Comment on why
khannie@lemmy.world 2 days agoEh, that’s a great question. My Irish used to be good enough that I’d be able to answer that but I’m not sure what the direct translation would be. There is a word that’s very close to “no” which is “níl” (neel) but in general it’s short for “níl mé” (neel may - I am not).
In the present tense there is “tá” (taw) which is essentially short for “tá mé” (taw may - I am) but for example the answer to the question “Were you?” is “Ní raimh mé” (nee r-ow may) which is “I was not” but it is contextual. The pronunciation of “raimh” also varies by each of the 4 provinces along with every other word which is confusing as fuck. Some would say “rev” for “raimh”.
In general it’s the positive or negative of the verb though - were you? I was. Did you? I did. Will you? I will. Did she? She did etc.
Someone with better Irish may be along to hopefully make a show of me.
dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 2 days ago
So the verb has a negative declension, or is it just some kind of conjunction that negates the verb?
Either way, that’s kind of beautiful. English has a problem where one can ask a compound question, and replying “no” doesn’t clarify a damn thing. This would be impossible in Irish, since you’d have to pick one or some combination of questions to reply to, as the verb-form is required.
khannie@lemmy.world 2 days ago
You repeat the verb but in the positive or negative form if that makes sense?
Like “Do you understand?” is “I understand”.
I’m teaching my youngest lad Irish and I’ll regularly ask him “An dtuigeann tú” (on diggin too) and he’ll respond with “tuigim” (“tigim” - “I understand” (which is strictly a contraction)).
dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 2 days ago
This is a better response than I could have hoped for; consider my curiosity sated, and I am now fascinated. Thank you for sharing this.
khannie@lemmy.world 2 days ago
You’re very welcome :)