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is of you he was speaking.” In Irish there is a special verb for this purpose, and of this verb there are forms to be used in principal clauses and forms to be used in dependent clauses—e.g.:
Is mise an fear. I am the man.
Deirim gur ab é Seaġán an fear. I say John is the man.
334.
Forms of the Assertive Verb.
(a) In Principal Sentences.
- Present Tense, is. Relative, is or as.
- Past Tense, ba.
- [Future Simple, buḋ. Relative, ḃus].
- Secondary Future or Conditional, baḋ.
- Subjunctive, ab; sometimes ba.
- Subjunc. Pres. (with go) go mba, gurab; (with ná) nárab, nára.
- Subjunc. Past. dá mbaḋ, “if it were.”
335.
Present Tense.
| is mé, I am; or, it is I. | is sinn, we are, it is we. |
| is tú, thou art, it is you. | is siḃ, you are, it is you. |
| is é he is, it is he. is í, she is, it is she. |
is iad, they are, it is they. |
336.
Past Tense.
| ba mé, | I was, it was I. |
| ba ṫú, | thou wast, &c. |
| dob’ é, b’ é, ba h‑é, | he was, &c. |
| dob’ í, b’ í, ba h‑é | she was, &c. |
| ba sinn, | we were, &c. |
| ba siḃ, | you were, &c. |
| dob’ iad, b’ iad, ba h‑iad | they were, &c. |
