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A’ Ghàidhealtachd

B1
Dashboard
sg-star
Complete for 2 points

Bilingual transcription: Naisgearan

Bilingual transcription: Conjunctions

Watch this clip where Joy gives us some of her useful tips and favourite phrases.

You’ll already know that Gaelic has two words for IF: ma and nan.

We use Ma with present, past and future verbs: Ma tha thu a-staigh…If you’re in

The other If word, NAN, is used with conditional sentences: Bhithinn gu math toilichte nan tigeadh iad. I’d be happy if they came

Andthere’s a third word for if, the negative MURA,‘if not’, used in all tenses and with the dependent form of the verb: Mura bheil thu cinnteach…‘If you’re not sure’

In English ‘If not’ can stand alone, but in Gaelic mura must always be used with a verb: ‘Will you be back for dinner? If not I’ll keep you some food.’

In the Gaelic we need to pick up the verb used in the question: Am bi thu air ais airson dinnear? Mura bi, cumaidh mi biadh dhut.

And similarly ‘If so’: ‘Are you coming with us? If so, bring a coat.’ A bheil thu a’ tighinn còmhla rinn? Ma tha, thoir còta leat.