Why: ag ól an bhainne?

Saoirse · **Posted:** Fri 06 Apr 2012 11:47 am

I apologise for asking what may be an obvious question. I could start so many of my posts with that!

I understand: an bainne = the milk (milk is masculine so no 'h')
I understand: deoch bhainne = a drink of milk (deoch is feminine and so 'h' is inserted in bainne)

But why is it 'ag ól an bhainne' = drinking the milk ?

Why is the 'h' inserted in bainne here? I presume it is to do with 'ag ól', but ????

Ideally somebody will tell me that it is a typo and then I can stop wondering!

Lughaidh · **Joined:** Thu 15 Sep 2011 12:06 pm **Posts:** 2436

It is lenited because it is in the genitive case, and it is in the genitive because it is linked to a (verbal) noun: ól:

ag ól an bhainne = at (the) drinking OF the milk.

Saoirse · **Posted:** Fri 06 Apr 2012 12:29 pm

Does that mean that any noun following a verbal noun will be lenited regardless of whether the noun itself is masculine or feminine?

Scooby · **Joined:** Tue 06 Sep 2011 7:18 pm **Posts:** 576

No, it means that the noun will be in the genitive case in the normal way.

ag ól an bhainne
ag ól bainne
ag glanadh an tí
ag moladh na háite

...and it's not as straightforward as that either!

ag iarraidh mo chos a bhriseadh (cos is not in the genitive here)
ag déanamh obair mhaith

but

ag déanamh na hoibre maithe (as far as i know)

Head melting yet?! :LOL:

Saoirse · **Posted:** Fri 06 Apr 2012 2:35 pm

Scooby wrote:

Head melting yet?!

A snowman has a more solid head than I have at the moment.... :panic:

I made the mistake of not starting at the very beginning of this stuff and so have missed basics. My big plan for this summer is to sort the tuiseal ginideach. Some people plan a cruise, climb a mountain, catch up on old movies - for me it is the tuiseal ginideach. I will be the queen of the tg in September! :aingeal:

(Nobody is to revive this thread in September and start asking me questions to see if I followed through with the plan. That would be just cruel!)

Braoin · **Joined:** Sat 17 Sep 2011 11:52 pm **Posts:** 460

Saoirse wrote:

Scooby wrote:

Head melting yet?!

A snowman has a more solid head than I have at the moment.... :panic:

I made the mistake of not starting at the very beginning of this stuff and so have missed basics. My big plan for this summer is to sort the tuiseal ginideach. Some people plan a cruise, climb a mountain, catch up on old movies - for me it is the tuiseal ginideach. I will be the queen of the tg in September! :aingeal:

(Nobody is to revive this thread in September and start asking me questions to see if I followed through with the plan. That would be just cruel!)

Let me know how the research goes. I could do with someone to finally sort it out for me

Saoirse · **Posted:** Fri 06 Apr 2012 5:30 pm

Braoin wrote:

Let me know how the research goes. I could do with someone to finally sort it out for me

Touché!

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