Editing Language/Irish/Grammar/Imperative-Mood

<div class="pg_page_title">The Imperative Mood in Irish (Gaeilge)</div>
[[File:irish-language-polyglotclub.jpg|thumb]]
Haileo! Irish Learners! 😃

➡ In today's lesson you will learn how to use the the imperative mood in Irish Gaelic.

Happy learning!

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==Introduction==

The imperative mood in Irish is a lot more expansive than that of English in that it conjugates for all persons and numbers, not just for singular and plural you. This can make it a bit tricky for learners but I'll try my best to explain how it works. 

First though, we must know that verbs in Irish fall into 3 categories:
*First conjugation
*Second conjugation
*Irregular verbs (coming soon)

<span link>Consider exploring these related pages after completing this lesson:</span> [[Language/Irish/Grammar/Irish-Prepositional-Pronouns|Irish Prepositional Pronouns]], [[Language/Irish/Grammar/Irish-Modal-Verbs-(need,-want,-must,-can)|Irish Modal Verbs (need, want, must, can)]], [[Language/Irish/Grammar/Future-Tense|Future Tense]] & [[Language/Irish/Grammar/Personal-pronouns|Personal pronouns]]. 
==Background==
===Imperative===

Before we begin to start learning how to conjugate it we must first learn how the imperative is used in Irish. It's used for:

#Orders
#* Go home! - Gabh abhaile! 
#Normative statements 
#*Let him stand then! - Seasadh sé mar sin! 

As you can probably tell this is a bit different to English where we only have imperative forms for the second person, whereas in Irish they're used for every pronoun, including 'autonomous verbs' or 'saorbhriathra', which can be quite confusing at first but through careful repetition and practice you'll learn the forms.

Another use of the imperative is to serve as the dictionary forms of verbs since Irish lacks a true 'infinitive mood'. In this case either the 1st or 2nd person singular imperative will be used depending on the dictionary.

===Broad and Slender agreement rule===
This rule applies everywhere in Irish except for composite words.
*Rule: "broad with broad, slender with slender"
*Broad vowels: a, o, u
*Slender vowels: i, e
* Description: the immediate vowel on either side of a consonant or consonant cluster must be in agreement of vowel type. This is to mark consonant quality (saoi and sí have different s sounds despite sharing the same oral vowel) 
* Example: 
** Seas = stand! (to one person)
** Seasaigí = stand! (to many people)
** <s>Seasigí</s> is not possible, because the middle 's' has a broad to the left, a slender to the right.
*Exception: ''a''ns''e''o (it is a composite word. Meaning: here)

==Conjugations==
===First conjugation===
Characteristics:
* Most first-conjugation verbs have one-syllable stems. 
* The exceptions are a few verbs with two syllables, including English loans, with the suffix -áil.

====Verb Table====
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! 1 SG.
! 2 SG. 
! 3 SG. 
! 1 PL.
! 2 PL. 
! 3 PL. 
! Aut. 
! English
|-
| ligim
| lig
| ligeadh sé/sí
| ligimis
| ligigí
| ligeadh siad
| ligtear 
| let, allow
|-
| rithim
| rith
| ritheadh sé/sí
| rithimis
| rithigí
| ritheadh siad
| ritear
| run
|-
| feicim
| feic
| feiceadh sé/sí
| feicimis
| feicigí
| feiceadh siad
| feictear 
| see
|-
| seasaim
| seas
| seasadh sé/sí
| seasaimis
| seasaigí
| seasadh siad
| seastar
| stand
|-
| glanaim
| glan
| glanadh sé/sí
| glanaimis
| glanaigí
| glanadh siad
| glantar
| clean
|-
| dúnaim
| dún
| dúnadh sé/sí
| dúnaimis
| dúnaigí
| dúnadh siad 
| dúntar
| close
|-
| scríobhaim
| scríobh
| scríobhadh sé/sí
| scríobhaimis
| scríobhaigí
| scríobhadh siad
| scríobhtar
| write
|-
|}
'''Table 1. ''Examples of first conjugation verbs in imperative.'''''

'''SG.''' - Singular, 
'''PL.''' - Plural, 
'''Aut.''' - Autonomous

'''Remember''' the 2nd person singular form (2 SG.), as presented above, is the usual "dictionary form".

'''Note''' the broad/slender rule in effect above

'''Note''' autonomous forms roughly mean "somebody do something" or "be it done" 

'''Note''' that the -adh endings when before a noun (eg. Seachadadh fear acu é - Let one of them deliver it) are said as if they were written -ach /-əx/. However, when before a '''pronoun''' or '''demonstrative''' beginning with s (eg. Dúnadh sé an doras - Let him close the door) they're said as if written -ait /-ətʲ/

====Verbs with final sound as vowel====

Verbs pronounced with a final vowel are written with -igh in the singular; this is dropped when the plural imperative (or any other) ending is added. If the vowel is i, it becomes long í when the igh is dropped (cf. nigh).

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! 2 SG. 
! 3 SG/PL. 
! 2 PL.
! English
|-
| brúigh
| brúdh sé/sí/siad
| brúigí
| press, push
|-
| dóigh
| dódh sé/sí/siad
| dóigí
| burn
|-
| léigh
| léadh sé/sí/siad
| léigí
| read
|-
| nigh
| níodh sé/sí/siad
| nígí
| wash
|}
'''Table 2. ''Examples of first conjugation verbs in imperative with final sound as vowel'''''

'''Note''' this applies to verbs that have a final SOUND as a vowel, but there may be (silent) consonants at the end.

'''Note''' for the 3rd person forms these verbs will have a broad ending affixed to them, ie. brúdh sé not brúidh sé. For verbs ending on -igh or -í they get -íodh, ie. níodh sé

'''Note''' endings are the same as the original expanded table unless stated otherwise.

====Broadening of two-syllable verbs====
 
Two-syllable verbs (and occasionally one-syllable ones) broaden the last consonant before a suffix (spelled by dropping the preceding i).
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! 2 SG. 
! 3 SG/PL.
! 2 PL. 
! English
|-
| sábháil
| sábháladh sé/sí/siad
| sábhálaigí
| save
|-
| péinteáil
| péinteáladh sé/sí/siad
| péinteálaigí
| paint
|-
| taispeáin
| taispeánadh sé/sí/siad
| taispeánaigí
| show
|-
| siúil
| siúladh sé/sí/siad
| siúlaigí
| walk
|}
'''Table 3. ''Examples of first conjugation two-syllable verbs in imperative'''''

'''Exception''' a few exceptions retain the slender consonant when endings are added; the
most common such verb is tiomáin/tiomáineadh sé/tiomáinigí ‘drive’.

===Second Conjugation===
Characteristics:
* The second verb class differs from the first in having '''mostly two-syllable imperative stems''' and '''long vowels''' in the '''endings'''. 
* The second syllable of the imperative singular in this class of verbs '''often ends in igh''', which is dropped when endings are added. 
* To conform to the broad/slender rule, the '''unpronounced letter a''' is added between the suffix and a verb ending in a broad consonant.
====General case====
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Singular
! Plural
! English
|-
| éirigh
| éirígí
| rise
|-
| imigh
| imígí
| go, depart
|-
| socraigh
| socraígí
| settle, arrange
|-
| ceannaigh
| ceannaígí
| buy
|}
'''Table 1. ''Examples of second conjugation verbs in imperative.'''''

'''Remember''' the singular form, as presented above, is the "dictionary form".

'''Note''' both long í's in -ígí, contrasting with the first conjugation which ends in (a)igí. This long í make a difference in pronounciation and it makes up for the loss of the igh or other ending. 

====The l,r,n rule====

If the second syllable (sometimes the first) ends in either l, r, or n, an unstressed short vowel in the second syllable is omitted when an ending is added, unless loss of the vowel would produce a difficult-to-pronounce sequence of consonants (as in foghlaim - <s>foghlmaígi</s> is unpronounceable!).
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Singular
! Plural
! English
|-
| oscail
| osclaígí
| open
|-
| imir
| imrígí
| play
|-
| inis
| insígí
| tell
|-
| foghlaim
| foghlaimígí
| learn
|}
'''Table 1. ''Examples of second conjugation verbs in imperative.'''''

==Conclusion==
These rules can seem complicated at first, but they actually turn out to be quite logical as you progress in learning Irish. It may seem complicated here, but the very same rules apply to the present tense and more. That's for a future lesson.

Have you read this far? Good, because I have some ''orders for all'' of you reading this: 

'nois, suigí síos, osclaígí bhur gcóipleabhair agus scríobhaigí amach na nótaí a thug mé daoibh!.

I like giving orders. Don't you? Now you can do it in Irish.

Mar sin, nígí bhur lámha, ithigí bhur lón agus rithigí abhaile!

==Sources==
# Book: Teach yourself Irish grammar
# Book: Basic Irish: A grammar and workbook
# Google
# Wiktionary
# Book: Buntús Gramadaí

==Other Lessons==
* [[Language/Irish/Grammar/Plurals|Plurals]]
* [[Language/Irish/Grammar/Conditional-Mood|Conditional Mood]]
* [[Language/Irish/Grammar/Future-Tense|Future Tense]]
* [[Language/Irish/Grammar/Negation|Negation]]
* [[Language/Irish/Grammar/Irish-Prepositional-Pronouns|Irish Prepositional Pronouns]]
* [[Language/Irish/Grammar/Irish-Modal-Verbs-(need,-want,-must,-can)|Irish Modal Verbs (need, want, must, can)]]
* [[Language/Irish/Grammar/Adjectives|Adjectives]]
* [[Language/Irish/Grammar/Pronouns|Pronouns]]
* [[Language/Irish/Grammar/Personal-pronouns|Personal pronouns]]
<span links></span>
@@ Line 223: / Line 223: @@
 {| class="wikitable"
 |-
-! 1 SG.
+! Singular
-! 2 SG.
+! Plural
-! 3 SG.
-! 1 PL.
-! 2 PL.
-! 3 PL.
-! Aut.
 ! English
 |-
-| éirím
+| éirigh
-| éirigh
-| éiríodh sé/sí/siad
-| éirímis
 | éirígí
-| éiríodh siad
-| éirítear
 | rise
 |-
-| imím
 | imigh
-| imíodh sé/sí
-| imímis
 | imígí
-| imíodh siad
-| imítear
 | go, depart
 |-
-| socraím
 | socraigh
-| socraíodh sé/sí
-| socraímis
 | socraígí
-| socraíodh siad
-| socraítear
 | settle, arrange
 |-
-| ceannaím
 | ceannaigh
-| ceannaíodh sé/sí
-| ceannaímis
 | ceannaígí
-| ceannaíodh siad
-| ceannaítear
 | buy
 |}
@@ Line 272: / Line 247: @@
 '''Remember''' the singular form, as presented above, is the "dictionary form".
 '''Note''' both long í's in -ígí, contrasting with the first conjugation which ends in (a)igí. This long í make a difference in pronounciation and it makes up for the loss of the igh or other ending.
 ====The l,r,n rule====