An Briathar (The Verb)

Verbs are "action words" as the school definition goes. They are any word that describes the doing of an action, or the changing of a state or an occurrence.

Tenses and Moods

In Irish, the following tenses (aimsirí) and moods (modhanna) are available:

1. An aimsir láithreach (present tense)
2. An aimsir ghnáthchaite (past habitual tense)
3. An aimsir fháistineach (future tense)
4. An aimsir chaite (past tense)
5. An modh coinníollach (conditional mood)
6. An modh ordaitheach (imperative mood)
7. An modh foshuiteach láithreach (subjunctive mood)

In each tense/mood there are the following conjugations:

1. 1st person singular (pronoun: mé - I)
2. 2nd person singular (pronoun: tú - You)
3. 3rd person singular (pronoun: sé/sí - He/She)
4. 1st person plural (pronoun: muid - We)
5. 2nd person plural (pronoun: sibh - You pl./Ye)
6. 3rd person plural (pronoun: siad - They)

Saorbhriathar (Autonomous Verb)

There are forms of each verb that take no noun as their subject - i.e. no noun (be it person or thing) is expressed explicitly as performing the action. The verb's action is performed without someone/thing to perform it. This is usually called the passive mood in other languages, although there is a subtle difference. A saorbhriathar expressing the verb déan (to do) _in the aimsir láithreach is déantar. In the passive mood in English, _to do becomes is done - e.g. The work is done. However, in passive, you can specify the agent that performs the action - The work is done by Paul.

With an autonomous verb, you cannot specify the agent. The autonomous form of to do more correctly translates to "One/Somone does". So: déantar an obair -> one/someone does the work. You cannot add ag + agent to specify who performs the action. This means that the autonomous form, while similar to the passive, is distinct. You can express the passive through the following grammatical structure:

Tá <object> <verbal adjective> [ag <agent>]

An aidiacht bhriathartha (verbal adjective) will be discussed later.

Some examples of saorbhriathra are shown below:

Dictionary form of verbs

There are mostly regular verbs in the Irish language. However, there are 12 irregular verbs, as well as the substantive verb bí and the copula is.

The dictionary form of the verb is usually the 2nd person singular form in the imperative mood. Some examples are mol (to praise), bris (to break) and ith (to eat). These can be used as the reference when consulting a dictionary.

Foirmeacha neamhspleácha agus spleácha (Independent and Dependent forms)

Some verbs change depending on if they are preceded by verbal particles (for negation, interrogation, subjunctive, condition, etc.) or with certain conjunctions. The form they take when standing alone is the foirm neamhspleácha (independent form). The form they take when preceded by a verbal particle or conjunction is the foirm spleácha (dependent form).

A verb is used in the independent form when:

a) The verb stands on its own, with no verbal particles before it

b) If the verb follows ó (since, in positive phrases), má (if), mar (because), óir (because), etc.

A verb is used in the dependent form when used after verbal particles such as ní/níor (negating), an/ar (interrogating), go/gur (subjunctive), nach/nár (subjunctive negative), sula(r) (before), mura(r) (unless), a(r) (infinitive)