I can play the guitar
'S urrainn dhomh an giotàr a chluich
When we describe our ability more fully, we may sometimes use a direct object in our sentences, for example, withlity more fully, we may sometimes use a direct object in our sentences, for example, with
| a' dràibheadh càr | driving a car |
| a' cluich a' ghiotàir | playing the guitar |
| ag òl cofaidh | drinking coffee |
| a' faicinn film | seeing a film |
| a' bruidhinn Fraingis | speaking French |
We change the order by using inversion , which is the same structure we saw used with faod and feum back in Cuspair 9, A2.
Compare these sentences:
| VERB | SUBJECT | VERBAL NOUN | DI RECT OBJECT |
| Tha | thu | a' dràibheadh | càr. |
| Bha | e | a' leughadh | leabhar. |
| Bha | i | ag òl | cofaidh. |
| Bidh | iad | a' faicinn | film. |
| A bheil | thu | a' tuigsinn | Fraingis? |
with these
| MODAL VERB | SUBJECT | DIRECT OBJECT | VERBAL NOUN | |
| 'S urrainn | dhut | càr | a | dhràibheadh. |
| Chan urrainn | dha | leabhar | a | leughadh. |
| An urrainn | dhi | cofaidh | òl? | |
| Chan urrainn | dhaibh | film | fhaicinn. | |
| An urrainn | dhut | Fraingis | a | thuigsinn? |
Where there is a direct object , the verbal noun comes at the end, just as we saw with faod and feum in Cuspair 9. The verbal noun is lenited and preceded by a (no apostrophe). Look at what happens to òl (drink) which begins with a vowel, it doesn't take a and cannot lenite: and with faicinn (which begins with the letter f ), it also doesn't take a , but lenites to fhaicinn .
Let's see some examples.
And let's see some examples from our conversation.