At level B1 we’ll be using more briathrachas gràmair (grammar vocabulary). We’ll keep it simple for now!
Let’s look at four parts of speech you’ll find in most sentences.
Firstly, let’s take a look at gnìomhairean (verbs) and ainmearan gnìomhaireach (verbal nouns.)
Verbs and Verbal Nouns
ciallaich! | a’ ciallachadh
mean (intend)! | meaning
creid! | a’ creidsinn
believe! | believing
cuir! | a’ cur
put! send! | putting, sending
dèan! | a’ dèanamh
make! do! | making, doing
freagair! | a’ freagairt
answer! | answering
innis! | ag innse
tell! | telling
ionnsaich! | ag ionnsachadh
learn! | learning
mìnich! | a’ mìneachadh
explain! | explaining
tuig! | a’ tuigsinn
understand! | understanding
can! (abair!) | ag ràdh
say! | saying
cuimhnich! | cuimhneachadh
remember! | remembering
Nouns
Most sentences will have an ainmear (noun), and here are some you might use in learning situations. Remember that in Gaelic, nouns can be feminine (boireann, f) and masculine (fireann, m).
ainmear (m)
noun
briathrachas (m)
vocabulary
brìgh (f)
meaning, essence
buadhair (m)
adjective
faclair (m)
dictionary
foghlam (m)
education
gnìomhair (m)
verb
gràmar (m)
grammar
mearachd (f)
mistake, error
gnè (f)
gender
And you’ll see that buadhair and gnìomhair are on that list. This is because the words for these are all nouns!
Adjectives
To add descriptive features to nouns, we use buadhairean (adjectives), for example:
ciallach
sensible, reasonable
mì-chiallach
meaningless, absurd
cruaidh
hard, difficult
doilleir
dark, gloomy
doirbh
difficult
soirbh
easy
furasta
easy
luath
quick
slaodach
slow
soilleir
clear, bright, light (in colour)
Phrases and sentences
And we can put these together to form abairtean (phrases or expressions) and seantansan (sentences).
An can thu sin nas slaodaiche?
Can you say that more slowly?
Chan eil sgot agam.
I don’t have a clue.
Dè tha sin a’ ciallachadh?
What does that mean?
Dèan a’ chùis air …
Manage it/manage to do …
Dèan an gnothach air …
Succeed at …/get the better of …
Tha e agam air bàrr mo theangaidh.
I have it/It’s on the tip of my tongue.
Thèid agam air sin a dhèanamh.
I can (manage to) do that.