WritingCommon genitives and prefix adjectives

Try and use common genitive forms. People sometimes panic about these things, but they just mean that you show a relationship or ownership between two words. There are some simple phrases that you can use to put genitive forms into your text naturally.

Làithean-saora na sgoile - the school holidays

Fad an t-samhraidh - all summer long

Aig deireadh an latha - at the end of the day.

Rinn mi greis-obrach ann an oifis tro làithean-saora na sgoile – I did work experience in an office during the school holidays

Bha mi ag obair an sin fad an t-samhraidh – I was working there all summer long

Bhithinn sgìth aig deireadh an latha – I would be tired at the end of the day.

Use the prefix adjectives -sàr, deagh, droch

You'll know by now that adjectives in Gaelic come after the noun and do various things. However, a select few adjectives precede the noun. The three most common lenite where possible.

Deagh - good

Droch - bad, poor

Sàr - super

'S e deagh sheachdain a bh' ann - It was a good week

Bha droch shìde ann fad na seachdaine – There was bad weather all week

Choinnich mi ri sàr charaidean ùra nuair bha mi a' fuireach ann – I met great new friends when I stayed there.

Irregular comparatives

You should also make sure you know your irregular comparatives - you probably know nas fheàrr - better, and nas miosa - worse, already.

Watch out for the comparative in the past and conditional tense:

nas becomes na bu or na b', and lenites.

Bha Paris na bu mhotha na Steòrnabhagh gun teagamh – Paris was certainly bigger than Stornoway

Tha mi a' smaoineachadh gun robh Glaschu na b' fheàrr na Dùn Èideann – I think Glasgow was better than Edinburgh

You should try to use superlatives - 'S e …. as fheàrr leam etc. These become B' e… a b' fheàrr leam in the past tense.

Idioms

You can also use idioms to enrich your writing. Idioms are phrases which sometimes don’t translate exactly into English - think about the term 'raining cats and dogs' and how silly that might sound to someone learning English. But idioms do make sense! They will enrich your writing. Here are some examples.

Now put your writing skills to the test by trying these Directed Writing guides. Read the passage, answer the questions then check how you did against the answers given:

• Directed writing - Society - Writing about a community project
• Directed writing - Employability - Writing about a part-time job
• Directed writing - Learning - A new skill
• Directed writing - Culture - Writing about a music event