Shawn
Community Tutor
Can "is féidir le" be used this way too? In English, sometimes we use "can" in the following situation: Mark: Do you hear the birds? Steve: Yes, I hear them. Mark: How about you Dan? Dan: Yes, I can hear the birds too. Here, "Yes, I can hear them too." actually means "Yes, I hear them too." Can we do the same thing in the Irish language or is that imposing alternate English grammar patterns onto the Irish language? That is, can we do the following? Mark: An gcloiseann sibh na héin? Steve: Cloisim Mark: Agus céard fútsa, a Dan? / Agus tú fein, a Dan? <-- I am not sure if I wrote this correct. Could you correct it too if it is wrong? Dan: Is ea. Is féidir liom na héin a chloisteáil freisin. Or must we say it like this: Mark: An gcloiseann sibh na héin? Steve: Cloisim Mark: Agus céard fútsa, a Dan? / Agus tú fein, a Dan? Dan: Cloisim. Cloisim na héin a chloisteáil freisin. <-- Isn't saying "cloisim" twice in this response kind of redundant though or is that how it should be in Irish? Hehehe.
Oct 29, 2014 12:23 PM
Answers · 3
1
No, "can" used in this way is a peculiarity of English. In Irish you say "Cloisim na héin" for "I can hear the birds" (similarly, "I can see the birds" is "feicim na héin"). So, your conversation would go: Mark: An gcloiseann sibh na héin? Steve: Cloisim. Mark: Agus tusa, a Dhan? Dan: (Cloisim,) cloisimse na héin freisin. Remember that the vocative particle causes lenition. You can leave out the first "cloisim" if you want, but it doesn't sound bad in Irish, as it would in English. "Cloisim na héin a chloisteáil" doesn't make any sense, I presume you didn't mean to write that.
October 29, 2014
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