Appendix:Old Irish t preterite verbs
The Old Irish t preterite originated in Proto-Celtic in forms where the preterite suffix -s- came between a root-final consonant and the third-person singular is the most common preterite class in Old Irish. The t preterite is found on strong verbs whose root ends in one of the consonants r, l, m, and g (though not on all such strong verbs).
The t endings are generally added directly to the verb root, but saigid takes the reduplicated form sïacht (< *si-sax-t).
The t preterite is found in a few forms in Brythonic as well, e.g. Middle Welsh kymerth (“took”), aeth (“went”).
As with the s preterite, the passive forms are derived from a verbal adjective with a suffix starting with t.
See Category:Old Irish t preterite verbs for a list of verbs belonging to this class.
Nondeponent endings[edit]
A sample verb for this class is beirid (“to take”), which ends in a broad consonant. The endings are as follows:
| 1st sg. | 2nd sg. | 3rd sg. | 1st pl. | 2nd pl. | 3rd pl. | Passive singular | Passive plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Absolute | — | — | birt | — | — | bertatar | brethae | brethai |
| Conjunct | ·biurt | ·birt | ·bert | ·bertammar | ·bertaid* | ·berta(ta)r | ·breth | ·bretha |
| Relative | — | — | berte | — | — | berta(ta)r | brethae | brethai |
| *Attested in the prefixed form as·rubartid | ||||||||
Further reading[edit]
- McCone, Kim (1997) The Early Irish Verb (Maynooth Monographs 1), 2nd edition, Maynooth: An Sagart, →ISBN, pages 54–56
- Strachan, John, Bergin, Osborn (1949) Old-Irish Paradigms and Selections from the Old-Irish Glosses, Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, →ISBN, pages 63–64
- Thurneysen, Rudolf (1940, reprinted 2017) D. A. Binchy and Osborn Bergin, transl., A Grammar of Old Irish, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, →ISBN, pages 421–24
- Watkins, Calvert (1969) Indo-European Origins of the Celtic Verb: I. The Sigmatic Aorist, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, pages 156–74