Cailean Mark - <[email protected]>
 
Tip 53

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Last modified: September 23, 2003
These are from the Gaidhlig-B Mailing List, courtesy of Cailean Mark

Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 10:45:08 +0100 From: Colin Mark <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Subject: Tip of the Week 53 Homework (2)   Continuing with the examination of the Gaelic for 'homework'   'Làithean Geala' le Murchadh MacLeòid Gun teagamh sam bith, tha i air leth déidheil air leughadh, ann an Gàidhlig agus ann am Beurla, agus tha sin ga fàgail nas fheàrr air obair-sgoile na a bràthair. Tha esan coma, bidh athair ag ràdh, ma gheibh e cothrom a bhith a' breabadh buill, an uair nach eil an còrr aige ri dhèanamh.   Tha Màiri Bheag a' cosg ùine mhóir air a leasain gach feasgar.   Fine Days by Murdo MacLeod Without any doubt, she is particualrly fond of reading, in Gaelic and in English, and that makes her better at school work than her brother. He doesn't care, his father says, if he gets a chance to be kicking a ball, when he has nothing else to do.   Little Mary spends a lot of time on her lessons / homework every evening.     'Làithean Geala' This doesn't appear to be so common now for 'fine' days' (at least not in print - though I may be wrong!)   Gun teagamh / Gun teagamh sam bith = Without a doubt / Without any doubt is a useful phrase   air leth is an adverb which frequently translates into English as an adjective. Here it is qualifying the adjective 'déidheil':   tha i air leth déidheil air = she is particularly fond of / she is exceptionally fond of etc.   But:   Bha ùidhe air leth agam ann an = I had an especial interest in   tha sin ga fàgail This really means 'that is at her leaving' = 'that leaves her'. This , in turn, means 'causes her to be ..' / 'makes her ..' in everyday English.   nas fheàrr air = 'what is better at' = 'better at'   na a bràthair = 'than her brother'. Note: 'a bràthair' = 'her brother' but 'a bhràthair' = 'his brother'.   'coma' is another very useful word.:   Tha mi coma dé thachras. I don't care what happens /will happen.   Ach coma de sin! But never mind that! / Forget that!   'gheibh' is the future tense of the irregular verb 'faigh'. 'will get' / 'gets'   'cothrom' 'an opportunity', 'a chance' is often followed by 'air' e.g. cothrom air [rudeigin] a dhèanamh = 'a chance to do [something]'   But also:   cothrom a bhith a' dèanamh [rudeigin] = 'a chance to be doing [something]'   and:   cothrom gu bhith a' dèanamh [rudeigin] = 'a chance to do [something] (in the future)   a' breabadh buill Here, 'buill' is the genitive singular of 'ball' 'a ball'. This is formally correct, but nowadays, when the noun is singular, the nominative form is retained:   a' breabadh ball   'an còrr' really means 'the rest', but is commonly used with the meaning 'anything else', 'anybody else', and, after a negative verb, 'nothing else' ' no more', 'nobody else' etc.   ri dhèanamh = to be done   Màiri Bheag - as the capital letter shows, this is the name by which she would be commonly known. Cf. Calum Bàn = Fair-haired Calum / Malcolm.   a' cosg = spending / using of time, money, materials etc.   ùine mhóir - This is the genitive singular form again. Now [it] would normally be ùine mhór - 'a great time' commonly used for 'a lot of time' / 'a long time'.   leasain = the plural of 'leasan' 'a lesson', but here clearly used for 'homework'.   gach feasgar Note that 'gach' means 'every' only in the sense of 'each individual one'. i.e. every single evening.   More next time.   Cailean Cànan ar Cridhe 's ar Gaoil Am Marcair Dubh Is i a' Ghàidhlig Cànan mo Dhùthcha. URL: http://www.gaeldesign.com/colinmark

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