Mastering the Scottish Gaelic Conditional Tense

1. The conditional tense of verbs

2. Buadhaireanfeumail Useful adjectives beòthaillively bragailvery confident dìcheallachdiligent diùidshy earbsachtrustworthy èasgaidhhard-working foighidneachpatient leisglazy misneachailconfident sgiobaltatidy, neat Tuigseachunderstanding soirbh (= furasta) easy

3. You have come across the conditional before in the verb to be: bhiodh– it would be. e.g. Bhiodh e math a dholdhachaightràth. It would be nice to go home early.

4. In other verbs it is indicated by the endings -eadh or –adh, and where possible lenition takes place – the second letter is h, as shown below: Dhèanadhmomhàthairbrot math. My mother would make good soup. Sheinneadh e òranaig a’ Mhòd. He would sing a song at the Mòd. Chanadh an tidseargubheil mi math air bruidhinn. The teacher would say I am good at talking.

5. Think about your teachers’ and friends’ opinions of you and try to finish the sentences below using new vocabulary from the unit. Chanadh an tidsearGàidhliggubheilmi….. Chanadhmocharaideangubheilmi…..

6. If you are talking about yourself, the “I” is included in the verb and there is no “mi” required. This is indicated by the ending –inn, as shown below: Bhithinntoilichteobair mar sin fhaighinn. I would be happy to get work like that. Shnàmhainnanns an amar-snàmh. I would swim in the swimming pool. Chanainngubheil mi èasgaidhagussgiobalta. I would say that I am hard-working and tidy. Try writing a sentence about how you view yourself. Chanainngubheilmi…..

7. Similarly with “we”, the special ending –eamaid or -amaid is often used at the end of verbs to indicate “we would”: Bhitheamaidtoilichte We would be happy Dhannsamaidaig a’ chèilidh We would dance at the cèilidh Ruitheamaidchunnasgoile ach tha i rofhada air falbh. We would run to school but it’s too far away.