Cuíd

Email from Kathleen:

A chara,

Déanam dearmad!

I forgot to ask you -If you find the source for the reasons that cuid is used or not used please send it out to me/us. I don’t know if the others are interested in getting too deep in the grammar (particularly Jan – she’s too new at this) but now I’m really curious because I’ve plumbed the depths of my sources and still don’t really know when it would be used or not. Although I’m sure seeing it pop up all over, now, in a book I’m reading – but always with that possessive adjective in front.

Le meas,

Kathleen

Email from Me:

Sure thing Kathleen. Sean and I have been practicing all week. We've got a new 5 verbs down this last week. We tried to do 3 a day but that was just too much. I've been downloading the mp3 native speaker files for those of us interested in learning how to say things more correctly and let me tell you that imeact and oscailt threw us for a bit of a loop with the native sounds.

http://www.irishgaelictranslator.com/translation/topic93445-10.html

That's the forum link I found that seems to have worked best so far for learning cuid. It's the rule I half explained last week. I didn't want to go into the mo just yet as no one seemed to really be wanting to learn all rules. I've been reformatting erin's web for easier grammar rules learning for Sean and I as well (and that had us joking we don't remember our English grammar from 3rd grade, so we probably have to refresh on all that as well). And we're setting up a system of me sending him mp3 files recording of how I say things and we'll learn together that way. I asked him, what if I say it wrong? And he expressed that's fine as long as we quickly update each other, as that is what has been happening now.

Basically with cuid, I've been getting the gist that as it literally means "part" or "portion" it actually reminds of coin but of course used differently. Wiki has a good synopsis ...

In addition to its use as a regular noun meaning "part" or "portion", cuid is used with non-inalienable mass nouns and plural count nouns as a kind of measure word after a possessive pronoun or before a genitive.

• mo chuid leabhar – "my books" (lit. "my portion of books")
• cuid éadaigh Sheáin – "Seán's clothing" (lit. "Seán's portion of clothing")

It is not used with inalienable nouns like relatives and body parts:

• deartháireacha an bhuachalla – "The boy's brothers" (not *cuid deartháireacha an bhuachalla)
• mo ghruaig – "my hair" (not *mo chuid gruaige)

And I have read in other forums that cuid is equated to times when we use pronouns as the closest way to explain it in English, since we don't use anything like it in English.

Otherwise I've put a post in Erin's Web's forum so we'll see what people come back with.

Smiles Kathleen!

Mar