Phrasal and Light Verbs

Irish uses two common patterns to expand the meaning of its core verbs: phrasal verbs and light verbs. Phrasal verbs combine a verb with a preposition or adverb to create a new, often idiomatic, meaning. Light verbs pair a simple, common verb with a noun to describe a specific action or state, a structure that is very frequent in everyday Irish.

Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs are fixed combinations of a verb with a following preposition or adverb. Together, the words form a single semantic unit with a specific meaning that can be quite different from the verb’s original sense.

In Modern Irish, the modifying words (prepositions or directional adverbs) are placed after the verb. This allows a small number of common verbs, such as cuir, déan, and bain, to be used in a huge variety of contexts.

Examples with bain

The basic meaning of bain is “to pull out” or “to extract”.

• Bhain mé na prátaí. - I harvested the potatoes.

Combined with prepositions and adverbs, its meaning changes significantly:

• bain amach (to pull out, obtain, reach)
  • Bhain mé an teach amach. - I reached the house.
• bain ar (to make someone do something)
  • Bhain mé air a theacht liom. - I made him come with me.
• bain as (to take out of, get out of)
  • Bhain sé seachtain asam é a dhéanamh. - It took me a week to do it.
• bain chuig/chun (to start, begin with)
  • Bhain mé chun reatha. - I started running.
• bain de (to take away, remove from, reduce)
  • Bhain mé an siúl den bhád. - I reduced the speed of the boat.
• bain do (to touch, concern)
  • Ná bain dó! - Don’t touch it!
• bain le (to touch, concern)
  • Tá costas ag baint leis. - Costs are associated with it.
• bain faoi (to settle down; to calm someone)
  • Bhain mé fúm san áit seo. - I settled down in this place.
  • Bhain mé fúithi. - I calmed her.
• bain ó (to control, restrain; to sharpen)
  • Bain uait! - Restrain yourself!
  • Bhain mé ón scian. - I sharpened the knife.

Examples with cuir

The basic meaning of cuir is “to put” or “to place”.

• cuir síos ar (to describe, report)
  • Chuir sé síos ar an gcuairt a thug sé uirthi. - He reported on his visit to her.
• cuir isteach ar (to interrupt, disturb; to apply)
  • Chuir sé isteach ar an phost. - He applied for the post.
• cuir siar (to postpone, defer, put off)
• cuir siar ar (to impose, force upon)
• cuir suas (to set up, erect)
  • Chuir sí suas an scáth fearthainne. - She put up the umbrella.
• cuir suas le (to put up with, tolerate)
  • Chuir sé suas leis ar feadh deich nóiméad. - He put up with it for 10 minutes.

Verbal Nouns from Phrasal Verbs

When a phrasal verb is turned into a verbal noun, it keeps the accompanying preposition or adverb.

• éirigh (to rise) becomes éirigh amach (to rebel, revolt). The verbal noun is an t-éirí amach (the uprising).
  • Éirí Amach na Cásca - The Easter Rising.
• cuir (to put) becomes cuir as (to dislodge). The verbal noun phrase is cur as seilbh (expropriation, literally “putting out of possession”).
• bain (to pull out) becomes bain le (to concern). The verbal noun phrase is baint le (connection with, concern with).
  • Níl baint aige leis. - He has nothing to do with it.

Light Verbs

Irish is often described as a noun-oriented language. Many actions and states are expressed not with a specific verb, but with a general-purpose “light verb” combined with a noun. These are known as light verb constructions.

The most common light verbs are: bain (to take), bí (to be), cuir (to put), déan (to do/make), faigh (to get), lig (to let), tabhair (to give), and tar (to come).

These constructions are used in several ways.

Essential Idiomatic Phrases

Some concepts are almost always expressed with a light verb.

• Rinne sé gáire. - He laughed. (Literally: “He made laughter.”)
• Chuir sé áthas orm. - It made me happy. (Literally: “It put joy on me.”)
• Bhain mé sult as an lá. - I enjoyed the day. (Literally: “I drew pleasure out of the day.”)
• Tá a fhios agam. - I know it. (Literally: “Is his knowledge at me.”)
• Tá grá agam duit. - I love you. (Literally: “Is love at me to you.”)
• Tá súim agam ann. - I am interested in it. (Literally: “Is interest at me in it.”)

Describing Single Events

A light verb can describe a punctual, singular event, often where a simple verb might imply a continuous or habitual action.

• Rinne/thug sé léim. - He made a jump. (Instead of Léim sé - He jumped.)
• Déan do mhachnamh arís air. - Think about it again. (Literally: “Make your thinking again on it.”)
• Bhain sé croitheadh as an mbuidéal. - He shook the bottle (once). (Literally: “He drew a shaking out of the bottle.”)

Causative Constructions

Light verbs, especially bain as, can be used to show that one person or thing causes another to perform an action.

• Bainfidh mé léim aisti. - I will make her jump / I will startle her.
• Baineadh titim asam. - I was made to fall. (Literally: “One drew falling out of me.”)
• Baineann sé allas asam. - It makes me sweat. (Literally: “It draws sweat out of me.”)
• Bhain sé ceol as an gcláirseach. - He played the harp. (Literally: “He drew music out of the harp.”)

Auxiliary and Emphatic Functions

The verb déan can act as an auxiliary verb, often for emphasis.

• Iad a cheannach a rinne sé. - He bought them. (A more emphatic form of Cheannaigh sé iad.)

Feelings and Psychological States

Many feelings and states like hunger or thirst are expressed using nouns rather than dedicated verbs or adjectives. The pattern involves a noun for the feeling combined with a light verb and the preposition ar (on).

Common feeling nouns include: áthas (joy), aiféala (regret), brón (sadness), deifir (haste), eagla (fear), fearg (anger), fonn (desire), imní (worry), iontas (surprise), náire (shame), ocras (hunger), and tart (thirst).

The choice of verb changes the meaning:

• bí ... ar: to have a feeling.
  • Tá áthas orm. - I am happy. (Literally: “Joy is on me.”)
• cuir ... ar: to cause a feeling in someone.
  • Chuir sé áthas orm. - It made me happy. (Literally: “It put joy on me.”)
• tar ... ar: to become overcome by a feeling.
  • Tháinig áthas orm. - I became happy. (Literally: “Joy came on me.”)

This pattern applies to many emotions:

• Tá eagla orm rompu. - I am afraid of them.
• Chuir sé eagla orm rompu. - He made me afraid of them.
• Tháinig eagla orm rompu. - I became afraid of them.

You can also express taking a feeling away with bain de:

• Bhain sé an t-áthas díom. - It took my joy away. (Literally: “It drew the joy from me.”)

Further Examples of Light Verb Constructions

• Bhain sé feidhm as an leabhair. - He used the book. (Literally: “He drew function out of the book.”)
• Bhain mé sult as an turas. - I enjoyed the journey. (Literally: “I drew pleasure out of the journey.”)
• Thug sé cúnamh dom. - He helped me. (Literally: “He gave help to me.”)
• Thug sí aird air anois. - Now she paid attention to him. (Literally: “She gave attention on him now.”)
• Chuir sé ó chodladh í. - It robbed her of sleep. (Literally: “It put her from sleep.”)
• Cad é an rath a chuir tú ar an airgead? - What did you use the money for? (Literally: “What is the benefit that you put on the money?”)
• Chuir sé an abairt ó thuiscint. - It made the sentence incomprehensible. (Literally: “It put the sentence from understanding.”)
• Rinne mé iontas de. - I wondered about it. (Literally: “I made wonder of it.”)
• Ná déan dearmad air. - Don’t forget it! (Literally: “Don’t make forgetting on it.”)
• Lig sé fead. - He whistled. (Literally: “He let a whistle.”)

Purely Idiomatic Constructions

Some light verb constructions are purely idiomatic, and their meaning cannot be easily guessed from the individual words. Some nouns, like deara, only appear in these fixed phrases.

The phrase tabhair faoi deara means “to notice” or “to take note of”.

• Thug sé faoi deara é. - He noticed it.

The phrase cuir faoi deara means “to cause” or “to make someone do something”.

• Chuir sé faoi deara dom é a dhéanamh. - He made me do it.

The verb tabhair can also function as an auxiliary verb, similar to déan.

• Thug siad tógáil mhaith dá gclann. - They raised their children well. (Instead of Thóg siad a gclann go maith.)