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Before the Parliament

Fa chomhair na Pàrlamaid

We learned about the compound preposition mu choinneimh / mu choinneamh (opposite, facing) in B1 .

There is another compound preposition like this, fa chomhair , which means 'opposite', but in the sense of 'in front of' or 'before'.

So we can use fa chomhair to talk about things which are fa chomhair na pàrlamaid (before parliament).

MU CHOINNEIMH
+ mi	mu mo choinneimh	mum choinneimh	opposite me
+ thu	mu do choinneimh	mud choinneimh	opposite you
+ e	mu (a) choinneimh	mu choinneimh	opposite him
+ i	mu (a) coinneimh	mu coinneimh	opposite her
+ sinn	mu ar coinneimh	mur coinneimh	opposite us
+ sibh	mu ur coinneimh	mur coinneimh	opposite you (polite/plural)
+ iad	mu an coinneimh	mun coinneimh	opposite them

FA CHOMHAIR
+ mi	fa mo chomhair	fam chomhair	before/opposite me
+ thu	fa do chomhair	fad chomhair	before/opposite you
+ e	fa (a) chomhair	fa chomhair	before/opposite him
+ i	fa (a) comhair	fa comhair	before/opposite her
+ sinn	fa ar comhair	far comhair	before/opposite us
+ sibh	fa ur comhair	fur comhair	before/opposite you (polite/plural)
+ iad	fa an comhair	fan comhair	before/opposite them

As we saw with each compound preposition before, fa chomhair causes nouns which follow to be in the genitive (possessive) case.

Chaidh an t–achd fa chomhair na Pàrlamaid an–diugh.

The act went before (the) Parliament today

Tha Lùchairt Taigh an Ròid fa chomhair an togalaich ann an Dùn Èideann.

Holyrood Palace (the Palace of Holyroodhouse) is opposite the building in Edinburgh.

Bha an lùchairt dìreach fa mo chomhair gun fhiosta dhomh!

The palace was just in front of me unexpectedly!

Seall, sin iad fa do chomhair!

Look, there they are in front of you!

We can also use fa chomhair in phrases when we mean 'in front of' or 'before'.

Seall, sin iad fa chomhair do shùilean

under/before your eyes

thàinig e fa chomhair m' inntinn

I realised (lit. it came before my mind)

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