Verbs beginning with a consonant in the past tense
Rule 1
Let’s look at examples of how the past tense works. Here are some A word used to describe an action or state of being. that begin with A letter representing a speech sound made with the lips, tongue or throat (as opposed to vowels which are made with an open vocal passage)..
| glan | to clean |
| cuir | to put |
| críochnaigh | to finish |
| bris | to break |
| druid | to close |
| glan |
| to clean |
| cuir |
| to put |
| críochnaigh |
| to finish |
| bris |
| to break |
| druid |
| to close |
To put these into the past tense, firstly put a séimhiú / In Irish, to aspirate / séimhiú is when the letter 'h' is placed after the first letter in a word. on the verb.
| glan | ghlan |
| cuir | chuir |
| críochnaigh | chríochnaigh |
| bris | bhris |
| druid | dhruid |
| glan |
| ghlan |
| cuir |
| chuir |
| críochnaigh |
| chríochnaigh |
| bris |
| bhris |
| druid |
| dhruid |
Then add the person / The name of a thing such as an object, a place or a person. Nouns are often described as naming words. after the verb.
| mé | I |
| tú | you |
| sé | he |
| sí | she |
| muid | we |
| sibh | you (plural) |
| siad | they |
| mé |
| I |
| tú |
| you |
| sé |
| he |
| sí |
| she |
| muid |
| we |
| sibh |
| you (plural) |
| siad |
| they |
Here are some examples.
| I cleaned | ghlan mé |
| he put | chuir sé |
| Mum finished | chríochnaigh Mamaí |
| Ciarán broke | bhris Ciarán |
| Oisín closed | dhruid Oisín |
| I cleaned |
| ghlan mé |
| he put |
| chuir sé |
| Mum finished |
| chríochnaigh Mamaí |
| Ciarán broke |
| bhris Ciarán |
| Oisín closed |
| dhruid Oisín |
Can you try to translate the following into Irish using Rule 1 / the consonant rule? If unsure, check the rule summary list on the previous page.
Question
I reached - (sroich)
shroich mé
Question
Caoimhe hit - (buail)
bhuail Caoimhe
Question
she washed - (nigh)
nigh sí
(nigh cannot be aspirated as it begins with an 'n'.)
Question
we started - (tosaigh)
thosaigh muid
Question
he fell - (tit)
thit sé
