Possessive Adjectives

Possessive Adjectives

The possessive adjectives are :
mo - my (lenites next word)	ar - our
do - your (lenites next word)	ur, bhur - your ‡
a - his (lenites next word)	an/am - their †
a - her	an/am - their †

† am - their is used before nouns beginning with b, f, m or p
‡ bhur - your is often used following a word ending in a vowel

Examples :
mo chòta - my coat	ar còta - our coat
do chòta - your coat	ur còta - your coat
a chòta - his coat	an còta - their coat am màthair - their mother
a còta - her coat	an còta - their coat am màthair - their mother

When the word following begins with a vowel the following forms are used :
m' airgead - my money	ar n-airgead - our money †
d' airgead - your money	ur n-airgead - your money †
' airgead - his money §	an airgead - their money
a h-airgead - her money	an airgead - their money

§ the apostrophe before a noun beginning with a vowel indicates the loss of the possessive adjective HIS and is not always used in the written language.
† ar n- and ur n- are frequently substituted by ar h- and ur h- respectively in the spoken language (particularly in the Lewis dialect).

Possessive adjectives are used in preference to the prepositional pronouns of **aig** when expressing close personal associations e.g. kinship, parts of the body etc :
mo chòta, an còta agam - my coat	ar taigh, an taigh againn
do chù, an cù agad - your dog	ur n-airgead, an t-airgead agaibh
a sgoil, an sgoil aige - his school *	an sgoil, an sgoil aca - their school $ an taigh, an taigh aca - their house $
a sgoil, an sgoil aice - her school *

* a sgoil - his / her school: where ambiguity exists you should use the prepositional pronouns to indicate possession.
$ - similarly, confusion with the definite noun can be avoided by using the prepositional pronoun.

Confusion in these situations can also be avoided by using the emphatic suffices you met in :
a sgoil-san - his school
a sgoil-se - her school
an sgoil-san - their school
an taigh-san - their house

NEW WORDS

**Adjectives**
bàn - fair, blond	buidhe - yellow
ceàrr - wrong	ceart - correct
tràth - early

**Adverbs**
gu math - well, rather, fairly

**Conjunctions**
is - and (for familiar associations)

**Nouns**
athair (m) - father	bràthair (m) - brother
cofaidh (m) -coffee	ospadal (m) - hospital
freagairt (f) - answer	màthair (f) - mother
piuthar (f) - sister

**EXERCISE 1 Translate into English**
1.Tha mo chòta ùr salach	2.Tha an t-seacaid bhuidhe aice anns a' bhogsa
3.Bha fhalt gu math bàn	4.Am biodh do chù a' ruith anns a' phàirc?
5.Chan eil am bainne agam ùr	6.Tha ar n-eaglais air an t-sràid thall an sin
7.A bheil am bràthair-san gu math a-nis? Tha	8.Tha bhur taigh blàth is cofhartail
9.Am bi do mhàthair a' dol a-mach a-nochd? Cha bhi	10.Bha mo chopan làn de chofaidh

**EXERCISE 2 Translate into Gàidhlig**
1.Is my answer right or wrong? It's correct, very good	2.Our money was in that bank over there
3.Their cat is sick just now	4.My father will be going out on the moor with his dog
5.His brother will be staying in our house tonight	6.My sister has a friend in (the) hospital
7.My pen is green, and your (sibh) pen is red	8.Will my money be safe in that box? Yes, certainly
9.My mother and (is) my father are not so young now	10.Your sheep were in our garden yesterday

**ANSWERS EXERCISE 1**
1.My new coat is dirty	2.Her yellow jacket is in the box
3.His hair was rather fair	4.Would your dog be running in the park?
5.The milk I have isn't fresh	6.Our church is on (that) street over there
7.Is their brother well now? Yes	8.Your house is warm and comfortable
9.Will your mother be going out tonight? No	10.My cup was full of coffee

**ANSWERS EXERCISE 2** Answers a & b denote possible variations
1.A bheil m' fhreagairt ceart no ceàrr? Tha e ceart, glè mhath	2a.Bha ar n-airgead anns a' bhanca thall an sin 2b.Bha an t-airgead againn anns a' bhanca thall an sin
3a.Tha an cat aca tinn an-dràsta 3b.Tha an cat-san tinn an-dràsta	4a.Bidh m' athair a' dol a-mach air a' mhonadh leis a' chù aige 4b.Bidh m' athair a' dol a-mach air a' mhonadh le a chù
5.Bidh a bhràthair a' fuireach anns an taigh againn a-nochd	6.Tha caraid aig mo phiuthar anns an ospadal
7a.Tha mo pheann uaine, agus tha ur peann dearg 7b.Tha am peann agam uaine, agus tha am peann agaibh dearg	8a.Am bi m' airgead sàbhailte anns a' bhogsa sin? Bidh, gu cinnteach 8b.Am bi an t-airgead agam sàbhailte anns a' bhogsa sin? Bidh, gu cinnteach
9.Chan eil mo mhàthair is m' athair cho òg a-nis	10.Bha ur caoraich anns a' ghàrradh againn an-dè

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