Irish verbs
From UniLang Wiki
The Basics
Irish verbs have two finite moods: indicative, subjunctive; two non-finite moods: imperative, conditional; and two verbal particles: participle and gerundive/verbal noun.
The indicative mood has four tenses: present, past (or preterite), imperfect, future. The subjunctive has two tenses: present (or non-past) and past.
Each tense, as well as the conditional, has six forms based on three persons (first, second, third) and two numbers (singular, plural). Each also has a seventh form, the autonomous/impersonal form, which sometimes (wrongly) translates as a passive form.
The standard language, and most authorities, recognize two classes (conjugations) of verbs.
Concept of Broad/Slender in Verbs
The phonological concept of broad (i.e. non-palatal) and slender (palatal) sounds reverberates in the written forms of the verbs. Therefore, each affix used in connection to Irish verbs has two written outcomes, based on this rule.
Conjugations
There are two types of verb conjugations. The most salient distinction of these two conjugations is the future indicative forms.
- First Conjugation
- Second Conjugation
- "Dependent" Forms
- "To Be"
- Irregular verbs are covered on this page.
