Change of state
Hi everyone!

Sorry, it's probably a strange question, but anyway. Could someone please tell me, what is the right way to express changes in someone's or something's behaviour or state in Irish? I'm talking about things like:

1) After a long pause, he started to speak.
2) The water started to boil.
3) He started to yawn.

(Not sure these English sentences are correct but hopefully you understand what I mean).

In Russian, there are different ways to express this idea and sometimes there's no need to use the word "started", you just change the verb itself. So I was wondering, are there any alternative ways to say the same in Irish — without "thosaigh", that is? So far I've found constructions like

1) Tar éis moill fhada, thosaigh sé ag labhairt.
2) Thosaigh an t-uisce ag fiuchadh.
3) Thosaigh sé ag méanfach láithreach.

but no alternatives. Is it the only way then?

Question

Change of state
Hi everyone!

Sorry, it's probably a strange question, but anyway. Could someone please tell me, what is the right way to express changes in someone's or something's behaviour or state in Irish? I'm talking about things like:

1) After a long pause, he started to speak.
2) The water started to boil. 
3) He started to yawn.

(Not sure these English sentences are correct but hopefully you understand what I mean).

In Russian, there are different ways to express this idea and sometimes there's no need to use the word "started", you just change the verb itself. So I was wondering, are there any alternative ways to say the same in Irish — without "thosaigh", that is? So far I've found constructions like

1) Tar éis moill fhada, thosaigh sé ag labhairt. 
2) Thosaigh an t-uisce ag fiuchadh. 
3) Thosaigh sé ag méanfach láithreach.

but no alternatives. Is it the only way then?

Answer

Using "tosaigh" is the most obvious way to express this kind of change, and it's not wrong, but it's by no means the only way to say it. In fact, by overusing "tosaigh" (as many people do) you risk neglecting the richness of expression that exists in the language.
Here are some other examples of "starting" to do something without using "tosaigh" (not all methods necessarily work with every verb):

Thosaigh mé ag comhrá leis ==> Chuaigh mé chun cainte leis
Thosaigh an t-uisce ag fiuchadh ==> Bhain mé fiuchadh as an uisce
Thosaigh mé ag baint an fhéir ==> Chrom mé ar an fhéar a bhaint
Thosaigh muid ag obair ==> Thug muid ucht ar an obair
Thosaigh sé ag gol ==> Bhris an gol air
Thosaigh sí ag rith ==> Chuir sí chun reatha
Thosaigh sé ag casachtach ==> Tháinig racht casachtaí air
Thosaigh sé ag rómhair ==> Ghabh sé ar an spád
Thosaigh siad ag gabháil ceoil ==> Chroch siad amhrán

Answers · 2

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