Unit 16 - Expressing hope and expression
Tha mi an dòchas gum bi "I hope so"
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Did you notice in the last line of Transcript 1, that Iain said "Chì" ("I will see") and then "tha mi an dòchas gum faic" ("I hope that I will see"). You might be surprised at first glance to hear that there is a close relationship between chì and faic. In fact they are the same verb! They belong to faic ("see"), one of the ten irregular verbs in Gaelic. Don't be alarmed by this phenomenon - it occurs in English as well. Think of the past tense of the verb "to buy": it is not "buyed", as it would be with a regular verb, but "bought". These irregularities simply have to be learned through familiarity with the language.
Look out for occurrences of faic (in the forms am faca, chan fhaca, chunnaic, chan fhaic and chì) in this conversation between Cèitidh and Alasdair.
This is the end of section 16.
If you would like to learn how to express a wish or desire in Gaelic, go on to Unit 17...
