An Lon Dubh wrote:
What you heard was the past autonomous:
Chuireadh é = He was buried, Literally: "They" buried him.
The "they" is some unmentioned person, people or thing(s). It can either be obvious, or (rarely) purposefully ambiguous.
Be careful as Irish distinguishes between states and the autonomous in a way English doesn't:
Bhíos ag siúl agus thánas ar an gcaisleán agus bhí sé briste. = I was walking and I came upon the castle and it was broken. (i.e. in the state of being destroyed)
Bhriseadh an caisleán = The castle was destroyed (by someone), but more literally "They" destroyed the castle.
So there is a difference between "Bhí sé briste" and "Bhriseadh é".
Older native speakers, in Cork especially, do not lenite the autnomous, so you might hear Briseadh.
In Kerry it is pronounced -(e)ach, in Cork -(e)ag and in Oileán Chléire, -(e)abh.
Its interesting that people in Cork are starting to lenite the past autonomous.
In Waterford and Imokilly it's a mixture of both, the past autonomous is lenited and the termination is pronounced as 'g. Up 'til now I thought the lenition of the past autonomous just happened in Waterford.
So; Bhriseag, Chuireag.
This book by Art Hughes
Late Old Irish lenition and the modern Gaelic Verb aims to explain the reason behind the lenition of the past autonomous verb in some Munster dialects, as well as some other interesting phenomena such as thá in Waterford, Scotland and to an extent in Dingle.
http://www.curach-bhan.com/index.php?ma ... cts_id=339
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Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice
I'm familiar with Munster Irish/ Gaolainn na Mumhan (GM) and the Official Standard/an Caighdeán Oifigiúil (CO)