Mo chait IV
May 19th 2011 19:54
Is Gearmánach é ár gcat Sherry, gan dabht. Is mian leis fós a náisiúntacht a dhearbhú agus da bhrí sin, is maith leis beoir a ól. Is fearr leis an beoir baváireach, cé rugadh agus tógadh é sa Viostfáil. Ní alcólach é, ar ndoigh, níl ann ach go maith leis an blas atá uirthi: nuair a bhíodh mo fear chéile tar éis gloine beoir a ól, d'fhágadh sé an ghloine líonta le huisce ar an doirteal, agus bhíodh breá le Sherry é a ól. Ligimis é, de bhrí nach ólann na chait go leor de ghnáth, agus shílimis nach bhfuil sé mífholláin aige. Bhí sé maith go dtí seo, ach táimid tagtha go dtí an pointe nach bhfuil cead aige an gloine seo a fheiceáil gan a theastaíonn uaidh uisce a ól - ach tá iarmhar beoir de dhíth air freisin. Anois is féidir leat mé a chloisteáil ag rá leis mo fear chéile: "Cén fáth nach ólann tu gloine beoir dón chat?" agus, de ghnáth, déanann sé é. Is ár gcaitsa na cait is millte i bhfad Gearmáine, gan dabht!
Mo chat IV
'Cat' is for one cat, and 'cait' is the plural.
Ní alcólach é, ar ndoigh, níl ann ach go maith leis an blas atá uirthi: nuair a bhíodh mo fhear chéile tar éis gloine beoir a ól, d'fhágadh sé an ghloine líonta le huisce ar an doirteal, agus bhíodh breá le Sherry é a ól.
'Mo' causes a séimhiú on nouns that come after it.
Ligimis é, de bhrí nach ólann na chait cait go leor de ghnáth, agus shílimis nach bhfuil sé mífholláin aige dó.
Nouns in plural in Irish don't take a séimhiú.
The sentence structure is perfect, but 'nach ólann na cait' (the cats don't drink) implies more that you're talking about different cats you own or who you're writing about now, whereas 'nach ólann cait de ghnáth' is more general.
Bhí sé go maith go dtí seo, ach táimid tagtha go dtí an pointe nach bhfuil cead aige an ghloine seo a fheiceáil gan a theastaíonn uaidh uisce a ól - ach tá iarmhar an beoir beorach de dhíth air aige freisin.
'Gloine' is a feminine word, and because of historical reasons, after the definite article, most feminine words take what's called a séimhiú in Irish, or basically a 'slendering' of the first consonant.
iarmhar beoir: After Iarmhar + a noun, we're trying to say the 'remainder OF something', so this brings in the genitive case, so here beoir changes to 'beorach'. This case can be tricky, and I even had to look up what it changed to :)
I have no idea why, but in Irish we say de dhíth aige/aici, etc :)
cead aige: This was grammatically correct, but I thought you might have been trying to say something different. 'Cead aige' means 'he is/('isn't' in this case) allowed'. I think you maybe wanted to say 'come to the point where he isn't able to', which is ...tagtha go dtí an pointe "nach bhfuil sé in ann".
Anois is féidir leat mé a chloisteáil ag rá leis le mo fhear chéile: "Cén fáth nach ólann tu gloine beoir don chat?" agus, de ghnáth, déanann sé é.
'Le' changes to 'leis' when the definite article ('the') comes after it.
Is é ár gcatsa an cat is millte i bhfud na Gearmáine, gan dabht!
With an chopail (the copula) normally the subject is named with a personal pronoun, so in English it would be something like, 'It is he, our cat, who is the most spoilt cat in all of Germany'.
'I bhfad' means 'by far/too much' and 'i bhfud' means 'throughout/all over'.
I see I have to take care not to forget the séimhiú. I promise to do better in future.
Actually, although it's not evident from the text, I am talking about two cats, the one with the Habit (on which this entry mainly centers) and his brother. So, the last sentence should have surely read: "Is iad ár gcaitsa na cait etc." ?
Thanks for pointing out the difference between 'i bhfad' and 'i bhfud', that was very helpful!