Tip of the Week 15

The compound preposition 'air son' often gives learners trouble. You will notice that I have written this as two words rather than as one i.e. 'airson' as you will often encounter it. It is, in fact, pronounced as two words whichever way it is written. However, it is recommended that it be written as two separate words. The 'son' part (pr. sohn) means 'sake', so 'air son' (pr. err sohn) followed by a noun in the genitive case means 'for the sake of', though usually translated simply as 'for'. e.g.
 
Bha iad ag obair gu cruaidh airson an airgid.
They were working hard for the money.
 
Now, when you wish to say 'for me' / 'for you' /'for him/her /it etc. then you use what is called the possessive adjective i.e. 'mo' = 'my', 'do' = 'your' , 'a' = 'his/her' etc. between 'air' and 'son'. e.g.
 
An dèan thu sin air mo shon?
Will you do that for me?
 
The 'son' part may be made emphatic by the addition of an emphatic particle. e.g.
 
Mark VIII 35
Oir cò sam bith leis an aill a bheatha shàbhaladh, caillidh e i: agus cò sam bith a chailleas a bheatha air mo shonsa, 's air son an t-soisgeil, sàbhailidh e i.
For whosoever wishes to save his life [he] will lose it: and whosoever loses his life for my sake, and for the gospel, [he] will save it.
 
Now, the translation of 'for' is an extremely complicated matter, made even more so by the fact that the word 'airson' is frequently used now by native speakers in situations which are far removed from the original meaning of 'for the sake of', no doubt under the influence of English e.g. you will often come across 'airson greis' = 'for a while' when 'greis' alone would serve the same purpose.
 
I have no wish to go into the rights and wrongs of this, as it is, perhaps, an inevitable evolutionary process in the language.
 
The situation is even further complicated by the fact that there are situations in which 'airson' should not be used, and situations in which there is some overlap in meaning. To cover all possible contingencies would take at least a year (assuming it could be done at all). The best way to learn these is to imitate examples from reliable sources.
 
Cailean
Am Marcair Dubh
Is i a' Ghàidhlig Cànan mo Dhùthcha.