Book 3:
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exercise CIII
§ 575. If we wish to express the idea that a person is often or is constantly intead of atá we use biḋeann (bee'-ăN), as, biḋeann an aimsir te ins an tír só, the weather is usually hot in this country. In English as spoken in Ireland, or as we say, in the "Irish brogue", this word is translated by 'bees', as biḋeann an tseanḃean tinn go minic, the old woman bees often sick.
§ 576. We can say either—
| biḋeann mé | biḋeann sinn |
| biḋeann tú | biḋeann siḃ |
| biḋeann sé, sí | biḋeann siad |
or use the better form:—
| biḋim | bee'-im | I do be |
| biḋir | bee'-ir | thou dost be |
| biḋeann sé | he does be | |
| biḋmid | bee'-mid | we do be |
| biḋṫí | bee'-he | ye do be |
| biḋid | bee'-id | they do be |
Bíonn siḃ is more common that biḋṫi. Instead of biġeann the older form was bí (bee), still used in Ulster.
§ 577. This form of the verb "to be" is called the frequentative form, as it denotes what is frequent or common.
§ 578. This form has the same construction as atá, as biḋeann an aimsir fuar, ní ḃiḋeann (vee'-ăN) Nóra ag obair, Nora does not be working; an mbiḋeann (mee'-ăN) tú ag obair? Do you be working? Biḋe ann an ṗúca 'na ċapall ins an oiḋċe, the pooka does be a horse (takes the form of a horse) in the night.
§ 579. The plural form of the article an is na; as na fír, the men, ag na fearaiḃ, at the men. Notice the two forms, of which more will be said later. The form ending in -aiḃ is used in plural nouns after all prepositions, and only then.
note that
phonetic
symbols
are not
necessarily pronounced
as in English