We have seen an tràth cumhach (the conditional tense) often in B1, and we’ll take a look at it again here. In B1 Cuspair 7 we saw how we would say ‘if … would’ by using nan, or nam with b,f,m,p. Here we’ll take a look at two common forms of the verb rach (go) in the conditional tense. You will see rachadh and dheigheadh for ‘would go’.
RACHADH | RACHADH |
Nuair a rachadh … | Mura rachadh … |
When … would go … | If … did not go … |
Nan rachadh … | |
If … would go |
DHEIGHEADH | DEIGHEADH |
Nuair a dheigheadh … | Mura deigheadh … |
When … would go … | If … did not go … |
Nan deigheadh … | |
If … would go |
We saw the two forms at first in Cuspair 2 and we used it to talk about Còmhdhail (Transport).
We will use these again here to talk about our travel plans.
RACH! | A’ DOL
GO! | GOING
An rachadh | An deigheadh?
Would go?
Nach rachadh | Nach deigheadh?
Wouldn’t go?
Rachadh | Dheigheadh
Would go
Cha rachadh | Cha deigheadh
Wouldn’t go
Rachainn | Dheighinn
I would go
Rachamaid | Dheigheadh sinn
We would go
Nan rachadh tu dhan Fhraing, an deigheadh tu a Pharas? An deigheadh tu suas gu mullach Tùr Eiffel?
If you went to France, would you go to Paris? Would you go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower?
Nan rachadh tu chun nan Innseachan, càit an deigheadh tu? An deigheadh tu dhan Taj Mahal?
If you went to India, where would you go? Would you go to the Taj Mahal?
Can
We can use the compound verb Is urrainn (can) which we first saw in A2 Cuspair 12 in the conditional tense as well:
URRAINN DO
Am b’ urrainn?
Could, Would be able?
Nach b’ urrainn?
Couldn’t, Wouldn’t be able?
Nam b’ urrainn …
If … could …
B’ urrainn
Could, Would be able
Cha b’ urrainn
Couldn’t, Wouldn’t be able
Mura b’ urrainn …
If … couldn’t …
Nam b’ urrainn dhut a dhol a dh’àite sam bith air an t–saoghal, càit an rachadh tu?
If you could go to anywhere in the world, where would you go?