Ireland

Irish-English terms

"Thanks a million"

Leithreas?


"[To be] after" in Irish English

Past-tense verb formation in the imposed language


The Hiberno-English past tense of the verb "to be" is a vestige of Gaelic Irish.

In the simple past tense, the Irish say "he's after [doing something.]" For example, "He's after writing a letter" is equivalent to "he wrote a letter."

In the "recent news" past tense formation, "I'm only after getting here" means "I just got here."

In the "perfect past tense," the Irish would use "he was after walking the dog" to say "he had walked the dog."