(no subject)

[kittydesade]

The impersonal form of the verb in Irish resembles the English passive, but it is not possible to add an agent. If you want to say who did something you must use an active sentence.
That house was sold yesterday. - Díoladh an teach sin inné.
It was bought by a friend of mine. - Cara dom a cheannaigh é. or Cheannaigh cara dom é.

As the second sentence specifies who did the buying it isn't possible to use ceannaíodh (was bought). The first of two Irish versions will normally be preferred, as the identity of the buyer is significant.


The past impersonal of regular verbs is not subject to lenition.
e.g. Ar ghoid siad rud ar bith? Did they steal anything?
Níor ghoid.
Ar goideadh rud ar bith? Was anything stolen?
Níor goideadh. No.

Irregular verbs stand apart. To make up for their irregularity of form, as it were, they use the same pre-verbs in all tenses. Compare these:
An ndéantar go minic é? Is it done often?
Ní dhéantar. No.
An ndearnadh aon rud faoi? Was anything done about it?
Ní dhearnadh. No.

The Munster forms, which you may prefer to use, are:
Ar deineadh aon damáiste?
Níor deineadh.


Oogh. Well, yesterday sucked. Today is not looking to be much better. Mostly because sick, head stuffed up, coughing, and exhausted from not sleeping because head stuffed up. I vastly dislike this. I'm not getting any work done at either day job work or writing and argh. Well, no, I'm going to try to get the writing with the soonest deadlines done, but the rest, if I get anything else done that'll be a bonus. Ugh. Hopefully I can get some decent sleep tonight and feel better tomorrow.