Could | couldn't

B' urrainn | Cha b' urrainn

We first saw urrainn (ability, power) in A2 Cuspair 12 when we learned about iomlaid (inversion) with abairtean mòdail (modal phrases). These are the phrases where we say there is a miann (desire), comas (ability) or riatanas (necessity) to do something.

Remember we only get inversion after modal phrases like 'S urrainn if the verbal noun and noun are directly linked, with no preposition between them. If a preposition is needed to connect them, then there is no inversion.

Cha b' urrainn

As we saw in Cuspair 2 with 'S e and B' e , there are only two tenses of Is , the present tense form Is | Cha and the conditional or past tense form Bu | Cha bu .

These are the forms we combine with urrainn to get its present and conditional or past tense forms.

Here is the gnìomhair fillte (compound verb) urrainn in the present tense is

IS URRAINN

and in the conditional or past tense b' :

B' URRAINN