Verbs ending with | Past tense ending | Examples |
-b, -d, -g, -k, -p, -t, -te | -it | big, biggit, howk (dig), howkit |
-ch, -f, -l, -le, -n, -r (sometimes), -s, -se (with s sound), -sh, -ss, -th | -t add apostrophe after silent e -le becomes -ilt | ken, kent; birl, birlt; speir, speirt; lauch, laucht; fash, fasht; hirple (limp), hirpilt |
-e(except those above), -m, -oo, -r (sometimes), -se (with z sound), -w, -x, -y, -z | --ed (displaces e) Add apostraphe for verbs ending -ee | daur, daured; luve, luved, caw, cawed, cry, cried |
[frae AUSLQ (1995)] |
(b.3) The past tenses of irregular verbs
As in all Anglo-Saxon languages, many common Scots verbs are irregular
(strong). There are considerable differences between Scots and English
in this respect. Verbs which are irregular in English may be regular
in their Scots equivalents: catch, catched; ken, kent; sell, sellt;
tell, tellt; while several verbs which are regular in English are
irregular in Scots. Here are the most common examples.
present | simple past | past participle | English equivalent |
aet | ett | etten | eat |
be | wis (pl) wur | bin/been | be |
bide | bitit, bad | bidit, bidden | live (reside) |
brek | brak | brukken | break |
bring | brocht | brocht | bring |
come | cam | cam | come |
dae | done | duin | do |
fecht | focht | focht(en) | fight |
fesh | fuish | fuishen | fetch |
fin | fun | fun | find |
gang/gae | gaed | gane | go |
gie | gied | gied/gien | give |
git | gat | gotten | get |
greet | grat | grutten | cry |
hae | hid/hed | haen | have |
haud | held | hauden | hold |
hit | hut | hut(ten) | hit |
lowp | lowpit | lowpen | jump,leap |
mak | makkit/made | makkit/made | make |
pit | pit/pat | pit(ten) | put |
rin | rin/run | rin/run | run |
see | seed/seen | seed/seen | see |
say | sed | sed | say |
sit | sat | sutten | sit |
speak | spak | spak/spoken | speak |
staun | stuid | stuiden | stand |
tak | teuk/taen | taen | take |
think | thocht | thocht | think |
wash | wuish | washen/wuishen | wash |
Note the unusual use of the past participle of aw (owe) in the
expression 'Wha's aucht this?' meaning 'Who does this belong to?'
(b.4) Forming the negative
Scots 'no' is used generally in the same ways as English not
eg A'm no tha fou . 'Nae' carries out this function in the North East
dialect, otherwise 'nae' before nouns is the the equivalent to English
'no' eg Thare nae luck about the houss. Note however the auxilliary
verbs (see next section) have particular negative forms.
(b.5) Auxilliary Verbs (Be, have, will etc)
These are verbs used together with a main verb to expand meaning and
expression. Scots usage is almost the same as English, but the forms
are quite distinct.
Be and hae are the primary auxilliaries used to build compound
tenses, be is used to make the present and past progressive tenses and
hae the present and past perfect tenses.
Dae is the supporting auxilliary used for negatives, questions etc
wull, maun and micht are the modal auxilliaries which form
the future and tenses which express uncertainty.
Auxilliary verbs have distinct negative forms in Scots and several
also have emphatic forms.
Be has eight different forms: be, am, ur, wis/wes, wur, bin/been
which correspond to the English cognates. As Scots has survived as a
spoken language, elision (missing out letters) is normal in many
auxilliary verbs (and indeed throughout the language) where there are
two adjacent vowels. The present tense of tae be is therefore:
A'm, ye'r, he/she/it's, we'r, ye'r, thay/thai'r
The negative of most auxilliaries is form by adding -na, to the
unelided form: A'm, A amna; ye wis, ye wisna etc
Note that the English 'there is/are' is translated by 'therr' or 'there'
eg therr yer tea.
Hae has the forms: hae, his, haein, hid/hed, haen (see irregular
verb table) as well as the emphatic form hiv. A common alternative
elided form to A hae is A'v. Negatives: hinna (hae), hidna etc.
Dae has forms dae, dis, did, duin (see irregular verb table) as well
as the emphatic form div. Elided form of past -'d. Irregular negative
of dae is dinna, otherwise disna, didna. 'To do' is often written 'adae'
Modal Verbs are used in a similar way to English. Wull
is generally used in place of English shall, although there is a Scots form sall. It has the short form 'll
as in English. Negative forms wull, winna; maun, maunna; micht,
michtna, daur, daurna, need, needna (daur and need not really modals).
Can, cud, shid, wid/wad all have -na negative
eg canna, shuidna, cuidna. Wad has the elided form -'d.
(c) Scots Nouns ('Naming' words)
As English, with plurals in -(e)s. Scots irregulars: ee, een (eyes);
shae, shuin (shoes); wumman, weemen; coo, ky(e) (cows); year, year.
Posessives as in English with -'s or -s' or alternatively with o
eg the convener o the curn.
Scots compound nouns may be hyphenated to clarify meaning or
pronunctiation eg weik-en, post-caird.
The diminutive suffix -ie is commonly used to indicate smallness
as an alternative to the adjectives wee or smaw eg lass, lassie;
kist, kistie; cheet, cheetie; hoose, hoosie.
(d) Demonstratives (This, that etc)
Used to specify the distance or location of something in relation to
the speaker. This and tha are used as in English and Scots has two
extra forms to refer to things more distant. That one is
tha(t) ane/yin/wan depending on dialect.
singular | this lad | tha(t) lad | thon lad | yon lad |
plural | thir lads | thae lads | thon lads | yon lads |
Note the related: Here, hereawa (hereabouts), therr
(there), therrawa (thereabouts), yonderaboots (there or thereabouts).
(e) Pronouns (Take the place of a noun)
(e.1) Personal pronouns
Scots has both unemphatic forms and emphatic forms. The emphatic forms
are given in square brackets and often correspond to the English
equivalent.
Subject (nominative):
A [Ah/I], ye [you], he/she/it [he/she/hit], we [we], ye [you], they [they]
In Glaswegian dialects ye has a very useful plural yiz [youse]
eg Whit'r yez daein the nicht?
The familiar form of you - tou - survived on the mainland until this
century, but is now only used in Shetland in the form du.
Object (accusative):
me [me], ye [you], him/hir or hur/it [him/hir/hit], us [hiz], ye [you], thaim [thaim]
Posessive:
ma [ma], yer [your], his/hir or hur/its [his/hir or hur/hits], wur [our], yer [your], thir [thair]
Note that in Scots (as in French, for example) 'the' is often used
where English would use the possessive pronoun eg the wife, the
brither, the fit, the haun, to keep/loss the heid.
('The' is generally used more often in Scots than in English eg the
yeir (this year), awa tae the kirk, at the scuil, aff tae the jile, doon
the toon, up the stair, whit'v ye got in fur the denner?, She's guid
at the Inglish etc.)
Indefinite pronoun:
English 'one' is 'a bodie' eg Gin a bodie meet a bodie...
(e.2) Reflexive pronouns
hissel, hursel, thaimsel or -sels.
English 'alone' is translated as his/hur/thair etc lane.
(e.3) Relative pronouns
The relative pronoun (English which, who etc) is simply tha or at,
depending on the dialect. 'Scots wha hae' is a bit literary!
(e.4) Interrrogative pronouns
The interrogative pronouns are all different from English.
hoo (how or why), wha (who), whan (when), whase (whose),
whaur (where), whatna (which), whit (what), whit wey or hoo (why)
(e.5) Indefinite pronouns
In Scots these are: a bodie (someone, somebody), naebodie (no one,
nobody), oniebodie (anyone, anybodie), awbodie (everyone, everybody),
sumhin/sumthin (something), naethin (nothing), oniethin (anything),
awthin (everything).
(f) Quantifiers (Give an idea of how many or how much)
Aw (all), a wheen o (some), onie (any), eneuch (enough), hauf (half),
baith (both) are used as in English. Baith and maist (see below) are
usually used with the eg the baith/maist o yiz.
Monie, mair, maist are the forms for countable nouns, muckle, mair,
maist for uncountable nouns. English 'few' is translated as
'nae monie', both fewer and less as 'less'. 'A few' is 'a whein',
'twa-three/three-fower' etc.
(g) Numbers (Cardinals are 1,2,3 etc; Ordinals 1st, 2nd 3rd etc)
Cardinal numbers are all different to English in spelling and/or
pronunctiation.
1 ane/wan/yin (ae - adjective)
2 twa
3 three
4 fower
5 five
6 sax
7 seeven
8 echt/aucht
9 nine
10 ten
11 aleeven
12 twal
13 therteen
14 fowerteen/foreteen
15 feifteen/fifteen
16 saxteen
17 seiventeen
18 echteen/auchteen
19 ninteen
20 twintie
30 thertie
40 fowertie
50 fuftie
60 saxtie
70 seeventie
80 echtie/auchtie
90 nintie
100 hunner
1,000 a thoosan(d)
1,000,000 a million
Ordinal numbers all end in -t ie first, saicant, third (irr.), fowert, fift,
saxt, seevent, ect/aucht, nint, tent. Add -t to the cardinal numbers
for subsequent forms.
Nixt/neist is used differently for days of the week. 'Seturday first'
is the equivalent of English next Saturday, while 'Seturday nixt' is
next Saturday but one.
Laist, referring to time, is used like English last (but 'last year'
is 'fernyeir'). When it refers to position, use hin(ner) or
hinnermaist.
(h) Distributives (Each and every)
Each and every are both usually translated as ilka, though there is a
form 'ivverie'.
Aither (either) and naither are used as in English.
Each one is ilk ane and each other is ilk ither.
(i) Adjectives (Describe nouns and pronouns)
Scots often use -lik(e)/lyk added to simple adjectives for English -ish
eg blecklik, doucelik
Comparatives are formed in the same way as English, by adding -er
or -est eg bonnie, bonnier, bonniest or using mair, the maist.
When there is a second part to the comparison, use nor eg tha laddie
is mair glaikit nor thon ane. Note irregulars; guid, better, best;
baud/ill, waur, warst; faur, forder, fordest.
(j) Adverbs (Describe how something happens)
Most adverbs are formed by adding -lie to the end of the related
adjective eg slaw, slawlie; saft, saftlie. Some have an optional extra
-s: aiblins (perhaps), mebbies, geylies (pretty much), brawlies.
However, when the adverb is positioned next to the verb, it takes the
same form as the adjective eg He cam in quaet athoot oniebidie twiggin.
When more emphasis is needed, -lik(e)/lyk can be added eg Rin, quick-like!
Note the common adverb 'awa' which appears in several idioms
eg A'm awa (I am going), cum awa (come here), awa (wi ye)!
(expression of disbelief), awa (an) byle yer heid! (get lost!),
A'm fair awa wi the Haunbuik (happy/proud).
(k) Prepositions (Used to indicate movement, position, relation etc)
Many can also be used as adverbs. Some of the most common are:
ablo(w) below, aboot about, abuin above, aff off, afore
before, prior to, agin against, ahint behind, alang along,
amang among, aneith beneath, anent alongside, regarding, aroon
around, as as, aside beside, at at, athort across, athout
without, atween between, ayont beyond, ben within a house,
bi wey o via, bi/be/by by, past, doon down, efter after,
fornent opposite, frae/fae from, fur for, furth out of a town,
country etc, in in, in aneith under, underneath, in
maugre/spite o despite, in o inside, inby within, inbye inside
a building , intil into, nar near, o of, on on, onti onto,
or until, outbi out-of-doors, outwi outside, ower over, roun
round, syne since, throu through, during, tae/till to , till
till, taeward toward, up up, upon upon, wantin without, wi
with, wi-in, within.
Many of these can be used as compunds eg intil, inower (in), outower
(ouside), in o, aff o etc.
Use is broadly similar to English although there are some variations
eg think on (think about), merrit on/wi (married to), beilin at (angry
with), ower the windae (out of the window), in a praisent (as a
present), wyte on (wait for), cry on (call to), feart fur (afraid of),
mind o (remember), lippen tae (depend on), speir at (ask, request)
(l) Time
Note the phrases: Fower o' clock, the back o fower, a quarter efter
fower, hauf past fower*, a quarter ti five. *Warning: In Scots 'hauf
fower' really means 3.30 (as in German), but nowadays it is usually
used (incorrectly, if you are a purist) to mean 4.30.
Twalours/nuin (midday) and midnicht (midnight) are supplemented by
weeours (early morning), keek o day (sunrise), morn(in)
(morning), efternuin (afternoon), sundoon (sunset), gloamin (just
after sunset) eenin/fornicht (evening) and, of course, nicht (night).
The days of the week are:
The months of the year are:
Januar, Februar, Mairch, Aprile, Mey, June,
July, August, September, October, November, December
And the Fower Saisons: Spring/Ware, Simmer, Hairst, Winter
© Clive P L Young August 96