Seall an tùs aig Answer Verbs or Thuirt vs Thubhairt and what's in it

Most people have come across these doublets, but few have encountered any helpful explanations. Most explanations just present them as variants of the same 'thing'. Some say the longer forms are the 'old way' of spelling them, and there are a few sources which refer to them as stressed and unstressed forms.  The latter is certainly true - but it actually goes beyond that. To begin with, here is a list of the most commonly seen variations:

{| style="width: 50%;" border="0" align="center"
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">an dubhairt thu?</span> || [əN du.əRʃdʲ u] || <span style="color: #008000;">an duirt thu?</span> || [əN duRʃdʲ u] || did you say?
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">bhitheadh tu</span> || [viːəɣ du] || <span style="color: #008000;">bhiodh tu</span> || [vjəɣ du] || you would be
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">bithidh tu</span> || [bi.ɪ du] || <span style="color: #008000;">bidh tu</span> || [bi du] || you will be
|- 
| <span style="color: #008000;">thabhair dhomh</span> || [ho.ɪrʲ ɣõ] || <span style="color: #008000;">thoir dhomh</span> || [hɔrʲ ɣõ] || give me
|-
|}

As so many things in Gaelic orthography which seem to be random, this isn't either.  What the spelling is trying to reflect here with some of the most commonly used verbs is a phenomenon of spoken Gaelic - the distinction between what I have chosen to call ''neutral'' and ''stressed forms''.

Neutral means that the verb is used without putting particular stress on it, for example because something else is stressed in the sentence or because it is just a simple statement or question you are making.  Stressed means that for whatever reason, for example in answering a question or when stressing the verbal element of the sentence, you are putting emphasis on the answer.

This is very common in languages - they differ in how exactly they do it though.  Gaelic does two things - it lengthens the vowel of the stressed verbs and splits the single syllable into two. Huh?

Well, let's look at an example:

{| style="width: 45%;" border="0" align="center"
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">Thuirt mi ris dol ann</span> || [huRʃdʲ mi rʲiʃ ə ɣɔL aũN] || I told him to go there.
|- 
| <span style="color: #008000;">An dubhairt?</span> || [əN du.əRʃdʲ] || Did you?
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">Thubhairt!</span> || [hu.əRʃdʲ] || I did!
|-
|}

The first <span style="color: #008000;">thuirt</span> has quite a short vowel and has just one syllable.  The other two on the other hand are "drawn out" somewhat and now there are two syllables.  It's as similar difference as in English "Yes" and "Ye-es!" (the kind of long yes you get from teenagers) in terms of syllables - although it's still the same vowel, it's longer and there is kind of a break in between.

So what about other verbs, like <span style="color: #008000;">tha</span> and <span style="color: #008000;">bha</span>? In general there is a tendency to lengthen the vowels slightly in stressed verbs and for the vowels to be short or even disappearing:

{| style="width: 40%;" border="0" align="center"
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">Mhol mi an latha dha</span> || [vɔL mi N La.ə ɣa] || I greeted him.
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">An do mhol?</span> || [əN də vɔL] || Did you?
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">Mhol!</span> || [vɔˑL] || Yes!
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">Bha mi ann</span> || [va mi ãũN] || I was there.
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">An robh?</span> || [ə Rɔ] || Were you?
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">Bha!</span> || [vaː] || Yes!
|-
|}


In the <span style="color: #008000;">Mhol!</span> the vowel gets ever so slightly lengthened if you do a measurement of the vowels - by no means enough to make it sound like *<span style="color: #008000;">mòl</span>, but just a bit.

So it actually makes sense to have <span style="color: #008000;">thubhairt</span> AND <span style="color: #008000;">thuirt</span> when you are writing Gaelic - but however you write it, the important thing is to remember to pronounce them properly when speaking.
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{{BeaganGramair}}