Negative and question forms in the past tense

Negative form

To put a into the past negative in Irish, put níor before the verb and / séimhiú the verb.

Do not add a d’ after níor.

Let’s have a look at how to change a positive into a negative using , and f.

	Positive		Negative
I put	chuir mé	I did not put	níor chuir mé
I drank	d’ol mé	I did not drink	níor ól mé*
I waited	d’fhan mé	I did not wait	níor fhan mé

Positive

Negative

I put

chuir mé

I did not put

níor chuir mé

I drank

d’ol mé

I did not drink

níor ól mé*

I waited

d’fhan mé

I did not wait

níor fhan mé

Did you notice that there is no d’?

*A vowel can never be aspirated / séimhiú after níor.

Can you try to put the following into the negative form using the rule?

Question

I did not return - (fill)

Question

Fiadh did not wait - (fan)

Question

she did not order - (ordaigh)

Question

they did not learn - (foghlaim)

Question

Dublin did not win - (bain)

Question

Kerry did not lose - (caill)

Question form

To put any verb into the past question form in Irish, put ar before the verb and aspirate / séimhiú the verb.

Do not add a d’ after ar.

Let’s have a look at how to change a positive into the question form using consonants, vowels and f.

	Positive		Question form
I put	chuir mé	did I put?	ar chuir mé?
I drank	d’ol mé	did I drink?	ar ól mé?*
I waited	d’fhan mé	did I wait?	ar fhan mé?

Positive

Question form

I put

chuir mé

did I put?

ar chuir mé?

I drank

d’ol mé

did I drink?

ar ól mé?*

I waited

d’fhan mé

did I wait?

ar fhan mé?

Did you notice that there is no d’?

*A vowel can never be aspirated / séimhiú after ar.

Can you try to put the following into the question form using the rule?

Question

Did I return? - (fill)

Question

Did Fiadh wait? - (fan)

Question

Did she order? - (ordaigh)

Question

Did they learn? - (foghlaim)

Question

Did Dublin win? - (bain)

Question

Did Kerry lose? - (caill)

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Past tenseNegative and question forms in the past tense