Caibidil a Trí: The Verb (an Briathar)

Irregular due to: various stems in the present (tá). Special habitual present (stem bí)
Stem bí also in the preterite, imperfect, imperative.
Stem beidh/beadh in the future, conditional and subjunctive preterite (here it is rather the same as the conditional instead of the imperfect!)
Special dependent forms in the present (fuil) and preterite (raibh).
Stem raibh also in the subjunctive present
Preterite particles are not used.

see here for the (non-standard) forms used in Munster
 

	indicative				imperative	conditional	subjunctive
	present	preterite	imperfect	future			present	preterite
1st person sg.	tá mé, táim	bhí mé	bhínn	beidh mé	bím	bheinn	go raibh mé	dá mbeinn
2nd person sg.	tá tú	bhí tú	bhíteá	beidh tú	bí	bheifeá	go raibh tú	dá mbeifeá
3rd person sg.	tá sé	bhí sé	bhíodh sé	beidh sé	bíodh sé	bheadh sé	go raibh sé	dá mbeadh sé
1st person pl.	táimid	bhíomar	bhímis	beimid	bímis	bheimis	go rabhaimid	dá mbeimis
2nd person pl.	tá sibh	bhí sibh	bhíodh sibh	beidh sibh	bígí	bheadh dibh	go raibh sibh	dá mbeadh sibh
3rd person pl.	tá siad	bhí siad	bhídís	beidh siad	bídís	bheidís	go raibh siad	dá mbeidís
autonom	táthar	bhíothas	bhítí	beifear	bítear	bheifí	go rabhthar	dá mbeifí

Habitual present and dependent forms
 

	indicative
	habituell	dependent
	present	present (an, go, nach, a)	present (ní)	present (cha)	preterite (an, go, nach, ní, cha, a)
1st person sg.	bím	an bhfuil mé	níl mé, nílim	chan fhuil mé	an raibh mé
2nd person sg.	bíonn tú	an bhfuil tú	níl tú	chan fhuil tú	an raibh tú
3rd person sg.	bíonn sé	an bhfuil sé	níl sé	chan fhuil sé	an raibh sé
1st person pl.	bímid	an bhfuilimid	nílimid	chan fhuilimid	an rabhamar
2nd person pl.	bíonn sibh	an bhfuil sibh	níl sibh	chan fhuil sibh	an raibh sibh
3rd person pl.	bíonn siad	an bhfuil siad	níl siad	chan fhuil siad	an raibh siad
autonomous	bítear	an bhfuiltear	níltear	chan fhuiltear	an rabhthas

Relative form

	present
1st person sg.	atáim, atá mé
2nd person sg.	atá tú
3rd person sg.	atá sé
1st person pl.	atáimid
2nd person pl.	atá sibh
3rd person pl.	atá siad
autonom	atáthar

derivatives
 

verbal noun		bheith
genitive of the verbal noun	noun	-
	infinitive	-
participle of necessity*		beite

As the relative form, atá (= ... that is) is used. It counts as a compound of a (the direct relative particle) and tá.
The verb tá was once always atá, but today the prefix a- only remains in the relative form.

níl (= is not) is a compound of ní and fuil, so: ní fhuil > níl (fuil is the actual stem of all dependent forms in the present). In Ulster it is spoken bisyllabic, so that there the spelling ní fhuil is more fitting.
In Ulster, the negative particle cha(n) is used instead of ní. Then one writes rather chan fhuil (instead of níl).
(comp. chan eil in Scotland)
Although cha mostly lenites, forms of the verb bí, beginning in b-, are readily eclipsed: cha mbionn, etc.

In the subjunctive present, also go mbí, go mbé is used.

*beite is not used as the verbal adjective ("was"), only as the participle of necessity (lit.: "it is necessars to be "): is beite a + verbal noun = one should, is beite do...a + verbal noun = someone should