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Rh The Verbal Noun and its Functions.

“Is there an Infinitive in Irish?” We give here Father O’Leary’s answer to his own question, “Certainly not.” In Irish there is neither an infinitive mood nor a present participle, both functions being discharged by the verbal noun. It follows from this statement that there is no such thing as a sign of the infinitive mood in Irish.

In the above examples, and in thousands of similar ones, the Irish verbal noun is an exact equivalent in sense of the English infinitive, sign and all. If any one of the prepositions (or ),  or, be used before the verbal nouns in the above examples, the result is utter nonsense. Now consider the following examples:—