Graiméar na Gaedhilge/The Autonomous Form of the Irish Verb

by Christian Brothers

The Autonomous Form of the Irish Verb.

It is sometimes necessary or convenient to express an action without mentioning the subject, either because the latter is too general or not of sufficient importance to be mentioned, or because there is some other reason for suppressing it. Most languages have felt this necessity, and various means have been adopted to supply it. The use of the passive voice, or of reflexive verbs, or of circumlocutions, is the method generally adopted in other languages. In Irish there is a special form of the verb for this purpose. As it has no subject expressed it is sometimes called the Indefinite form of the verb as it forms a complete sentence in itself it is also called the Autonomous or Independent form.

An English verb cannot stand without its subject. For example, “walks,” “walked,” etc., express nothing. The English verbs cannot alone make complete sense. The Autonomous form of Irish verbs can stand alone. The word “Buailtear” is a complete sentence. It means that “the action of striking takes place.” The Autonomous form stands without a subject; in fact it cannot be united to a subject, because the moment we express a subject the ordinary 3rd person singular form of the particular tense and mood must be substituted. Buailtear an bord. Someone (they, people, we, etc.) strikes the table; but buaileann an fear (sé, siad, na daoine, etc.) an bord.

We shall take the sentence: Buailtear an gaḋar le cloiċ ó láiṁ Ṫaiḋg. The word “buailtear” of itself conveys a complete statement, viz., that the action of striking takes place. The information given by the single word “buailtear” is restricted to the action. There are circumstances surrounding that action of which we may wish to give information; e.g. “What is the object of the action?” “An gaḋar.” “What is the instrument used?” “Le cloiċ.” “Where did the stone come from?” “Ó láiṁ Ṫaiḋg.” We may thus fill in any number of circumstances we please, and fit them in their places by means of the proper prepositions, but these circumstances do not change the nature of the fundamental word “buailtear.”

It may be objected that the word “buailtear” in the last sentence is passive voice, present tense, and means “is struck” and that “an gaḋar” is the subject of the verb. Granted for a moment that it is passive voice. Now since “Buailteann duine éigin é,” somebody strikes him, is active voice, as all admit, and by supposition “buailtear é,” somebody strikes him, or, he is struck, is passive, then comes the difficulty, what voice is “táṫar buailte,” somebody is struck? Surely it is the passive of “buailtear”; and if so “buailtear” itself cannot be passive, though it may be rendered by a passive in English. If we are to be guided merely by the English equivalent, then “buaileann” in the above phrase is as much a passive voice as “buailtear” because it can be correctly translated into English by a passive verb: viz., He is struck.

When we come to consider this form in intransitive verbs, our position becomes much stronger in favour of the Autonomous verb. Let us consider the following sentence: Siuḃaltar ar an mbóṫar nuair ḃíonn an bóṫar tirim, aċt nuair ḃíonn an bóṫar fliuċ, siuḃaltar ar an gclaiḋe. People walk on the road when it is dry, but when the road is wet they walk on the path. Where is the nominative case of the so called passive verb here? Evidently there is none. The verb stands alone and conveys complete sense. If we wish to express the nominative, the Autonomous form of the verb cannot be used. In the above sentence we might correctly say: Siuḃlann sé (siad, sinn, na daoine, etc.), but not siuḃaltar é (iad, sinn, na daoine, etc.)

Probably classical scholars will draw analogies from Latin and quote such instances as, Concurritur ad muros. Ventum est ad Vestae. Sic itur ad astra. Deinde venitur ad portam; where we have intransitive verbs in an undoubtedly passive construction, and therefore, by analogy, the true signification of siuḃaltar in the above sentence is “It is walked,” and it is simply an example of the impersonal passive construction. Now, if conclusions of any worth are to be drawn from analogies, the analogies themselves must be complete. The classical form corresponding to the Irish Bítear ag siuḃal ar an mbóṫar nuair ḃíonn an bóṫar tirim, etc., or táṫar ag siuḃal ar an mbóṫar anois is wanting, and therefore the analogy is incomplete and deductions from it are of little value.

One of the strongest arguments we have in favour of the Autonomous verb is the fact that the verb “to be” in Irish possesses every one of the forms possessed by transitive and intransitive verbs. The analogy with Latin again fails here. Táṫar ag teaċt. Somebody is coming. Beiḋfar ag siuḃal, Somebody will be walking. Nuair ṁoṫuiġ an t‑aṫaċ go raḃṫas ag ceangailt a ċos, When the giant perceived that they were binding his legs.

The Irish Autonomous form cannot be literally translated into English, because no exact counterpart exists in English, hence the usual method of translating this form is to use the English passive voice, but the Irish verb is not therefore passive. To give an instance of the incapability of the English language to express literally the force of the Autonomous verb, notice the English translation of the subjoined example of the continued use of the Autonomous verb in an Irish sentence.

“Áit ana-aereaċ is eaḋ an áit sin: nuair ḃítear ag gaḃáil an treo sain i n‑am mairḃ na h‑oiḋċe, airiġtear coisiḋeaċt d’á déanaṁ ⁊ foṫrom mar ḃeifiḋe ag riṫ ⁊ foṫrom eile mar ḃeifiḋe ag teiċeaḋ, ⁊ annsain airiġtear foṫrom mar ṫiocfaiḋe suas ⁊ mar ḃuailfiḋe ⁊ mar ḃeifiḋe faoi ḃualaḋ ⁊ mar ḃrisfiḋe, ⁊ annsain airiġtear mar ḃeaḋ dearg-ruaṫar ⁊ tóir.”

This passage cannot be literally translated: the following will give a fair idea of its meaning: “That place is frequented by fairies: when one is walking near it in the dead stillness of the night, footsteps are heard and loud noises, as if people were running and fleeing, and then other noises are heard as if people were overtaking (those who were running away), and were striking and being struck, and as if they were being broken in pieces, and then are heard noises as if they were in hot rout and pursuit.”

The Autonomous form of the verb has a passive voice of its own formed by the addition of the verbal adjective (or past participle) of the verb to the Autonomous forms of the verb to be; e.g., Táṫar buailte, etc.

This form of the Irish verb has a full conjugation through all the moods and tenses, active and passive voices; but has only one form for each tense. All verbs in Irish, with the single exception of the assertive verb is, have this form of conjugation. Is can have no Autonomous form, because it has no meaning by itself. It is as meaningless as the sign of equality (=) until the terms are placed one on each side of it.

To sum up then, the Irish Autonomous form is not passive, for—

(1) All verbs (except is), transitive and intransitive, even the verb tá, have this form of conjugation.

(2) This form has a complete passive voice of its own.

(3) The disjunctive forms of the personal pronouns are always used with it; e.g., buailtear é.

(4) Very frequently when a personal pronoun is the object of the Autonomous form of the verb, it is placed last in the sentence or clause to which it belongs, thus giving a very close analogy with the construction of the active verb, already explained in par. 535. Níor ċian dam … gur seolaḋ isteaċ san gcoill seo mé … It was not long until I was driven into this wood. Do leiġeasaḋ ó n‑a gcréaċtaiḃ iad. They were healed of their wounds.

(5) Lastly, and the strongest point of all, in the minds of native Irish speakers, without exception, the word buailtear in such sentences as “buailtear an gaḋar” is active, and gaḋar is its object. Surely those Irish speakers are the best judges of the true shape of their own thoughts.

We will now give a synopsis of the various forms of the Autonomous verb, beginning with the verb tá.

The Verb TÁ.

táṫar[1]		$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	Some­one, we, they, peo­ple, etc.	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	is, are.
Ní ḟuiltear.[2]					is not, are not.
bítear (bíṫear).					does be, do be.
Ní ḃítear.					does not be, do not be.
ḃiṫeas (ḃíṫeas).					was, were.
Ní raḃṫas.					was not, were not.
bítí.					used to be.
beifar, beifear, beiḋfear, béiṫear.					will be.
beifí(ḋe), beiḋfi(ḋe), béiṫí.					would be.
bítear	(Let).				be.
má táṫar	(If).				is, are.
má bítear	(If).				does be, do be.
etc.
dá mbeifí	(If).				were, would be.
go raḃṫas!	(May).				be (for once).
go mbítear!	(May).				be (generally).

Deirim go ḃfuiltear,	I say that someone, etc.,	is.
Deirim ná fuiltear,	„   „   „	is not.

An Intransitive Verb.

siuḃaltar		$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	Some­one, we, they, peo­ple, etc.	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	walks, walk.
táṫar ag siuḃal.					is (are) walking.
bítear ag siuḃal.					does (do) be walking.
siuḃlaḋ.					walked.
ḃiṫeas ag siuḃal.					was (were) walking.
siuḃaltaoi.					used to walk.
bítí ag siuḃal.					used to be walking.
siuḃalfar.					will walk.
beifar ag siuḃal.					will be walking.
siuḃalfaoi.					would walk
beifí ag siuḃal.					would be walking.
siuḃaltar	(Let).				walk.
bítear ag siuḃal	(Let).				be walking.
má siuḃaltar	(If).				is (are) walking.
etc.
dá siuḃaltaoi	(If).				would be walking.
dá mbeifí ag siuḃal	(If).				were walking.

A Transitive Yerb.

A noun is placed after the active forms in order to show the cases.

Buailtear an clár.	Someone strikes the table.
Táṫar ag bualaḋ an ċláir.	Someone is striking the table.
Tá an clár dá (ġá) ḃualaḋ.	The table is being struck.
Bítear buailte.	Someone is struck.
Táṫar fé bualaḋ,	Someone is being struck.
Bítear as bualaḋ an ċláir.	Someone usually strikes the table.
Do buaileaḋ an clár.	Someone struck the table.
Ḃíṫeas ag bualaḋ an ċláir.	Someone was striking the table.
Ḃí an clár dá (ġá) bualaḋ.	The table was being struck.
Ḃíṫeas buailte.	Someone was struck.
Ḃíṫeas fé ḃualaḋ.	Someone was being struck.
Buailtí an clár.	Someone used to strike the table.
Bítí ag bualaḋ an ċláir.	Someone used to be striking the table.
Bítí buailte.	Someone used to be struck.
Buailfar (buailfear) an clár.	Someone will strike the table.
Beifar ag bualaḋ an ċláir.	Someone will be striking the table.
Beifar buailte.	Someone will be struck.
Buailfí (buailfiḋe) an clár.	Someone would strike the table.
Beifí ag bualaḋ an ċláir.	Someone would be striking the table.
Beifí buailte.	Someone would be struck.
Buailtear an clár.	Let someone strike the table.
Bítear ag bualaḋ an clár.	Let someone be striking the table.
Má buailtear an clár.	If someone strikes the table.
Má bítear ag bualaḋ an ċláir.	If someone does be striking the table.
etc.
Dá mbuailfí an clár.	If someone were to strike the table.
Dá mbeifí ag bualaḋ an ċláir.	If someone were to be striking the table.

Before leaving this important subject it may not be uninteresting to see what some Irish grammarians have thought of the Autonomous form.

O’Donovan in his Irish Grammar (p. 183) wrote as follows:—

“The passive voice has no synthetic form to denote persons or numbers; the personal pronouns, therefore, must be always expressed, and placed after the verb; and, by a strange peculiarity of the language, they are always ‘in the accusative form.’

“For this reason some Irish scholars have considered the passive Irish verb to be a form of the active verb, expressing the action in an indefinite manner; as, buailtear mé, i.e., some person or persons, thing or things, strikes or strike me; buaileaḋ é, some person or thing (not specified) struck him. But it is more convenient in a practical grammar to call this form by the name passive, as in other languages, and to assume that tú, é, í, and iad, which follow it, are ancient forms of the nominative case.”

Molloy says in his Grammar, page 62:—

“Verbs have a third form which may be properly called deponent; as buailtear mé, I am (usually) beaten; buailtear ú, thou art (usually) beaten; buailtear é, he is (usually) beaten. The agent of this form of the verb is never known; but although verbs of this form always govern the objective case, like active verbs, still they must be rendered in English by the passive; as, buaileaḋ iad, they were beaten. Here iad is quite passive to the action; for it suffers the action which is performed by some unknown agent.”

Again at page 99, he says:—

“But there is another form of the verb which always governs an objective case; and although it must be translated into the passive voice in English, still it is a deponent, and not a passive, form in Irish; as, buailtear mé, etc. The grammarians who maintain that this form of the verb takes a nominative case clearly show that they did not speak the language; for no Irish-speaking person would say buailtear sé, sí, siad. It is equally ridiculous to say that é, í, iad, are nominatives in Irish, although they be found so in Scotch Gaelic.”

Further on, at page 143, he states again that “deponent verbs govern an objective case.”

Thus we plainly see that O’Donovan and Molloy bear out the fact that the noun or pronoun after the Autonomous form of the verb is in the accusative case, though the former says it is more convenient to assume that it is in the nominative case!

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Notes

1. táṫars or táṫa’s.
2. fuilṫears, fuilṫea’s.