Overview

Verbs are the heart of any sentence, expressing actions or states of being. Irish verbs are organised into two main conjugation patterns, along with a small but very common group of irregular verbs. Understanding how they work is essential for building even the simplest sentences.

This section covers the core concepts of Irish verbs, from their basic structure to the different tenses and moods you will encounter.

Verb Structure

Most Irish verbs consist of a root (or stem) which carries the core meaning. To form different tenses and persons, endings are added to this root. For example, the verb glan (to clean) has the root glan-.

• Glanann sé - He cleans
• Ghlan sé - He cleaned
• Glanfaidh sé - He will clean

Many verb forms also use particles before the verb, such as an for questions or ní for negation. These particles can often cause initial mutations.

Two Conjugations

Regular verbs in Irish fall into one of two categories, known as conjugations. The conjugation a verb belongs to determines which set of endings it uses.

• First Conjugation verbs typically have a single-syllable root, often ending in a broad consonant. Examples include dún (close), ól (drink), and bris (break).
• Second Conjugation verbs have roots with two or more syllables, or single-syllable roots ending in -igh. Examples include ceannaigh (buy), imir (play), and bailigh (collect).

Tenses and Moods

Like English, Irish verbs change to show when an action happens. The main tenses and moods are:

• Present Tense: Describes ongoing or habitual actions.
• Past Tense: Describes completed actions in the past.
• Future Tense: Describes actions that will happen in the future.
• Imperfect Tense: Describes habitual or repeated actions in the past.
• Conditional Mood: Describes what would happen under certain conditions.
• Imperative Mood: Used for giving commands.
• Subjunctive Mood: Used in certain formal or literary contexts to express wishes or hypothetical situations.

Analytic and Synthetic Forms

A key feature of Irish verbs is the distinction between analytic and synthetic forms.

• Analytic forms use the verb stem along with a separate pronoun. This is common in modern spoken Irish.
  • Molann siad - They praise
• Synthetic forms combine the verb stem and the pronoun into a single word with a personal ending. These are more common in literature and in certain tenses and dialects.
  • Molaimid - We praise

For many tenses, you will learn both forms.

Irregular Verbs

There are eleven common verbs that do not follow the regular conjugation patterns. These “irregular verbs” have unique forms that must be memorised. They are among the most frequently used verbs in the language, including bí (to be), abair (to say), and téigh (to go).

The Copula

Irish has two verbs for “to be”: the substantive verb bí and the copula is. The copula is used for classification and identification, linking a subject to a noun or pronoun. It has a very simple structure but its usage is a distinct and important part of Irish grammar.

Verbal Nouns and Verbal Adjectives

In addition to conjugated forms, every verb has two other important parts:

• Verbal Noun: The equivalent of the “-ing” form in English (e.g., ag siúl - walking). It is a noun derived from a verb and is used in many common constructions.
• Verbal Adjective: The equivalent of the past participle in English (e.g., déanta - done/made). It functions as an adjective describing a state resulting from the verb’s action.