Aspect with Pronouns

A comparison of how to say 'doing something to me/you/him' in the progressive aspect across the dialects of Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx.

Verbs Verbal Noun Progressive Aspect Dialects Goidelic

When you use the progressive aspect to describe an action being done to someone (e.g., “He is hitting me”), the construction involves a preposition, a possessive pronoun, and the verbal noun. The exact form of this construction varies significantly across the dialects of Irish and the other Goidelic languages. This page compares the different forms you will encounter.

Comparison of Forms

The following table shows the forms used with the verbal noun bualadh (striking) across Irish dialects, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. The structure is Tá sé (“He is”) + [form] + bualadh (“striking”).

Person	Standard Irish	Munster	Connacht	Ulster	Scottish Gaelic	Manx
me	`do mo bhualadh`	`am bualadh`	`do mo bhualadh`	`ag mo bhualadh`	`gam bhualadh`	`dy my vuilley` / `builley mee`
you (sg)	`do do bhualadh`	`ad bhualadh`	`do do bhualadh`	`ag do bhualadh`	`gad bhualadh`	`dy dty vuilley` / `builley oo`
him	`á bhualadh`	`á bhualadh`	`dhá bhualadh`	`á bhualadh`	`ga bhualadh`	`dy vuilley (eh)` / `builley eh`
her	`á bualadh`	`á bualadh`	`dhá bualadh`	`á bualadh`	`ga bualadh`	`dy builley` / `builley ee`
us	`dár mbualadh`	`ár mbualadh`	`dhár mbualadh`	`ag ár mbualadh`	`gar bualadh`	`dyn muilley (shin)` / `builley shin`
you (pl)	`do bhur mbualadh`	`bhur mbualadh`	`dho’ur mbualadh`	`ag mur mbualadh`	`gur bualadh`	`dyn muilley (shiu)` / `builley shiu`
them	`á mbualadh`	`á mbualadh`	`dhá mbualadh`	`á mbualadh`	`gam bualadh`	`dyn muilley (ad)` / `builley ad`

Explanations and Variations

The variation between forms using do (e.g., do mo) and ag (e.g., ag mo) is a key feature of this construction. Historically, different prepositions were used, but over time their pronunciations merged, leading to the current mix of forms across the dialects. In many areas, the preposition do came to be pronounced [gə], making it sound very similar to ag. This phonetic convergence led to a blending of the two prepositions in this context.

Historical form: agá

In older texts, you may encounter the form agá or 'ghá. This was a contraction of the preposition ag and the possessive pronoun a (“his/her/their”), which is now written as á.

The 'active' vs 'passive' progressive debate

Some older grammars attempted to draw a distinction between an “active progressive” using ag and a “passive progressive” using do. This prescriptive rule suggested that ghá (from ag + a) should be used for active meanings and dhá (from do + a) for passive meanings.

Tá sé ghá dhéanamh. - He is doing it. (Active)
Tá sé dhá dhéanamh. - It is being done. (Passive)

This distinction is not reflected in modern spoken Irish and is no longer considered a valid grammatical rule. The forms are used interchangeably depending on the dialect.