GRAMMAR

"Ag" means "at", and it also serves to express "to have", as in "Tácóta ag Seán" (taw* KOH-tuh eg shaw*n), John has a coat. You may think that use of "ag" for these two purposes would be confusing, but that is not so in the actual Irish language. You can tell from the nature of the sentence and the circumstances in which it is used whether "ag" is "at" or is part of the idea of "having".

For example, TáSeán ag an doras" must mean that John is at the door. Obviously the door does not "have" John. On the other hand, "Tácarr ag Seán" means that John has a car, rather than a car is "at John", or even at John's house. Irish has another expression for "at some one's house": "tigh Sheáin" (tee HYAW*-in).

PROGRESSIVE DRILL

Go through the following drill for expressing "to have" in Irish. Remember to recite aloud and form a mental picture for each sentence.

An bhfuil nuachtán agam? (un vwil NOO-uhk*-taw*n uh-GUHM).

Níl nuachtán agat (neel NOO-uhk*-taw*n uh GUHM)

Tánuachtán agat (uh-GUHT).

An bhfuil nuachtán agat?

Níl nuachtán agat.

Tánuachtán aige (eg-GE).

An bhfuil nuachtán aige? And so on, until you return to "Tánuachtán agam" as the last sentence.

VOCABULARY

Here are some phrases to help you learn how "ag an" (eg un), at the, causes eclipses. "Ag an" does not always cause eclipses, especially in the case of words starting with "d" or "t", but learn the eclipses for all cases initially.

bean, ag an mbean (ban, eg un man), woman, at the woman

fear, ag an bhfear (far, eg un var), man, at the man

doras, ag an ndoras (DUH-ruhs, eg un NUH-ruhs), door, at the door

carr, ag an gcarr (kahr, eg un gahr), car, at the car

páista, ag an bpáiste (PAW*SH-te, eg un BAW*SH-te), child, at the child

geata, ag an ngeata (GAT-uh, eg ung AT-uh), gate, at the gate

teach, ag an dteach (tahk*, eg un dyahk*), house, at the house

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