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In Cuspair 2, we learnt words which mean ‘because’ in Gaelic:
a chionn ‘s
because, since
a thoradh ‘s
due to
air sàillibh ‘s
because
air tàillibh ‘s
because
air sgàth ‘s
because
oir …
because …
Oir is a naisgear (conjunction) meaning ‘for, because’. We should only use oir when we could say ‘for’ in English, e.g. ‘I’m tired for I was up all night’. Oir is followed by the independent form of the verb, but remember that the conjunctions that are followed by ‘s take the dependent form:
Tha mi sgìth oir bha mi …
I am tired because (for) I was …
Air sgàth ‘s gun robh mi … , tha mi sgìth.
Because I was … , I am tired
The ‘s which follows air sgàth is a contraction of agus. We can use air sgàth (minus the ‘s) directly with a noun in the genitive case to mean ‘for the sake of’ or ‘on account of’. We can do the same with the other compound prepositions we saw above
Chan ith mi feòil air sgàth ‘s na h–àrainneachd.
I don’t eat meat for the sake of the environment.