In A1 Cuspair 11 and A2, Cuspair 8, we looked at the future tense and learnt that it can also have a habitual meaning.
Bidh mi a’ ruith a-màireach
I will be running tomorrow
Bidh mi a’ ruith gach latha
I run every dayday?
But how do we convey the same meaning when we want to talk about how things used to be in the past?
In A2, Cuspair 6, we looked at the conditional tense (an tràth cumhach) to talk about how things would be. Just as in English? We can also use this form to talk about how things used to be in the past in an habitual sense. All we need to do is change bidh (be) to bhiodh (would be).
Bhiodh iad a’ coinneachadh rithe sa mhadainn.
They’d be meeting her in the morning (if she was here)..(conditional) / They would meet her / used to meet her in the morning (habitual).
Am biodh? | Would be? |
Nach biodh? | Wouldn’t be? |
Bhiodh | Would be |
Cha bhiodh | Wouldn’t be |
To ask a question with ciamar (how), cò (who), dè (what), cuin(e) (when), cia mheud (how many) we use the positive (independent) form of the verb. Càit(e) follows its own pattern of using the question (dependent) form of the verb, just as before.
BHIODH | AM BIODH |
Ciamar a bhiodh? | Càit am biodh? |
Cò bhiodh? | |
Dè bhiodh? | |
Cuin a bhiodh? | |
Cia mheud a bhiodh? |