"Ní féidir liom sibh a chloisteáil."
Translation:I cannot hear you.
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330
Why isn't it "ag cloisteáil"? These verbal nouns are really difficult to grasp, for some reason.
"ag + verbal noun" is the equivalent of the gerund in English - "hearing". "a + verbal noun" is usually used to translate the infinitive "to hear" (that's a very simplified explanation).
I prefer to translate "ní féidir liom" as "I'm not able" ("to hear you") or even "it's not possible for me" ("to hear you") to preserve this structure - "I can't", even though it has the same meaning in this sentence, drops the "to".
222
"Tips and notes" say that There are special systems to write things when a pronoun is used as the object of a verbal noun and there are two tables below in which you plural is translated into do bhur + eclipsis.
1770
So you can't say ní maith liom a bheith ag cloisteáil sibh, because there is no genitive form of sibh? Is ths right?
You're approaching this the wrong way round.
If you think of "ag léamh leabhair" as "at the reading of a book", you can see the genitive construction. You can also see how you could recast it with the possessive - "at a book's reading". When the object of the verbal noun is a pronoun, we stick with that possessive form - "reading me" - "do mo léamh" (at my reading), "reading you" - "do do léamh", etc. (the transition between "do" and "ag" and "á" doesn't change this - they are all basically the same thing).
So it's not that you can't say "ní maith liom a bheith ag cloisteáil sibh, because there is no genitive form of sibh?", it's simply that you don't, because the possessive pronouns don't require the genitive, whereas you do use the genitive to mark possession in other cases. (obviously, you don't possess the verbal noun, but you can see how it fits into the same grammatical pattern).
1770
Thank you again for your explanation. Unfortunately, I could not answer or see it earlier because I do not get any notifications anymore. I have already reported it and hopefully it will work again some time in the future. ;-) I got an Irish grammar book two days ago and now I can look out for more answers.. Go raibh míle maith agat