Page:Graimear na Gaedhilge.djvu/258

595. The word “just” in these sentences is not translated into Irish, and the word after d’ éis is in the genitive case.

596. When the English verb is transitive there is another very neat method of translating the secondary tenses. As already stated, there is no verb “to have” in Irish: its place is supplied by the verb tá and the preposition ag. Thus, “I have a book” is, Tá leaḃar agam. A similar construction may be used in translating the secondary tenses of an English transitive verb. The following sentences will illustrate the construction:—

I have written the letter,	Tá an litir sgríoḃṫa agam.
I have struck him,	Tá sé buailte agam.
Have you done it yet?	Ḃfuil sé deunta agat fós?
I have broken the stick,	Tá an maide briste agam.

597. The English Pluperfect and Future Perfect are translated in the same manner as the Present Perfect, except that the Past and Future Tenses respectively of TÁ must be used instead of the Present, as above. The following examples will illustrate the construction;—

He died,		Fuair sé bás.
He had just died,		Ḃí sé d’ báis d’ ḟaġáil.
He had broken the chair,	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	Ḃí sé d’ éis na caṫaoireac do ḃriseaḋ. Ḃí an ċaṫaoir briste aige.