I'm trying to get something sorted in my brain (probably an exercise in futility, but what the heck!).

Tá mé ag tabhairt an leabhar do Mháire: I'm giving the book to Máire (no worries there)

But, is it...

Tá mé ag tabhairt do Mháire é: I'm giving it to Máire

Or, is it...

Tá mé á thabhairt do Mháire: I'm giving it to Máire

(?)

Someone asked me this and, never having seen the second example, I'm not sure if the first is wrong, if the second is wrong, if both are OK, or...well...you get the drift.

Help?

Redwolf

I know I'm not expressing the exact thought you are wanting to say, but I generally avoid
the structure you have because I'm uncertain as to the genetive forms of nouns which follow the noun verbs.

I say something like:

Tá mé an leabhar a thabhairt do Mháire.

Nó

Tá mé a thabhairt do Mháíre é. nó Ta mé é a thabhairt do Mháire.

Not sure if they're right or not. That's just the way I generally say it when I'm talking. And now you've got me doubting myself.

Sort of like in the past: Bhí mé an leabhar a thabhairt do Mháire nuair a thainig sí anseo. I was giving the book to Mary when she came here.

I may be wrong but I think it is this one.


I think the object needs to be in the genitive:

Tá mé ag tabhairt an leabhair do Mháire.


I don't think Féabar's solution works grammatically.


All of which is open to (further) correction ...

_________________
Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

Good point. My biggest question, though, is the one in which the pronoun replaces the noun: "I'm giving it to Máire."

Redwolf

Yep, that's in the first part of my answer above, but needs to be looked at by more advanced speakers.

_________________
Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

as Breandán said, it is "Tá mé ag tabhairt an leabhair do Mháire".
And in Ulster leabhar is feminine so we say "ag tabhairt na leabhaire" or "na leabhra"...



Tá mé á thabhairt (Ulster á tabhairt) do Mháire.

If you say "Tá mé ag tabhairt do Mháire é" it means you can say "Tá mé ag tabhairt é", and you can't say it in Irish (nor in Scottish: tha mi ga thoirt), as far as I know. In Manx you can (ta mee cur eh).

_________________
Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

One thing I found helpful, so maybe others will too, is to remember the literal meaning of these sentences.

Táim ag bualadh an ghadhair = I am at the dog's hitting.

Bualadh is actually a noun, a hitting/strike. You have to say you're "at the (thing)'s strike/hitting". That
why you use the genitive.

So if I want to say "I'm hitting him", I say "I'm at his strike/hitting":
Táim á (ag + a) bhualadh.

"I'm hitting you" would be "I'm at your strike/hitting":
Táim ad' (ag + do) bhualadh.

Other dialects might contract ag + (Personal pronoun) in different ways. Cois Fharraige has something that sounds like 'go do to me for (ag + do), but I'm not sure what exactly the form is.

_________________
The dialect I use is Cork Irish.
Ar sgáth a chéile a mhairid na daoine, lag agus láidir, uasal is íseal

I don't know if the verbal noun of buail is buaileadh in Cork Irish, but in most dialects it is "bualadh" (buaileadh is the past autonomous).

_________________
Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

/gə də/ is probably used not just in Cois Fhairrge, but in wider Connemara.

In Learning Irish, Mícheál Ó Siadhail writes it as do do, and in "The Irish of Iorras Aithneach County Galway", Brian Ó Curnáin writes it as dho do, both pronounced /gə də/.

_________________
Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

Thanks Lughaidh! I just added -adh to the root like a moron! Of course it's said with a broad l, thanks again!

_________________
The dialect I use is Cork Irish.
Ar sgáth a chéile a mhairid na daoine, lag agus láidir, uasal is íseal