Appendix:Old Irish reduplicated s preterite verbs

The reduplicated s preterite is found in weak verbs of class A III. The endings are the same as those of the regular s preterite, except in the third person singular conjunct, which ends in -(a)e in the case of class A III a verbs (McCone's class H1) and in -(a)i in the case of class A III i verbs (McCone's class H2). The reduplicating syllable contains the vowel e, and as with the reduplicated suffixless preterite, the e can merge with a following lenited consonant to become é.

No deponent verbs are found in this class. As with other preterites, only active forms are built on this stem; passive forms are built from an old verbal adjective with a different stem.

See Category:Old Irish reduplicated s preterite verbs for a list of verbs belonging to this class.

Endings edit

A sample verb for the a verbs is baïd (to die). The endings are as follows:

Present indicative
1st sg. 2nd sg. 3rd sg. 1st pl. 2nd pl. 3rd pl.
Absolute bebsu bebsai bebais bebsaimmi not attested; probably bebsaithe bebsait
Conjunct ·bebus ·bebais ·bebae ·bebsam ·bebsaid ·bebsat
Relative bebas bebsaimme bebsaite

A sample i verb ending in gníid (to do, make), where the preterite stem gén- is from *geɣn-, from *ge-gn-:

Present indicative
1st sg. 2nd sg. 3rd sg. 1st pl. 2nd pl. 3rd pl.
Absolute génsu génsai génais génsaimmi not attested; probably génsaithe génsait
Conjunct ·génus ·génais ·génai ·génsam ·génsaid ·génsat/·génset
Relative génas génsaimme génsaite

Further reading edit

  • McCone, Kim (1997) The Early Irish Verb (Maynooth Monographs 1), 2nd edition, Maynooth: An Sagart, →ISBN, pages 57–58
  • Thurneysen, Rudolf (1940, reprinted 2017) D. A. Binchy and Osborn Bergin, transl., A Grammar of Old Irish, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, →ISBN, pages 420–21