Week three and the pace slowed a little whilst the lesson focused on revision of the previous two weeks. That is not to say however that we don’t have new grammar concepts and vocabulary to go over, we do indeed.

The first new grammar concept we learned was in response to the question Càite bheil thu a’ fuireach? which means where are you living? (as opposed to Cò às a tha thu? – where are you from?)

The response to this question varies depending on the structure and/or spelling of the location of residence and there are three variations:

1. If the location is proceeded by a definite article such as The States (united and of America) which is Na Stàitean then the location is preceded by anns – Tha mi a’ fuireach anns Na Stàitean.
2. If the place name begins with B, F, M or P and there is no definite article such as Barra which is Barraigh then the location preceded by ann am – Tha mi a’ fuireach ann am Barraigh.
3. If the place name begins with any other letter other than B, F, M or P and there is no definite article such as Edinburgh which is Dùn Eideann then the location is preceded by ann an – Tha mi a’ fuireach ann an Dùn Eideann.

Simple (simplidh), right?

By way of a wee non-recorded pronunciation guide:

• anns – like ounce but swap the ce for an s.. ouns
• ann – same as above but without the s
• am – you think you have this one don’t you? it’s pronounced im like Tim without the Tennents
• an – in like in without adding or subtracting any letters or sounds.

Next up, TENSES!

This isn’t as difficult as you might think, Gaelic is actually pretty logical in some regards (not its spelling to pronunciation mapping) and there are really just two tenses, PAST and FUTURE/HABITUAL.

I think I understood that right anyway, present tense is only really represented by the verb ‘to be/do’ and isn’t in itself really a tense.. yup, that sounds wrong but I am fairly certain that is what I was told. The tutor definitely said only two tenses even though there are apparently three. If you know different or can confirm this then please do comment below.

In any case, there are two NEW tenses.

PAST TENSE

Sentence structure is as before but with different questions words, positive and negative responses to what we’ve learned so far.

Questions:

The positive response to An robh? is Bha – Bha mi, bha thu, bha iad etc.

The negative response to An robh? is Chan robh – Chan robh mi, chan robh thu, chan robh iad etc.

Examples:

FUTURE TENSE/HABITUAL

This tense not only represents what will happen in the future but also an activity that is carried out regularly.

Once again, sentence structure is as before but with different questions words, positive and negative responses to what we’ve learned so far.

Questions:

The positive response to Am bi? is Bidh – Bidh mi, bidh thu, bidh iad etc.

The negative response to Am bi? is Chan bhi – Chan bhi mi, chan bhi thu, chan bhi iad etc.

Examples:

Yes, I do like whisky, why do you ask?

Of course, no lesson would be complete without our weekly song and this time I actually really like it, much better pace than the previous two. Cànan Nan Gàidheal – The language of the Gael written by Murdo MacFarlane from Lewis.