adjective agreement

[Andrew Carnie]

------- Forwarded Message
From: "David Roberts" <DGR at zeus.HSRC.ac.za>
Organization:  Human Sciences Research Council
To

Elizabeth wrote:
>         I have a wee question about Irish adjectival agreement.  I read
> somewhere that predicate adjectives don't inflect for number and case,
> but the book didn't give any relevant examples.  So in the following
> sentences, could someone tell me which is the right adjectiuval form?
>
>         Ta/ na fir (mo/r mo/ra).
>         Ta/ siad na fir reasu/nta (mo/r mor/ra)
>
>                                                 Go raibh maith agaibh
>
>                                                 Elizabeth J. Pyatt
>                                                 pyatt1 at fas.harvard.edu
>
> ------- End of Forwarded Message
>
 Dear Elizabeth:

 Ta na fir mora .....is attributive

 eg. Ta na fir mora ag obair = The tall men are working.
     Ta na fir ata ag obair mor = The men who are working are tall.

 Your second sentence is incorrect.

 Ta siad na fir reusanta = Is iad na fir reusanta mora (sentence of
definition uses "is".   The reasonable men are tall.

Is iad na fir reusanta mora iad = They are the tall reasonable men.

There is a pause in the intonation before a predicative adjective
which in English comes after the verb to be.

I hope this will help you. It also depends on the dialect you are
learning what is correct.

Slainte

Daibhidh

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