"He calls the dog."
Translation:Glaonn sé ar an madra.
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In Irish you put a call or query on something.
- Glaonn sí ar na Gardaí = She calls on the Gardaí (She calls the police)
- Glaofaidh mé ar mo chara = I'll call on my friend (I'll call my friend)
- Cuirim ceist ar mo chara = I put question on my friend (I ask my friend a question)
For the same reason as glaonn. In Irish, you use the phrasal verb glaoigh ar when calling someone/something.
I answered with an mhadra, and an alternative correct answer has an madra. I understood mhadra was required after the definite article, so why would an madra be acceptable?
For most Irish speakers, the word after ar an is eclipsed, but you can't eclipse words that start with m, so ar an madra is correct, and that is the default answer that this course teaches. In Ulster Irish, though, they follow different rules, and the word after ar an is lenited, so Duolingo will accept ar an mhadra as an acceptable alternative, to accommodate people who were taught Ulster Irish before they started to use Duolingo.
If the preposition wasn't there, (cloiseann sé an madra, mar shampla) it would also be an madra, because only feminine nouns are lenited in that situation, and madra is a masculine noun.
Ok, thanks. I am in Cork, so if I am honest I was wrong! Thanks for the explanation.
1477
why is ar used as present tense and used in the sentence but when you call your mother or father the ar or on is not used in the English translation.?
When ar comes before the verb, it's a past tense interrogative particle.
The ar in this exercise isn't an interrogative particle. It's a preposition that comes after the verb, and is used with glaoigh to specify who is being called, including your mother or your father. You need to ar.