H. The Mystery of the Disappearing Pronoun

As the student will already be aware, when replying to question or a statement, the pronoun (or any other word acting as the subject) is omitted.

Are you busy just now? Yes. (lit. [I] am)

The omission of the subject is not, however, confined to straightforward affirmative or negative replies. Consider the following:

Question: Am bi Barabal a tighinn a-nochd?

               Will Barbara be coming tonight?

Answer: Tha mi an dòchas gum bi.

             I hope she will. / I hope so.

Students often find this omission difficult to understand particularly in sentences of the type which you will see below.

Let us first examine parallel examples in Gaelic and in English:

A. Tha mi an dòchas nach bi na balaich ro fhada gun tighinn.

     I hope the boys won't be too long in coming.

B. Tha mi cinnteach nach bi (iad ro fhada gun tighinn).

     I'm sure they won't (be too long in coming).

Normally the speaker would not say the words shown in brackets, but they show the thought he wishes to convey, However, when he reaches the verb, he has given enough information to convey his intention, and stops. It should be particularly noted that the English pronoun, which precedes the verb, is retained, but the Gaelic pronoun, which follows the verb, is omitted.

So far, this is fairly easy to understand, but the main difficulty is that Gaelic employs this device in situations where English uses entirely different methods, as will be seen by studying the following:

1a) Cò bhuaithe a fhuair thu an sgeul seo?

      From whom did you get this information?

1b) Fhuair bho Fhearghas.

      From Fergus.

2a) An deach thu don bhaile o chionn ghoirid?

      Have you gone into town recently?

2b) Cha deach o chionn fhada.

      Not for a long time.

3a) Càit an do dh'fhàg thu do leabhar?

      Where did you leave your book?

3b) Dh'fhàg anns an sgoil.

      In school.

4a) Carson a tha thu aig an taigh an-diugh?

      Why are you at home today?

4b) Tha (a) chionn 's gu bheil an sgoil dùinte.

      Because the school is closed.

-- and finally:

5) Chan eil fhios a'm am faca e an tubaist, ach ma chunnaic, cha tuirt e smid.

     I don't know if he saw the accident, but if he did, he didn't say a word.