Arran Gaelic Verb Conjugation: Regular Verbs 

The Arran Gaelic verb system is in most respects a typical Scottish Gaelic verbal system. As such, it possesses many of the usual Scottish features, such as the present-future merger, as well as the distinctions between independent, dependent, and relative verbal forms.

According to Holmer, the independent verbal form was used in the following environments:

1. The independent verbal form was used in positive principle clauses. In these environments, it is either in initial position, or it is preceded by coordinating conjunctions, such as 'agus' and 'no' (Holmer 141)

As outlined by Holmer, the dependent verbal form was used after the following words:

1.  'an' - interrogative particle; 'if,' 'whether'

2.  'ca 'n' - 'where?'

3. ‘cha' - negative particle

4.  'far an' - 'where' (relative)

5.  'gu 'n' - 'that'

6.  'gus an' - 'until'

7. 'mu 'n' - 'before'

8.  'mura/ma nan' - ‘unless’

9. ‘Nach’ - negative relative; negative interrogative particle; ‘that not’

10. ‘Na ‘n’ - ‘if’ (conditional conjunction) (Holmer 141-142)

As well, the relative form of the verb was used after the following words. Again, this list comes from Holmer:

1. ‘air/‘n uair’ - ‘when’

2. ‘an’ - ‘when’

3. ‘an fhad agus - ‘as long as’

4. ‘ged’ - ‘though’

5. ‘ma’ - ‘if’

6. ‘mar’ - ‘as’

7. ‘o na’ - ‘when’, ‘since’, ‘after’ (Holmer 142-143)

Arran Gaelic possessed three regular conjugations, which Nils Holmer describes as follows:

1. "monosyllabic imperatives, usually ending in a slender consonant" (Holmer 137)

2. "dissyllabic imperatives, ending in a slender consonant and syncopating the second vowel when a syllable is added" (Holmer 137)

3. "imperatives ending in (a)ich -i" (Holmer 137)

Present-future
Independent
1st. conjugation	2nd. conjugation	3rd. conjugation
cuiridh mi	fosglaidh mi	ceannachaidh mi
cuiridh tu	fosglaidh tu	ceannachaidh tu
cuiridh e	fosglaidh e	ceannachaidh e
etc	etc.	etc.
Dependent
cha chuir mi	chan fhosgail mi	cha cheannaich mi
an cuir mi	am fosgail mi	an ceannaich mi
nach cuir mi	nach fosgail mi	nach ceannaich mi
Relative
a chuireas mi	a dh’ fhosglas mi	a cheannachas mi
Imperfect-Conditional
Independent
chuirinn chuireadh mi1.	dh’ fhosglainn dh’ fhosgladh mi	cheannachainn cheannachadh mi
chuireadh thu	dh’ fhosgladh thu	cheannachainn thu
chuireadh e	dh’ fhosgladh thu	cheannachadh thu
Dependent
cha chuirinn cha chuireadh mi	chan fhosglainn chan fhosgladh mi	cha cheannachainn cha cheannachadh mi
cha chuireadh thu	chan fhosgladh thu	cha cheannadh thu
etc.	etc.	etc.
an cuirinn an cuireadh mi	am fosglainn am fosgladh mi	an ceannachainn an ceannachadh mi
an cuireadh thu	am fosglainn thu	an ceannachadh thu
etc.	etc.	etc.
nach cuirinn nach cuireadh mi	nach fosglainn nach fosgladh mi	nach ceannachainn nach ceannachadh mi
nach cuireadh thu	nach fosgladh thu	nach ceannachadh thu
etc.	etc.	etc.
Relative
a chuirinn a chuireadh	a dh’ fhosglainn a dh’ fhosgladh mi	a cheannachainn a cheannachadh mi
a chuireadh thu	a dh’ fhosgladh thu	a cheannachadh thu
etc.	etc.	etc.
Preterite
Independent
chuir mi	dh’ fhosgail mi	cheannaich mi
chuir thu	dh’ fhosgail thu	cheannaich thu
chuir e	dh’ fhosgail e	cheannaich e
etc.	etc.	etc.
Dependent
cha do chuir mi	cha d’ fhosgail mi	cha do cheannaich
cha do chuir thu	cha d’ fhosgail thu	cha do cheannaich thu
etc.	etc.	etc.
Relative
a chuir mi	a dh’ fhosgail mi	a cheannaich mi
etc.	etc.	etc.
Present Subjunctive
gu ‘n cuir mi	gu ‘m fosgail mi	gu ‘n ceannaich mi
gu ‘n cuir thu	gu ‘m fosgail thu	gu ‘n ceannaich thu
gu ‘n cuir e	gu ‘m fosgail e	gu ‘n ceannaich e
Imperative
2nd sg. cuir	fosgail	ceannaich
3rd sg. cuireadh e	fosgladh e	?
2nd sg. cuiribh	fosglaibh	?
Past Participle
cuirte	fosgailte	ceannaichte
Gerund
a’ cuir	a’ fosgladh	a’ ceannach(d)

Works Cited

Holmer, Nils M. Gaelic of Arran. Dublin, Dublin Institute For Advanced Studies, 1957, pp. 137–142.