Irish : Talking about hiking Focloir's website has the following example sentence: He loves hiking in the mountains. Is breá leis bheith ag siúl na gcnoc. I see that "in the mountains" is rendered a

Shawn

Community Tutor

Irish : Talking about hiking Focloir's website has the following example sentence: He loves hiking in the mountains. Is breá leis bheith ag siúl na gcnoc. I see that "in the mountains" is rendered as the genitive "na gcnoc" here, which to me, sounds more like "He loves hiking the mountains/hills." I wonder if you could use a prepositional phrase for "in the mountains" instead as you could in English. For instance, "bheith ag siúl sna sléibhte/cnoic" or "... i measc na gcnoc." Also, focloir lists siúlóireacht as a word meaning "hiking". Is this also acceptable? He loves hiking. Is breá leis siúlóireacht. Are these also correct? Bhí an fear ag siúl na gcnoc inné. The man hiked the hills yesterday. Bíonn an fear ag siúl na gcnoc gach maidin. The man hikes the hills every morning. Beidh an fear ag siúl na gcnoc amárach. The man will hike the hills tomorrow. Bhíodh an fear ag siúl na gcnoc gach Luan. The man used to hike the hills every Monday.

Mar 3, 2015 5:57 PM

Answers · 4

You could say "sna cnoic" or "sna sléibhte", but if you use "hills" as the direct object (which is in the genitive case after a verbal noun) it sounds better. The difference is quite subtle and not very easy to explain. "Ag siúl sna cnoic" makes it seem like the hills are just the incidental backdrop of your walking -- you're walking around, and you just happen to be in the hills. With "ag siúl na gcnoc", on the other hand, it's clear that the hills are the focus of your walking, that you're there specifically to walk in the hills. "Siúlóireacht" and your example sentences are all correct. You could also use the inflected verb (in which case the object is no longer in the genitive case): "shiúil/siúlann/siúlfaidh/shiúladh sé na cnoic". I see you've been studying the past habitual tense:)

March 4, 2015

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