The Verbal Noun

Features

The Verbal Noun is a form of the verb that has the grammatical traits of a noun and the meaning of a verb. Like a noun, the Verbal Noun can be feminine or masculine, singular or plural, nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, or vocative. Like a verb, the Verbal Noun denotes an activity or an instance of activity (e.g. rith ‘running’ or ‘a run’, ceannach ‘buying’ or ‘a purchase’, smaoineamh ‘thinking’ or ‘a thought’).

Unfortunately, no ending or initial mutation unerringly identifies a Verbal Noun as a Verbal Noun. Endings common to Verbal Nouns (e.g. glanadh ‘cleaning’ and caitheamh ‘spending’) are equally common to non-verbal nouns (e.g. toradh ‘fruit’ and fuinneamh ‘energy’). A Verbal Noun is recognizable only from its grammatical context.

To positively identify a word as a Verbal Noun, first ascertain that the word is part of a Verbal-Noun Construction (see The Verbal Noun: Functions), then look up the word in a dictionary. Since Verbal Nouns have a bounteous assortment of endings, the probability of error in backforming²⁴ rivals the probability of death and taxes.

Some Verbal Nouns can be assigned to a Noun Declension on the basis of their genitive singulars,²⁵ and to the usual extent, the Noun Declension indicates gender and inflection for different cases and numbers. The majority of Verbal Nouns, however, are irregular nouns (see Nouns: Irregular) that do not belong to any Noun Declension.

The following list gives some idea of the range of endings in the N/A and genitive singular, and of Verbal Nouns that belong to Noun Declensions.

Note: Some Verbal Nouns have two genitive singular forms, one to signify the concept of activity (e.g. béas caite éadaí ‘a custom of wearing clothes’), the other to signify an instance of activity (e.g tá tú ag baint caithimh as na héadaí sin ‘you are getting good wear out of those clothes’). The form that signifies the concept is usually irregular, while the form that signifies an instance usually belongs to a Noun Declension. In the examples below, where there are two forms of the genitive singular, the ‘concept’ genitive singular is given first, followed by the ‘instance’ genitive singular in parentheses.

2nd P. Sg.	N/A Sg. of	Gen. Sg. of
Imperative	Verbal Noun	Verbal Noun
fan ‘stay’	fanacht	fanachta
dúisigh ‘awake’	dúiseacht	dúiseachta
codail ‘sleep’	codladh	codlata
buail ‘beat’	bualadh	buailte
bris ‘break’	briseadh	briste
dún ‘shut’	dúnadh	dúnta
tar ‘come’	teacht	teachta
inis ‘tell’	insint	inste
bain ‘extract’	baint	bainte
fulaing ‘endure’	fulaingt	fulaingthe
féach ‘look’	féachaint	féachana
oscail ‘open’	oscailt	oscailte
tabhair ‘give, bring’	tabhairt	tabhartha
déan ‘do, make’	déanamh	déanta (déanaimh)
caith ‘consume’	caitheamh	caite (caithimh)
feic ‘see’	feiceáil	feiceála
beannaigh ‘bless’	beannú	beannaithe
fiafraigh ‘ask’	fiafraí	fiafraithe
lig ‘allow’	ligean	ligthe (ligin)
léigh ‘read’	léamh	léite (léimh)
snámh ‘swim’	snámh	snámha
rith ‘run’	rith	reatha
siúil ‘walk’	siúl	siúlta (siúil)
cuir ‘put’	cur	curtha (cuir)
iasc ‘fish’	iascach	iascaigh
ith ‘eat’	ithe	ite (ithe)
abair ‘say’	rá	ráite (rá)
lorg ‘seek’	lorg	lorgtha
maígh ‘boast’	maíomh	maíte (maímh)
oibrigh ‘work’	obair	oibre
rinc ‘dance’	rince	rince
sásaigh ‘satisfy’	sásamh	sásaimh
téigh ‘go’	dul	dula
imigh ‘depart’	imeacht	imeachta
suigh ‘sit’	suí	suite (suí)
tit ‘fall’	titim	titime

Functions

Since it has gender, number, and case, the Verbal Noun can have any grammatical role that a noun can have. It can be the subject, object, or indirect object of another verb. It can be addressed in the vocative case. In the genitive case, it can qualify another noun. It can even be qualified by the definite article and/or by adjectives.

Nach mbuaileadh an smaoineamh céanna tú féin? [did not used to strike the thought same you self] ‘Didn’t the same thought used to strike yourself?’	Nominative Singular
Cathain a chuir tú na smaointe sin in iúl? [when that put you those thoughts in knowledge] ‘When did you make those thoughts known?’	Accusative Plural
Bhainfeadh brí an smaoinimh sin geit asat. [would extract significance of that thought a start out of you] ‘The significance of that thought would startle you.’	Genitive Singular
Cuir síos ar do smaointe deireanacha, le do thoil. [put down on your thoughts last by your will] ‘Describe your last thoughts, please.’	Dative Plural
A smaoinimh, ná teip orm! [O thought do not fail on me] ‘Thought, don’t fail me!’	Vocative Singular

The Verbal Noun is used to convey every sense of the verb that cannot be conveyed by a conjugated form. A conjugated verb-form describes a specific performance of activity, one event with a beginning and an end (e.g. an gceannófá nuachtán? ‘would you buy a newspaper?’, ceannaíodh é ‘it was bought’). The Verbal Noun expresses the concept of activity that corresponds to the present participle or the infinitive in English (e.g. tá siad á cheannach ‘they are buying it’, ba mhaith linn nuachtán a cheannach freisin! ‘we would also like to buy a newspaper!’, nach bhfaca sibh nuachtán le ceannach áit ar bith? ‘didn’t you see a newspaper to buy anywhere?’).

No single word in Irish is equivalent to either the present participle or the infinitive. The duties of both are performed by the Verbal Noun, for which Irish has developed special grammatical constructions. The precise sense of the Verbal Noun – and its English translation – is revealed by the words that accompany it and the order in which they occur. Once you have recognized a Verbal Noun, observe whether it stands alone, precedes a noun in the genitive case, or follows a simple preposition, a possessive adjective, or a noun in the dative case.

The commonest Verbal-Noun Constructions are explained below, in the following format:

Essentials of the Verbal Noun Construction (Additional Possible Elements)

Basic sense of the Verbal-Noun Construction, special requirements for words other than the Verbal Noun; English translation of the Verbal Noun.

Example of the Verbal-Noun Construction

[literal translation of the example]

‘Idiomatic translation of the example’

Note: When the simple prepositions do, ag, or a are used to connect an object and a Verbal Noun, they are to a large extent interchangeable and all three translate literally as ‘at’ (when Verbal Noun = present participle) or ‘to’ (when Verbal Noun = infinitive).

ag + Verbal Noun (+ Object)

Indicates activity in progress, and if there is an object, the object is a noun in the genitive case (if the object is a pronoun, see do + Possessive Adjective + Verbal Noun below); the Verbal Noun translates as the present participle.

Chonaic mé Áine ag ithe sa bhialann.

[saw I Áine eating in the restaurant]

‘I saw Áine eating in the restaurant.’

Chonaic mé Áine ag ithe seacláide sa bhialann.

[saw I Áine at eating of chocolate in the restaurant]

‘I saw Áine eating chocolate in the restaurant.’

do²⁶ + Possessive Adjective + Verbal Noun

Indicates activity in progress, with the possessive adjective referring to a pronoun object; the Verbal Noun translates as the present participle.

Tá an sagart do mo bheannú.

[is the priest at my blessing]

‘The priest is blessing me.’

Bíonn an sagart do do bheannú.

[does be the priest at your blessing]

‘The priest does be blessing you.’

Bhí an sagart á beannú.

[was the priest at her blessing]

‘The priest was blessing her.’

Bhíodh an sagart á bheannú.

[used to be the priest at his blessing]

‘The priest used to be blessing him.’

Bheadh an sagart dár mbeannú.

[would be the priest at our blessing]

‘The priest would be blessing us.’

Beidh an sagart do bhur mbeannú.

[will be the priest at your blessing]

‘The priest will be blessing you.’

Bíodh an sagart á mbeannú!

[let be the priest at their blessing]

‘Let the priest be blessing them!’

Object + a^L + Verbal Noun

Indicates activity to be inflicted on a noun or object pronoun; the Verbal Noun translates as the infinitive.

Níor mhór dúinn ár madra a thógáil abhaile.

[was not great to us our dog to take homeward]

‘We had to take our dog home.’

Cuimhnígí ar é a chur ar iall.

[remember him to put on a leash]

‘Remember to put him on a leash.’

An féidir leis an fál a léim?

[is it possible with him the fence to leap?]

‘Can he leap the fence?’

le^h + Verbal Noun

Indicates potential or intended activity; the Verbal Noun translates as the infinitive or as the passive infinitive (i.e. ‘to be done’ rather than ‘to do’), depending on the idiom in English.

Nach bhfuil aiste le scríobh agat inniu?

[is not an essay with writing at you today]

‘Don’t you have an essay to write today?’

Ní raibh fuaim le cloisteáil sa leabharlann.

[was not a sound with hearing in the library]

‘There wasn’t a sound to be heard in the library.’

Verbal Noun

Completes the meaning of conjugated verbs or copula constructions; the Verbal Noun translates as the infinitive.

D’iarr siad orainn fanacht sa bhaile.

[asked they on us staying home]

‘They asked us to stay home.’

Ach ba mhian linn dul in éineacht leo.

[but was a desire with us going along with them]

‘But we wanted to go along with them.’

gan + (Object + a^L +) Verbal Noun

Indicates a negative command in indirect speech; the Verbal Noun translates as the infinitive.

D’impigh sé orainn gan corraí.

[he implored on us without moving]

‘He implored us not to move.’

An iarrfar oraibh gan bróga a chaitheamh sa teach?

[will be asked of you without shoes to wear in the house]

‘Will you be asked not to wear shoes in the house?’

Dúradh leis gan é a rá.

[was said to him without it to say]

‘He was told not to say it.’

chun/le^h + (Object +) Verbal Noun

Indicates intended activity, and if there is an object, the object is a noun in the dative case; the Verbal Noun translates as the infinitive.

Fillfimid ar maidin chun ithe. or
Fillfimid ar maidin le hithe.

[will return we on the morning toward/with eating]

‘We will return in the morning to eat.’

Fillfimid ar maidin chun bricfeasta a ithe. or
Fillfimid ar maidin le bricfeasta a ithe.

[will return we on the morning toward/with breakfast to eat]

‘We will return in the morning to eat breakfast.’

i²⁷+ Possessive Adjective + Verbal Noun

Indicates a state of being, with the possessive adjective referring to the subject of the sentence; the Verbal Noun translates idiomatically with i.

Bhídís ina gcónaí amuigh faoin tír.

[they used to be in their living in the country]

‘They used to live in the country.’

Nuair a bheidh sí ina banaltra, oibreoidh sí san ospidéal.

[when will be she in her nurse, will work she in the hospital]

‘When she is a nurse, she will work in the hospital.’

Fan in bhur seasamh.

[remain in your standing]

‘Remain standing.’

ar + Verbal Noun

Indicates the condition of the subject of the sentence; the Verbal Noun translates idiomatically with ar and is usually immune to lenition.

Beidh d’athair ar buile nuair a chloiseann sé an scéal seo!

[will be your father on a frenzy when hears he this story]

‘Your father will be furious when he hears this story!’

Dúirt an chomharsa go raibh tú ar meisce aréir.

[said the neighbor that were you on drunkenness last night]

‘The neighbor said you were drunk last night.’