Tabhair (to give)
A complete guide to the conjugation of the irregular Irish verb 'tabhair' (to give), including all tenses, moods, and dialectal forms.
The verb tabhair means “to give” and is one of the eleven irregular verbs in Irish. It is highly common and uses different stems depending on the tense. The primary stems are tug- for the present, past, and imperfect tenses, and tabhar- for the future and conditional.
Indicative Mood
Present Tense
The present tense uses the stem tug-.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| 1st sg. | tugaim |
| 2nd sg. | tugann tú |
| 3rd sg. | tugann sé/sí |
| 1st pl. | tugaimid |
| 2nd pl. | tugann sibh |
| 3rd pl. | tugann siad |
| Autonomous | tugtar |
| Relative | a thugas |
- Tugann sé úll dom gach lá. - He gives me an apple every day.
Past Tense
The past tense also uses the stem tug-.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| 1st sg. | thugas |
| 2nd sg. | thugais |
| 3rd sg. | thug sé/sí |
| 1st pl. | thugamar |
| 2nd pl. | thugabhair |
| 3rd pl. | thugadar |
| Autonomous | tugadh |
- Thug mé an leabhar dó. - I gave him the book.
Imperfect Tense
The imperfect tense, used for habitual actions in the past, uses the stem tug-.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| 1st sg. | thugainn |
| 2nd sg. | thugtá |
| 3rd sg. | thugadh sé/sí |
| 1st pl. | thugaimis |
| 2nd pl. | thugadh sibh |
| 3rd pl. | thugaidís |
| Autonomous | thugtaí |
- Thugadh sí comhairle mhaith dúinn i gcónaí. - She always used to give us good advice.
Future Tense
The future tense switches to the stem tabhar-.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| 1st sg. | tabharfad |
| 2nd sg. | tabharfaidh tú |
| 3rd sg. | tabharfaidh sé/sí |
| 1st pl. | tabharfaimid |
| 2nd pl. | tabharfaidh sibh |
| 3rd pl. | tabharfaidh siad |
| Autonomous | tabharfar |
| Relative | a thabharfas |
- Tabharfaidh mé an t-airgead ar ais duit amárach. - I will give the money back to you tomorrow.
Conditional Mood
The conditional mood uses the stem tabhar-.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| 1st sg. | thabharfainn |
| 2nd sg. | thabharfá |
| 3rd sg. | thabharfadh sé/sí |
| 1st pl. | thabharfaimis |
| 2nd pl. | thabharfadh sibh |
| 3rd pl. | thabharfaidís |
| Autonomous | thabharfaí |
- Thabharfainn cabhair duit dá mbeadh am agam. - I would give you help if I had time.
Imperative Mood
The imperative mood, used for commands, uses two different stems. The 2nd person singular is tabhair, while other forms use tug-.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| 2nd sg. | tabhair |
| 3rd sg. | tugadh sé/sí |
| 1st pl. | tugaimis |
| 2nd pl. | tugaigí |
| 3rd pl. | tugaidís |
| Autonomous | tugtar |
- Tabhair dom an salann, le do thoil. - Give me the salt, please.
- Tugaigí an litir dó. - Give him the letter (plural ‘you’).
Subjunctive Mood
The present subjunctive uses the stem tug- and is mainly found in clauses after particles like go (that) or mura (unless).
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| 1st sg. | go dtuga mé |
| 2nd sg. | go dtuga tú |
| 3rd sg. | go dtuga sé/sí |
| 1st pl. | go dtugaimid |
| 2nd pl. | go dtuga sibh |
| 3rd pl. | go dtuga siad |
| Autonomous | go dtugtar |
- Iarr air go dtuga sé freagra duit. - Ask him that he give you an answer.
The past subjunctive uses the imperfect indicative forms, typically after dá (if).
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| 1st sg. | dá dtugainn |
| 2nd sg. | dá dtugtá |
| 3rd sg. | dá dtugadh sé/sí |
| 1st pl. | dá dtugaimis |
| 2nd pl. | dá dtugadh sibh |
| 3rd pl. | dá dtugaidís |
| Autonomous | dá dtugtaí |
Verbal Noun and Adjective
| Form | Irish | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Verbal Noun | tabhairt | giving |
| Genitive (substantive) | tabhartha | of giving |
| Genitive (infinitive) | tabhartha | to be given |
| Verbal Adjective | tugtha | given |
- Tá mé ag tabhairt an bhronntanais dó. - I am giving the gift to him.
- Tá an obair tugtha chun críche. - The work is finished (lit. brought to a conclusion).
Dialectal and Historical Forms
Historically, Irish verbs had distinct “absolute” (independent) and “dependent” forms. While this system is mostly gone from the standard language, some older forms of tabhair survive in dialectal speech, particularly in Munster and Ulster.
| Tense | Dependent | Absolute |
|---|---|---|
| Present | tabhrann | (do-)bheir(eann) |
| Imperfect | tabhradh | (do-)bheireadh |
| Future | tiobhraidh / tabharfaidh | (do-)bhéarfaidh |
| Conditional | tiobhradh / tabharfadh | (do-)bhéarfadh |
Historical note on 'tabhair' and 'beir'
The verb tabhair originated from the verb beir (“to bring” or “to bear”) combined with the prepositional prefix do- (“to”). This is visible in the older absolute forms like do-bheir (“he gives”).
The modern form tabhair comes from the “prototonic” version of do-bheir, where the stress fell on the first syllable (do-), causing the vowel sounds to merge and change into ta-. The absolute form do-bheir was “deuterotonic”, with the stress on the second syllable (-bheir). This distinction explains why the verb has such different stems today.