To Be
The verb 'to be' is one of the most fundamental and most complex in
most Indo-European languages. It often functions as a lexical verb 'to
exist', an auxiliary in forming other verbs (e.g. I am singing)
and as a copula (e.g. I am hungry). In the modern Celtic
languages it is used extensively as a way of forming simple verbs (e.g
ta mee tioggal 'I understand', dw i'n dy garu di 'I
love you'); it is also essential for forming the possessive idiom (e.g.
tha bó aig Iain 'John has a cow').
Below, the forms of the Brythonic and Goidelic verbs are given
separately with a discussion of their history and use.
Brythonic
Welsh |
Cornish |
Breton |
bod |
bos, bones |
bezañ |
Present Indicative
wyf
wyt
yw, oes
ŷm
ych
ŷnt
ys |
Present Indicative
ov
os
yw, eus, usi
on
owgh
yns
or |
Present
on
out
zo, eo, eus
omp
oc'h
int
oar, eur |
Future/Consuetudinal Present
byddaf
byddi
bydd
byddwn
byddwch
byddant
byddir |
Future/Habitual Present
bedhav
bedhydh
bydh
bedhyn
bedhowgh
bedhons
bedher |
Future
bezin
bezi
bezo
bezimp
bezot
bezint
bezor |
Present Habitual
bezan
bezez
bez
bezomp
bezit
bezont
bezer |
Imperfect Indicative
oeddwn
oeddit
oedd
oeddem
oeddech
oeddynt
oeddid |
Imperfect Indicative
en
es
o
en
ewgh
ens
os |
Imperfect
oan
oas
oa
oamp
oac'h
oant
oad |
Consuetudinal Imperfect
byddwn
byddit
byddai
byddem
byddech
byddent
byddid |
Habitual Past
bedhen
bedhes
bedha
bedhen
bedhewgh
bedhens
bedhes |
Habitual Imperfect
bezen
bezes
beze
bezemp
bezec'h
bezent
bezed |
Past
bûm
buost
bu
buom
buoch
buant, buont
buwyd |
Preterite
beuv
beus
beu
beun
bewgh
bons
beus |
Past Definite
boen
boes
boe
boemp
boec'h
boent
boed |
Pluperfect
buaswn
buasit
buasai
buasem
buasech
buasent
buasid |
Conditional/Pluperfect
bien
bies
bia
bien
biewgh
biens
bies |
|
Present Subjunctive
bwyf
bych
bo
bôm
boch
bônt
bydder |
Present/Future Subjunctive
biv
bi
bo
byn
bowgh
bons
ber |
Present Conditional
befen
befes
befe
befemp
befec'h
befent
befed |
Imperfect Subjunctive
bawn
bait
bai
baem
baech
baent
byddid |
Imperfect Subjunctive
ben
bes
be
ben
bewgh
bens
bes |
Past Conditional
bijen
bijes
bije
bijemp
bijec'h
bijent
bijed |
Imperative
-
bydd
bydded
byddwn
byddwch
byddent
bydder |
Imperative
-
bydh
bedhes
bedhyn
bedhewgh
bedhens
- |
Imperative
-
bez
bezet
bezomp
bezit
bezent
- |
y mae
maint |
yma
ymons |
Present Locative
emaon
emaout
emañ
emaomp
emao'ch
emaint
emeur |
Imperfect Locative
edon
edos
edo
edomp
edoc'h
edont
edod |
Notes:
- The Brythonic 'to be' is largely constructed by analogy with the
regular verbs. The PC. stem *bij- is used extensively with
regular endings to create tenses which did not occur in PC and may
have been re-analysed again later (e.g. Br. *bijame > byddaf,
by analogy byddwn etc). PC *bij- is just one of
several stems which come from PIE. *bʰuH-,
which also gives E. be, L.
fui.
- The verb noun is from PC. *butā.
C. bones is formed by analogy to mynnes 'go'. B.
bezañ is a regular formation from the stem bez,
but the form bout also exists.
Present Indicative
- The present indicative is formed from the PIE copula in *es-
(cf. E. is, L. est).
The plurals are for PC. *esmes, *este, *senti with the 2nd
plural reformed on the basis of regular verbs. The existence of
original h- on W. ŷnt is
shown by MW. yttynt with provection. The development of the
singular forms is not properly known, but W. *wy- probably
derives from Br. *ē- < *ese-. 3rd singular WC. yw,
B. eo is the same with metathesis. The W. impersonal ys
shows the original PIE 3rd singular *esti.
- In each of the Brythonic languages, there are several forms of
the 3rd person singular:
- WC. yw, B. eo are used as the copula when
the complement precedes the verb.
- W. oes, CB. eus are used in negative and
interrogative sentences when the subject is indefinite.
- C. usi is used in negative and interrogative
sentences when the subject is definite (W & B use yw, eo).
- The Breton locative forms are an extension of the original verb
emañ.
This and its W & C. cognates originally seem to have been a form of
the 3rd singular present reserved for use with prepositions etc
(note W. ble mae 'where is?'). Its use as an auxiliary verb
has led to it becoming the most commonly used form of the verb in
Welsh (e.g. mae Twm yn cysgu 'Tom is sleeping').
- The origins of this verb are not known
for sure. One suggestion is PC. *esmi est 'here is' >
*emmijest > *ymoedd > ymae, but *emmijest
ought to yield W. *ymydd as *dijen (Acc.)
yields dydd. B. emañ points to a nasal ending
and a possible connection with amañ 'there', -mañ
'this' (W. yma, MW. yman, C. omma),
which may be PC. * esmi anda (cf. IG. ann
'there'). It is possible that more than one ending is at work
here, or that Breton was altered by association with amañ.
Welsh could be from PC. *esmi esV- (where esV-
represents some form of the verb) > *ehmi ehV- > *emme ɛ̄- >
*ym-oe > ymae (cf. PC. *swesūr > *hwehīr >
*hwɛ̄īr > *hwɛ̄r > *hwoer > W. chwaer, C.
hwor, B. c'hoar 'sister').
- Welsh has alternative forms of the present with yd-
(e.g. ydwyf, ydyw), though it adds no additional
information. Cornish has 1st and 2nd persons forms with es-
(e.g. esov, esowgh), which are considered to be part of the
conjugation of yma. These 'long forms' are substantive
verbs (showing where something is or what it's doing), as
opposed to the copula (which shows what something is).
- The origin of W. yd-, C. es- is rather
confused. It seems originally to have been the verbal particle
(W. y(r), C. y(th), B. e(z)), which
occurs in OW. and OB. as it (= W. yd). At some
point this became fused to the W & C. verbs under certain
conditions. Once the form was fused, the independent particle
came to viewed separately. In Cornish, it may be added before
the 'long forms' (e.g. yth esov 'I am'). In Welsh, the
particle became yr from the 14th century and the forms
yr wyf and ydwyf etc. were limited to
different environments. To confuse matters further, the y
of y mae came to be seen as a form of yr
and became optional. Cornish seems to preserve the original
particle in the 'long' impersonal eder.
- In Breton, the verbal particle e (ez, ec'h)
appears to have remained as such, except before 3rd singular
forms of mont 'go' where it appears as y-
(e.g. yelo 'he will go') - a late development. However,
it is possible that the imperfect locative forms were originally
imperfect indicative forms with a particle *ed
preceding (e.g *ed oan 'I was (there)' > edon).
- As well as the literary forms given above, Welsh also has a
number of colloquial forms. In the present these are dw, wyt,
mae, dan, dach, maen in the North and rw, wyt, mae,
ŷn, ych, maen
in the South. Initial d- or r- is from the
particle yd-, yr; dw i 'I am' is for ydwyf i.
Revived Late Cornish also has alternative forms: th om, th os, th ew, th on, th o', th ens or th o'vy, th o'chy, th
ew e'/hei, th o'nei, th o'hwei, th en'jei. These are from the
particle yth + the verb (+ the pronoun).
- Welsh has a special present relative: ysydd 'that is',
usually shortened to sydd or even sy' today. This
comes from the PC. *estijo, with the subordinating clitic
-jo seen in Gaulish. Cornish usi may also
originate here and still retains a relative sense (e.g. tynneuch
an gasadow, usy ow cûl fals dewow, yn mês agan
temple ny 'drag the wretched
woman, who is making false gods, out of our temple'). The Breton
zo is used in a
similar way, when the subject precedes the verb (e.g. me a zo
'I am'), but always with the relative pronoun and is probably
from the same source.
- Welsh also has two subordinating forms of 'to be': taw
and mai 'that it is' (e.g. Gwybyddwch mai yr Arglwydd
sydd Dduw 'Know that it is the Lord who is God'.). Mai
is another form of y mae. Taw, which is only used
in the south, is from PC. *(s)tā
(cf. I. tá, Spanish estar, E. stand).
Other Tenses
- The imperfect indicative is probably, like the present, derived
from PIE. *es-. The 3rd singular may be from PC. *esāt,
but this is not certain. In any case the rest of the tense is formed
by analogy on the 3rd singular.
- The past, pluperfect and subjunctive tenses are all based on
that original PIE. b- stem; in each case, the tense is
created analogically from the 3rd singular. The B. conditional
tenses are regular; the present probably based on bez and
the past probably on the original 3rd singular, equivalent to W. bai, C.
be.
'To Have'
- In both Breton and Cornish, special forms of 'to be' have
developed with the meaning 'to have'. The present tenses are given
below:
- Breton endevout, kaout: am eus, ac'h eus, en/he
deus, hon eus, hoc'h eus, o deus.
- Cornish kavas: y'm beus, y'th eus, y'n
jeves/y's teves, y'gan beus, y'gas beus, y's teves.
- The verb consists of the particle (B. e, C. y)
+ infixed pronoun + 3rd singular 'to be', or prefixed pronoun +
3rd singular 'to be' (Breton only has infixed pronouns for 1st & 2nd
singular).
- The semantics are based on the common Brythonic practice of
using the accusative case to mark the indirect object of an intransitive
verb. The normal possessive structure in Celtic is to use 'to be'
with a preposition: W. mae imi dri o blant 'I have 3
children', lit. 'there are three children to me'. Here, 'me' is the
indirect object of 'to be', but since 'to be' can't take a direct
object, the accusative alone suffices: y'th eus therefore
means 'it is [to] you' = 'you have'. Welsh preserves an almost
identical structure in the imperative moes 'give me!' < PC.
moi esti.
- The verb nouns kaout and kavas are the
equivalent of W. cael, cafael 'to have, get, find'. B.
endevout would appear to be en- 'in', or possibly the
reflexive prefix (W. ym-), or the pronoun
en 'he' + de- 'to' + bout 'to be' (cf. W.
dyfod, C. devos 'come').
- B. am eus, ac'h eus are alternatives to em eus,
ec'h eus, which are the more correct forms. The 2nd singular
ac'h occurs only in the present (other tenses have the
expected az) - it may be an attempt to distinguish from the
particle ez before the vowel (cf. en ez eus tud
'there are people there').
- C. beus is a back-formation on eus based on
the other tenses in b-, as shown by correct y'th eus.
Compare the imperfect y'm bo 'I had', y'th o 'you
had' < o 'was'. The real b- tenses all have
correctly mutated b > f (e.g. y' fydh 'you will
have').
- 3rd person forms in both Breton and Cornish have de-
'to' prefixed (cf. prepositions, which also have 'to' infixed in the
third person: B. anezhi, C. anedhi 'of her' vs. B.
ac'hanon, C. ahanav 'of me'). In Breton it is
added directly to eus, but in Cornish it is added to a
reduced form of beus (cf. Jenner's am bes 'I
have', an jeves 'he has').
- The remaining tenses are formed much like the present.
- The Breton conditional present appears to preserve the original
form of befe '[if] it is' as be (W. bai,
C. be?). The forms em pe, az pe etc. occur
alongside regular am befe, az befe. 3rd person defe
may be for original *deve, altered in accordance with
the regular conditional ending -fe. The Cornish subjunctive
y'n jeffo 'may he have', y'n jeffa 'would that he
had' similarly has the regular devoicing of subjunctive stems, as if
the stem was *def-, dev- with the regular ending. This is
carried further in the Breton imperative, where the irregular forms
en defet, o defent occur beside expected devezet.
Ho pet 'you, have!' may preserve the original 2nd plural
imperative seen in W. bid.
Goidelic
Substantive
Irish |
Gaelic |
Manx |
bheith |
bith |
ve |
Present (independent)
táim
táimid
tá
táthar |
Present (independent)
tha |
Present (independent)
ta |
Present (dependent)
nílim
nIlimid
níl
níltear |
Present (dependent)
bheil, 'eil |
Present (dependent)
vel, nel |
go bhfuil
go bhfuilimid
go bhfuil
go bhfuiltear |
|
|
Present Habitual
bím
bímid
bíonn
bítear |
|
|
Future
beidh
beimid
beidh
beifear |
Future (ind.)
bithidh |
Future (dep.)
bi |
Future
bee'm
beemayd
bee
|
Past (independent)
bhí
bhíomar
bhí
bhíothas |
Past (independent)
bha |
Past (independent)
va |
Past (dependent)
raibh
rabhamar
raibh
rabhthas |
Past (dependent)
robh |
Past (dependent)
row |
Conditional
bheinn
bheifeá
bheadh
bheimis
bheadh
bheidis
bheifi |
|
Conditional (ind.)
veign
veagh |
Conditional (dep.)
beign
beagh |
Present Subjunctive
raibh
rabhaimid
raibh
rabhthar |
|
|
|
Past Subjunctive
bhithinn
bhitheamaid
bhitheadh |
|
Imperative
bím
bí
bíodh
bímis
bígí
bídís
bítear |
Imperative
bitheam
bi
bitheadh
bitheamaid
bithidh
bitheadh |
Imperative
bee
bee-jee |
Copula
|
|
Irish |
Gaelic |
Manx |
Present/Future |
Ind.
Dep.
Interr.
Rel.
Indir. |
is
gur(b)
an?
is
ar(b) |
is
gur
as |
s', she
nee, re |
Past/Conditional |
Ind.
Dep.
Interr.
Rel.
Indir. |
ba, b'
gur(bh)
ar(bh)?
ba, ab
ar(bh) |
bu
gu'm bu |
by
by |
Present
Subjunctive |
|
gura(b) |
gur |
|
Notes:
- The Goidelic languages have separate substantive and copular
verbs:
- The substantive is used to link the subject with an
adjective or to describe a temporary state
- The copula is used to link the subject with a noun or
pronoun, or to describe a permanent state
- In the substantive verb G. & M. generally use the 3rd singular
for all persons (e.g. M. ta mee 'I am'). In Irish, however,
most tenses have special forms for the 1st person singular and
plural, using the 3rd singular in all other cases (e.g. táim
'I am', táimid 'we are'). These 1st person forms are
not
direct ancestors of the OI conjugation, but later reformations based
on the adjacent pronoun (e.g. tá mé > táim).
- Irish also makes use of the autonomous verb (e.g. táthar),
which is the exact equivalent of the W. impersonal.
- Several tenses have both dependent and independent forms. The
dependent form is that used with a preverbal particle.
- The substantive present tense is based on PC. *(s)tā
(W. taw, Spanish estar).
The dependent forms are from OI fil, originally a 2nd
person imperative meaning 'behold' < PC. *wel-, the same
root as W. gweld, C. gweles 'see'. The modern
languages all have initial [v], showing eclipsis of the original. I.
níl is a compound of ní fhuil 'is not'. In Ulster
Irish, G. & M. the negative particle is cha(n), leading to
Ulster I. chan fhuil, G. chan 'eil, M. cha nel.
- OI: (1s) táu, tó, (2s) taí, (3s) tá;
(1p) taam, (2p) taaid, taid, taad, (3p)
tát
- The I. future and G. future independent appear to be from OI
bid, 3rd singular future absolute of the copula. The G.
dependent and M. are from the OI 3rd singular conjunct bia
of the substantive verb.
- The G. & M. past independent are from OI ba, 3rd
singular preterite absolute of the copula verb. The Irish seems to
be from OI boí, 3rd singular preterite absolute of the
substantive verb.
- The past dependent forms are formed from the OI particle ro
(G. ro 'very', W. rhy 'very', C. re)
followed by the preterite.
- The conditional would appear to be derived from the OI.
preterite subjunctive:
- (1s) beinn, (2s) betha, (3s) beth, bed;
(1p) bemmis, (2p) bethe, (3p) betis
- The imperative is a reformation based on 2nd singular OI bí
and perhaps also 3rd singular bíth.
- The present/future copula:
- independent is taken from OI is 'it is'.
- I. & G. dependent forms are OI co 'to' + ro
(particle) + ba (future copula). M. appears to
preserve a more genuine OI form ní, the negative 3rd
singular present; M. ree is probably formed with ro
(verbal particle) by analogy.
- I. an (interrogative) is the interrogative particle
with verb omitted.
- G & I. direct relative is from OI as, with the
relative particle a.
- I. ar(b) is the same as gur(b) with the
relative particle.
- Past/conditional copula:
- independent I. ba, G. bu, M. by
are from OI ba, 3rd singular of the preterite, though G
& M may have spread by analogy from the OI conjunct forms
(below).
- I. gur(bh) is the same formation as the present,
but with -bh representing OI bo or bu
(OI corbu). G. gu'm is from OI con,
considered to be either a form of the preposition co
'to' or com 'with' (W. cyf-); the G. -m
is due to assimilation with the following b-.
- I. interrogative ar(bh)? is the preterite
interrogative particle ar + bh- from the
following verb. The indirect relative ar(bh) is the
same, with the particle ar.
- The I. relative ba is from OI ba relative
preterite.
|