(le Róislín)

In the last four blogs, we’ve practiced sentences like “I’m playing the fiddle” or “Mickey Hart is playing the drums.”  Anois, cad fútsa?  An seinneann tusa aon uirlis cheoil?  An fhidil?  An pianó?  An giotár?  Na drumaí?

In the previous four blogs, most of our sentences used the phrase “ag seinm,” which meant we had to adjust the ending of most of the words for the musical instruments (“fidle” in “ag seinm na fidle” instead of just “an fhidil” or “na ndrumaí” [nuh NRUM-ee] instead of “na drumaí [nuh DRUM-ee]”).

In today’s blog, we’ll take a breather from an tuiseal ginideach, with all of those changes, and just deal with the basic noun.  Why?  We don’t need an tuiseal ginideach to simply say, “I play the fiddle.”  Sentences with “ag seinm na fidle” are structured differently, literally saying, “I am at (i.e. in the act of) the fiddle’s playing.”  That usage requires an tuiseal ginideach (the genitive case), comparable to saying “luach na fidle” (the price of the fiddle) or “dath na fidle” (which, in the case of Eileen Ivers’ fiddle, would be “gorm“).  So, to beat that example to a pulp, I could ask, “Cad é dath na fidle goirme atá ag Eileen Ivers?” and the answer would be “gorm, a dhúramáin” (blue, you numbskull).  Kind of like asking, “What color was George Washington’s white horse?” Bhuel, actually, though, in that case, the horse isn’t really white, but it looks white.  Ach ceist na gceisteanna féinléire, sin ábhar blag eile.

So let’s see if we can do a poll of readers here, and see what instruments, if any, you play.

Here are the instruments we’ve focused on in this mionsraith, with the question and yes and no answers:

An seinneann tú an t-alpchorn [un TAHLP-khorn]?  Seinnim [SHEN-yim] / Ní sheinnim [NEE HEN-yim]

An seinneann tú an basún?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an consairtín?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú na drumaí?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an t-eofón?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an fhidil [un IDJ-il]?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an ghlocainspíl?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an giotár?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an heicealfón?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú na hideafóin?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an liúit?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an mórorgán?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an nóvachorda?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an t-ócairín?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an pianó?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an reabab?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an siotar?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an siotár?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an triantán?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an uathchláirseach?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an ucailéile?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an víol?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an an vióla?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an troitheán wah-wah?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an xileafón?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

And a few others that we didn’t focus on previously:

An seinneann tú an basúcaí?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an chláirseach?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú na castainéid?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an giotár?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an hang?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

An seinneann tú an sintéireoir Moog?  Seinnim / Ní sheinnim

For any readers who are also teaching, this could be a fun “round-robin” exercise for a class or a ciorcal comhrá.

Má sheinneann tú, scríobh isteach!  Agus seinn leat!  SGF – Róislín