Hi all,

I'm currently working through some translation exercises in Gearóid Ó Nualláin's Introduction to Studies in Modern Irish (which suits me, as I'm doing Munster Irish). I'm tackling the prepositions, and while working on some of the exercises for 'ar' (under Exercise XC), I came across this;

English: "...pluck yourselves some apples."
Irish: "...dein roinnt ubhall do stathadh duit féin"

Before, I'd have used the imperative for "pluck" (I surmise it's staith? Stoith also seems to be a variant) here;

"Staith roinnt ubhall duit féin"

So what's the difference between using dein + verbal noun (Ó Nualláin) and the imperative (my attempt)? Perhaps assertiveness?

GRMA.

Yes, it is a stronger, more persistent command.

I don't see any assertiveness or emphasis as such.

This happens in languages. In English, "I know not" has become "I don't know", with do-support, but it isn't any more emphatic.

"Is bean í" has become "bean is ea í" in Munster, but this isn't actually emphatic - it probably was originally.

Do-support or dein-support for imperatives allows you to avoid weird or rarer imperatives (athnuaigh é vs. dein é ' athnuachaint) and might also be better where the object is a noun phrase and not a single word. This is partly owing to the rhythm of the sentence, euphony etc. Staith úll duit féin vs. dein roinnt úll a stathadh duit féin.