work with the copula?

An Sionnach Glic · **Joined:** Fri 08 Sep 2017 9:44 pm **Posts:** 40

I'm always confused what pronouns to use with the copula when asking a question, giving a statement and responding.

what pronoun do you use when asking a question for example "are you a woman?" or "is it a chair?" (would you ever use "ea" for a question)?
what pronoun do you use when responding(both "yes" and "no") to a question(do you only use "ea" or could you use "é" and "í")?
and what pronoun would you use when making a statement with the copula? also does the pronoun change depending if it's a real/common noun or does the gender only matter?

galaxyrocker · **Posted:** Thu 21 Sep 2017 4:09 am

Here's a little copy-paste from the way I learned basic copular rules

Quote:

Here. How about this.

So, I'm going to describe this in the way my class was taught. It'll be watered down, because y'know, we were first semester Irish students without much grammar knowledge. So, your word order is going to be VANTP.

V = verb

A = Indefinite nouns

N = Names

T = Definite nouns

P = Pronouns

So that's your general order. If you use a definite noun, a proper noun, or a name, you need to include the pronoun (*é*, *í*, *iad*, *srl* - note, after *ní*, these prefix an "h") before the first one.

So in your first sentence you have and indefinite noun (*araicnid*) and a definite noun (*an damhán alla*). So, putting these in order (A before T), you get *Is araicnid an damhán alla*. However, you need the pronoun before the definite noun. Since *damhán alla* is feminine, you use *í*. This giving you *Is araicnid í an damhán alla*.

Your second one you have a name (*Pól*) and a definite noun (*uachtarán na hÉireann*). So, putting those together, you get *Is Pól uachtarán na hÉireann*. Yet, you still need that pronoun. *Is é Pól uachtarán na hÉireann*.

Hope that helps explain it a little. And note, this is really basic, and barely scratches the surface of the copula.

1) Since neither of your samples have an N or a T, but only a P and an A, you would fill those in:

V - A - P

An - bean -- t(h)ú?

An - cathaoir -é

ea could be used, but it would be a focus structure in the Caighdeán (yet another reason I really dislike how DL teaches Irish is that it just throws multiple forms with different nuances together...), so I'll leave that out for now.

2) If there isn't a T/A, you'll use 'ea'. So you'll either answer with 'Is ea' ('sea) or 'Ní hea'.

If there is a T/A, you use the correct pronoun:

An é an fear é (Is he the man?) -- Is é ('sé)

An tú an múinteoir? Is mé.

3) In the standard, you're supposed to use the gender of the thing being referred to. Generally, I think most dialects have started defaulting to é tho.

An Sionnach Glic · **Joined:** Fri 08 Sep 2017 9:44 pm **Posts:** 40

thanks for the reply. So correct me if I'm wrong but this is how the pronouns work:

when asking a question you use "í" or "é" depending on the gender and in some places they use "ea" for example "an dochtúir í?" "an gluaisteán é?"

when giving a reply you always use "ea" regardless of gender for example "Is ea" and "ní hea"

when making a statement it is like asking a question, you either use "é" or "í" depending on the gender "is buachaill é"

and there are few phrases that also use "ea" such as "an ea?".

Just another question: I hear a lot of Irish people(regular people not gaeilgoirí) using "Is ea"(sea) all over the place as if it was the Irish word for "yes". they use it even when there was no copula in the question for example "an bhfuil tú go maith?" "Is ea". Is this incorrect?

galaxyrocker · **Posted:** Thu 21 Sep 2017 9:00 pm

1) As far as I'm aware, ea would only ever be used to ask a question if you're fronting it. It wouldn't be used otherwise.

But "an dochtúir í" == Is she a doctor?
An gluaisteán é? == Is it a car.

2) It depends on the question. If you're answering a question with a definite noun (which thus requires the extra pronoun), you use the correct pronoun.

3) ep

4) Yeah, it's just a phrase knda similar to "right?"

5) It's wrong. If you were asked "an bhfuil tú go maith", you'd need to respond with "tá". Now, I've found that "sea" is used among natives as a kind of attention marker. So, like, you can use it in the manner English uses "yeah" in conversation to show you're listening. But it can only be used to answer copula questions (and then only a subset of them).

Labhrás · **Joined:** Sat 03 May 2014 4:01 pm **Posts:** 1973

galaxyrocker wrote:

1) As far as I'm aware, ea would only ever be used to ask a question if you're fronting it. It wouldn't be used otherwise.

Fronting like
An ea gur dochtúir í? = Is it so that she is a doctor?

And you could use a tag question:
Is dochtúir í, nach ea? = She's a doctor, isn't she?

And, as you already mentioned:
Dochtúir, an ea? = A doctor, right?

An Sionnach Glic · **Joined:** Fri 08 Sep 2017 9:44 pm **Posts:** 40

GRMA!

Cúmhaí · **Posted:** Tue 26 Sep 2017 8:41 pm

Do keep in mind the distinction between "class" and "definition" sentences (I think I might have bungled those terms)

An múinteoir thú? Is ea (class or whatever it is really called)
An tusa an múinteoir? Is mé (definition or whatever it is really called)

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How to the pronouns work with the copula?

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