Abairtí

Let’s create a sentence in Irish using the present tense.

To do this we must understand the word order we use to form a sentence in Irish. Languages do this in many different ways. Word order is different in Irish then it is in English. In English, the subject comes first, followed by the verb, and then the object. Here is an example:

Seán eats the chocolate

• Seán is the subject of the sentence - The performer of the action
• The word ‘eats’ is the verb - The action
• The word ‘the chocolate’ is the object - The thing the action is done to

As such, English, like many languages, uses a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) word order.

Irish uses a different word order. In most cases, sentences are constructed using the Verb-Subject-Object (VSO) order. In Irish, the verb comes first, followed by the subject, and then the object. The sentence ‘Seán eats the chocolate’ is translated as:

Itheann Seán an tseacláid

• Itheann / ‘Eats’ is the verb - The action
• Seán is the subject - The performer of the action
• An tseacláid / ‘the chocolate’ is the object - The thing the action is done to

Another example:

Ólann Máire vodca
Máire drinks vodka

• Ólann / ‘drinks’ is the verb - The action
• Máire is the subject - The performer of the action
• vodca / ’vodka’ is the object - The thing the action is done to

This is very important in constructing a sentence and understanding this logic will help you learn how to do this independently.

Try to construct a sentence using what we have learned. If comfortable, feel free to make a recording using a tool like SpeakPipe and post it.