in this video I'm going to share with you five really useful Irish grammar tips
let's start, the Irish word ag is something you'll see a lot, ag means at
but it can also be used to describe possession of someone or something
ag an means at the, ag an, but coming back to ag normally the word following ag does
not undergo any change or mutation, if we look at the Irish word for Mary
which is Máire, so this would not take a séimhiú
if Máire was after the word ag, a séimhiú is a h that's placed just after the 1st letter of a word
let's look at a sample sentence now that will help
illustrate this, Tá a lán airgead ag Máire Mary has a lot of money
so you can see there that Máire stays the same
as its original form, moving on to ag an as I said that means at the, ag an, normally
the word following ag an would undergo change and that change is the addition
of an urú, which acts as an eclipse so if we take this word here Pictiúrlann
this means pictures or cinema, Pictiúrlann, and b is the urú in this case
for example - Feicfidh mé thú ag an bpictiúrlann I will see you at the cinema
not all Irish words will take an urú or an eclipse but
Pictiúrlann does and you can find out about this and lots more Irish grammar
rules with this great book from Collins Irish grammar Collins easy learning
Irish grammar I've mentioned it before so I'll leave the link in the description
and if you would like to purchase that book just follow the link that I leave in the description
the Irish word ar means on, ar, and ar an means on the, ar an
the word following ar will usually take a séimhiú
where possible, for example Máire will change to Mháire, a sample sentence-
Bhí eagla ar Mháire = Mary was scared
ar an then as I said means on the and that will usually provoke an eclipse so
for example ar an mballa = on the wall
the m is the eclipse or the urú in this case
next we have go dtí and sa
so go dtí means to the and sa means in the for example
Rith sé go dtí an bhialann = he ran to the restaurant
so sa means in the, for example D'ól sé tae sa chistin he drank tea in the kitchen
but the sa changes to san if the next word is a vowel, if the first
letter is a vowel I mean, so for example san urlár means in the ground, san urlár
or san aerfort = in the airport
In Irish i means in a and this is normally followed by an urú on the next word
where possible, for example i staid means in a stadium but staid can't take an
urú because it's an S so it keeps its original form, but i mbus means in a
bus, i mbus, so the B can take an urú and
that's why we put the M in front of it i mbus, but i will change to in when
the following word begins with a vowel for example in ionad campála = in a campsite
our next grammar tip is on the Briathar Saor, that
means free verb Briathar Saor, they normally have these types of
endings in the past tense that is, and an example in English of a free verb
would be the following - it was said so by saying that we know something was
said but we don't know who said it whether it was male female adult or
child, and this can work really well in Irish it's a great way to start a
conversation or start a sentence of some type, for example if we take the Irish
verb fógair which is to announce or advertise, the free verb version
of fógair would be Fógraíodh, Fógraíodh ón altóir é = it was announced from the altar
so we know something was announced we just don't know who announced it
Ceap in Irish means to think and the Briathar Saor version of that
is Ceapadh - it was taught, Ceapadh tráth = it was once thought
Eagraigh in Irish is to arrange or to organize, the free verb version of that is
Eagraíodh, Eagraíodh cruinniú = a meeting was organised
so if you enjoyed this grammar video and you found it useful please give it a thumbs up and
I'll be back very soon with another video thanks for watching, slán go fóill.