ABSTRACT
The conditional forms are used frequently in Irish than in English, appearing in contexts where English translations might well use a different verb form. This chapter covers sentences in which the conditions for the event in one clause are explicitly specified in another. Irish uses two types of overt conditional structures, only one of which uses the conditional mood in its verb forms. Time reference is not distinguished in these conditional clauses, which can reflect both hypothetical situations in present time or counterfactual situations in the past. In the first type of conditional structure, the speaker assumes that fulfillment of the condition and its consequence is a real possibility, or at worst takes no stand on the outcome. Conditional forms are used for rhetorical effect, as in the following example. Clauses often occur without a follow-up clause, leaving a consequence of the condition unstated or implied.
