"It is somewhat wet."
Translation:Tha i caran fliuch.
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it in English is neuter – that gender does not exist in (modern) Gaelic, so depending on context English it may translate either to e (he) or i (she). By default (when what it points at is unknown) it is e.
But when referring to weather conditions i is often used (perhaps because two words for weather – sìde and aimsir – are feminine; so weather is a she in Gaelic). But e is sometimes used too when describing weather conditions (perhaps because day latha is masculine).
So no, it is not generally e – it might be, but does not have to. But still I think e should be accepted in this sentence: it is valid usage when talking about the weather, and the English sentence is unclear what is the context (and in other context it might definitely be masculine).
Might interest some people, I’ve just found it – this i referring to weather is explained by Roibeard Ó Maolalaigh in his Scottish Gaelic in Twelve Weeks as coming from a reference to feminine oidhche night instead, rather than to the weather words (thus I guess a while ago people would say tha e brèagha during a day and perhaps tha i brèagha during night time, later i becoming more popular in some dialects, as taught in Duolingo) – this would be in line with Irish still generally using masculine sé when referring to weather.
Scottish Gaelic in Twelve Weeks, §5.43 The Weather, p. 62:
43 The Weather
The weather sìde (f) or aimsir (f) is an important part of daily conversation in Gaelic. Most conversations begin with comments on the weather. Here are some useful examples:
- Is e latha brèagha a tha ann. It is a lovely day.
(…)
Alternatively, we can simply use the verb tha as follows:
- Tha e brèagha an-diugh. It is fine today.
(…)
The feminine pronoun i rather than e is used in some dialects to refer to the weather in the above phrases; the feminine reference refers to, or originally referred to, oidhche ‘night’ which is a feminine noun.
Thank you very much. This is helpful. Do you recommend 'Scottish Gaelic in Twelve Weeks'? There are so many textbooks out there.
"rueigin" comes before "caran" as a definition of "somewhat" or " a little bit" in several dictionaries