2,6 The Kelt or Gael.
Is has a past tense — ba me, I was. Ta, fuil, and
raibh have only one tense. Ta is always
affirmative, fuil interrogative or negative. Raibh
can be used in any manner.
Bi or bidh, to be (both forms are pronounced
alike, and are the originals as well as equivalents
of the English verb to be), has all its tenses
formed regularly, in all the moods, as a principal
verb : thus indicative present, Bidhin me, I am ;
Bidhin thu, thou art ; Bidhin se or si, he or she
is. The verb remains the same in the plural ; the
pronouns are sinn, sibh, siad.
Past. — Do bhi me, I was ; Do bhi thu, thou
wast ; Do bhi se or si, he or she was. For the
plurals add the pronouns. All past tenses in-
Irish are preceded by an intensitive particle : do
is the usual one.
Future. — Beidh me, I shall be; Beidh thu,
thou wilt be ; Beidh se or si, he or she will be..
Add the pronouns for the plural.
Compound tenses of the moods are constructed
out of the auxiliaries.
There are three participles, present, past, and
future.
Oihtr parts. Advcrbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and inter-
jections undergo no variation as such. The
majority of the particles in European languages
are of similar form, though their meaning varies
from dialect to dialect.
As this shows the grammatical structure of the.
language, it is unnecessary to go through the