4. The Order of Words in a Sentence

The general order of words in a Gaelic sentence is:- First, the Predicate; next, the Subject; then, the Object; finally the Extensions of the Predicate. e.g.

   1.  Bha an  duine anns an  dorus.
       Was the man   in   the door
       "The man was in the door."

   2.  Chunnaic an  duine each      an dé.
       Saw      the man   (a) horse yesterday
       "The man saw a horse yesterday."

Case

A noun or pronoun is in the Nominative Case when it is the subject word, such as the person or thing mentioned as the subject; as "Bhuail each e" (A horse kicked him); each is the subject word; and in the Accusative Case when it is the object word; as, "Bhuail e each" (He kicked a horse); each is the object word. The Accusative takes the same form as the Nominative.

The Genitive Case denotes possession and is governed:

  1. by nouns; as "ceann eich" (a horse's head); eich is in the Genitive Case after the noun ceann
  2. by compound prepositions; as "air muin eich" (on a horse's back); eich is Genitive case after the preposition "air muin";
  3. by verbal nouns; as "a' bualadh an eich" (literally: at the striking of the horse); eich is Genitive Case after the verbal noun "a' bualadh".

The Dative Case follows most of the simple prepositions; as "air craoibh" (on a tree); "le cloich" (with a stone), where "croibh" and "cloich" are the datives of craobh and clach respectively.

The Vocative Case is used in addressing persons or things directly; e.g. "A dhuine!" (Oh! man!), "A choin!" (Oh! dog!). (Exclamation marks need not always be used after Vocative Case.)

1996-01-15 CPD