The Past Tense – An Aimsir Chaite
Sprioc – We are learning how to find patterns in verbs to
put them in suitable groups.
T.S. = Problem solving.
Aspirating consonants
B, c, d, f, g, m, p, s, t
Britney Caught Dopey Friends Going Mad Publicly Silly Twits
Non-aspirating consonants
H, L, n, r + sc, sm, sp, st.
He Likes Noodles and Rice / Scallians Smell SPicey in STew
Positive
Rule 1: If a verb starts with an aspirating consonant, then you
aspirate – buail – bhuail mé an tábla
Rule 2: If a verb starts with a non-aspirating consonant then
no change is needed – nigh – nigh mé mé féin
Rule 3: If a verb starts with a vowel, then you put a D’ before
the vowel – oscail – d’oscail Seán an doras
Rule 4: If a verb begins with an “F” you use both rule 1 and 3
together D’ and aspirate – Fág – D’fhág mé an teach
Negative
 To make a regular verb negative in the past tense, simply
put níor before it.
 Verbs from Rule 1/2 above don’t change after níor but
verbs from rule 3/4 lose the D’
Níor bhuail mé, níor rith sí, níor oscail mé, níor fhág sé.
Question / Interoggative
To make a question in the Past Tense, using a regular verb, use
Ar before the verb and follow the same rules for níor.
Indíreach/Indirect
 Indirect speech in Irish is when you could say “that” in
English. “I said that I hit the table”
 We simply use the word gur and follow the rules for ar.
 To make a sentence negatively indirect, we use the word
nár instead.
Dúirt mé gur bhuail mé an tábla.
Dúirt mé nár bhuail mé an doras.
An Aimsir Chaite – Briathra Rialta
The Past Tense – Regular verbs
Fill in the following table using the verbs – Translate the verbs into English.
Stem
Positive +
Negative -
Question?
Bris (break)
Bhris mé
Níor bhris mé
Ar bhris tú
Tóg
Ceannaigh
Síl
Nigh
Rith
Léigh
Oscail
Ól
Imir
Ullmhaith
Fág
Fan
Foghlaim
Indirect +
Indirect -
Dúirt mé gur bhris Dúirt mé nár bhris
mé
mé