attá

See also: Appendix:Variations of "atta"

Middle Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish at·tá.

Verb

at·tá

1. to be

Conjugation

• Third-person singular preterite absolute/conjunct: boí, bui
• Third-person singular perfect deuterotonic: ro·boí

Descendants

• Classical Gaelic: a-tá
• Irish: tá
• Manx: ta
• Scottish Gaelic: tha

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “attá”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Old Irish

Alternative forms

• ad·tá, a·tá, at·táa, a·táa

Etymology

From ad- +‎ ·tá.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /atˈtaː/

Verb

at·tá (prototonic ·tá, verbal noun buith, buid)

1. to be
2. to have (in the construction at·tá X oc Y (“Y has X”) or with an affixed pronoun)

   Synonym: techtaid

For quotations using this term, see Citations:attá.

Usage notes

This is the so-called "substantive verb", which takes an adverb, an adverbial phrase, or a prepositional phrase as the predicate. When the predicate is a noun, a pronoun, or an adjective, the copula is is used instead.

As in modern Irish, if there is no other predicate in an existential “there is” clause, the adverb and is used:

• c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 29^a28

  Ní taibre grád for nech causa a pectha ꝉ a chaíngníma: ar bíit alaili and ro·finnatar a pecthe resíu do·coí grád forru; alaili is íarum ro·finnatar. Berir dano fri láa brátha.

  You sg should not confer orders on anyone because of his sin or of his good deed: for there are some whose sins are found out before their ordination, others whose [sins] are found out afterwards. Reference is made, then, to the day of judgment.

  (literally, “…before orders shall go upon them…”)

Conjugation

Irregular

Finite forms

	1st sing.		2d sing.		3d sing.		Impersonal
	1st pl.		2d pl.		3d pl.
Pres.​indic.​prog.*	at·tó	·tó	at·taí, a·taí	·taí	at·tá, a(d)·tá, a(t)·táa	·tá	—	·táthar
					fil(e), feil, fail (relative) daas (relative; found only in cid daas, indaas, oldaas)
	at·taam	·taam	at·taïd	·taïd	a(t)·taat	·taat
Pres.​indic.​hab.	bíuu	·bíu	—	·bí	bíid; ro·bí (ro-form)	·bí; ·rubai (ro-form)	bíthir; ro·bíther (ro-form)	·bíther; ·rubther (ro-form)
					bís (relative)
	bímmi	·biam	—	—	bíit; ro·bïat (ro-form)	·bïat; ·rubat (ro-form)		bíther (relative)
	bímme (relative)				bíte (relative)
Imperfect indicative	·bíinn		—		·bíth		·bíthe
	·bímmis		—		·bítis
Preterite	bá	·bá	—	·bá	boí	·boí	bothae	·both
					boíe (relative)
	bámmar	·bámmar	—	·baid	bátar	·bátar
					bátar (relative)
Perfect	ro·bá	·roba	ro·bá	—	ro·boí	·robae	ro·both	·rabad
	ro·bámmar	·robammar	ro·baid	·robaid	ro·bátar	·robatar
Future	bia	—	bie	—	bieid	·bia	bethir	·bether
					bias (relative)
	beimmi	·biam	bethe	·bieid	bieit	·bïat
					beite (relative)
Conditional	·beinn		—		·biad
	·bemmis		—		·betis
Present subjunctive	béo	·béo	bee; ro·bé (ro-form)	·bé	beid, beith; ro·bé (ro-form)	·bé; ·roib (ro-form)	bethir	·bether
					bess (relative)
	beimmi; ro·bem (ro-form)	·bem; ·robam (ro-form)	beithe; ro·beid (ro-form)	·beid; ·robith (ro-form)	beit; ro·bet (ro-form)	·bet; ·robat (ro-form)	bether (relative)
Past subjunctive	·beinn		·betha		·beth		·bethe
					ro·beth (ro-form)	·robad, ·rabad (ro-form)
	·bemmis		·bethe		·betis
					ro·betis (ro-form)	·roibtis (ro-form)
Imperative			bí		bíid, bíth
	—		bíid, bíth		bïat
*Certain conjunct forms of the present progressive are formed with fil, taking an infixed object pronoun as the logical subject, e.g. ní·ḟil "it is not", ní-n·fil "we are not", ní-s·fil "they are not" etc.

Verbal noun

buith, buid

Verbal of necessity

buithi

Third-person forms with affixed pronouns expressing ‘to have’

The person of the affixed pronoun corresponds to the subject of ‘have’ in English; the number of the verb form corresponds to the number of the direct object of ‘have’ in English. All forms in the table below have a singular subject unless otherwise indicated.

Person of aff.​pron.→	1st sg.	2d sg.	3d sg. masc.	3d sg. fem.	1st pl.	2d pl.	3d pl.
Pres.​ind.	táthum, nom·thá rod·mbí (relative, habitual, ro-form) ním·tha (negative) ním·that (negative; plural subject)	táthut	táithi	táthus	táthunn, táithiunn nín·tá (negative)	táthuib, nob·tá	nís·ta (negative)
Preterite	—	—	nís·mboí (negative)	—	—	—	—
Perfect	—	—	ro·mbaí	—	—	—	—
Future	rom·bia (ro-form)	—	—	—	—	bethib	bethus ros·mbia (ro-form)
Conditional	—	—	—	—	—	—	ronda·biad (relative, ro-form)
Pres.​subj.	rom·bé	rot·bé	—	—	—	—	—

Combinations expressing ‘than’ with al (“beyond”), ind (“for which”), a (“which”)

Related terms

• ad·cota

Descendants

• Middle Irish: at·tá
  • Classical Gaelic: a-tá
  • Irish: tá
  • Manx: ta
  • Scottish Gaelic: tha

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “attá”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Thurneysen, Rudolf (1940, reprinted 2017) D. A. Binchy and Osborn Bergin, transl., A Grammar of Old Irish, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, →ISBN, §§ 777–90, pages 477–83