Find the Person Object
When both subject an object are persons, in sentences with continuous verb constructions, like the following:
Léigh (Read)
1. Tá Síle ag bualadh Phóil.
2. Tá Peadar ag bualadh Sheáin.
3. Tá Liam ag bualadh Mháire.
4. Tá Tadhg ag bualadh Mhícheáil.
As learned earlier, the perpetrator, can be accessed, using the interrogative pronoun 'cé':
Freagair (Answer)
1. Cé atá ag bualadh Mháire?
2. Cé atá ag bualadh Sheáin?
3. Cé atá ag bualadh Phóil?
4. Cé atá ag bualadh Mhícheáil?
But what about the case where the person suffering the action is what needs to be accessed?
That is in the context of the sentece facts above, the beater is known but the person receiving the beating is unknown. We can go through the declarative sentence piece by piece in our attempt to formulate a question that will pull the information we want - the person receiving the beating, the object of the verbal noun, 'bualadh'. So here is the sentence fact again:
Tá Síle ag bualadh Phóil.
Since Pól is a person, can we use 'Cé' as we did to pull the subject of the sentence before? In formal English there is an objective form that can be used to clarify that it is the person as object we want 'whom'. But Irish has no such form: 'Cé' is used for both subject and object. So we can start our question:
1a. Cé atá Síle - Síle is still the subject of 'atá', so that bit stays the same. And the relative clause, 'atá Síle
But 'Cé' is now objective. It referrs to the object of the verbal noun, which in Irish is put in the genitive, 'bualadh Phóil', roughly 'beating of Pól'. We can't use 'ag', since it just attaches the subject 'Síle' to the verbal noun, and Irish has no genitive form of 'Cé'. To solve the problem, once again, Irish uses the preposition 'do', which has been reduced to 'a' in the modern language. So the whole question becomes:
1b. Cé atá Síle do(a) bhualadh?
It is important to note that 'do(a)' has no pronoun content. The confusion can arise by assoctiation with 'a' when used as a possessive adjective: a chat - his cat, a cat - her cat, a gcat - their cat. 'Cé' is just used as a place holder for the object of the verbal noun. . The way to remember the structure is to practice the bare structures with objects:
a. Seán a bhualadh - object + verbal noun
b. Síle a bhualadh - object + verbal noun
c. Seán agus Síle a bhualadh - objects + verbal noun
d. Tadhg agus mise a bhualadh - objects + verbal noun
Then from the sentence with the object in the genitive we can get:
a. Tá Síle ag bualadh Phóil. -> Cé atá Síle a bhualadh?
b. Tá Peadar ag bualadh Sheáin. -> Cé atá Peadar a bhualadh?
c. Tá Liam ag bualadh Mháire. -> Cé atá Liam a bhualadh?
d. Tá Tadhg ag bualadh Mhícheáil. -> Cé atá Tadhg a bhualadh?
Cé is a placeholder for [Pól, Seán, Máire, Mícheal], according to context. And the relative clause, [atá Síle, atá Peadar etc] is slotted in between the object, 'cé', and the construction with do + verbal noun, [do(a) bhualadh, a thógáil, a phógadh etc]. It has to be admitted that this idiomatic way of dealing with referencing the object, is not very logically satisfying.
Léigh (Read)agus Freagair.
1. Cé atá Pól a thógáil? - Who is Pól lifting?
2. Cé atá Máire a phógadh? - Who is Máire kissing?
3. Cé atá Tadhg a cheangal? - Who is Tadhg tying up?
4. Cé atá Liam a ithe? - Who is Liam(the canibal) eating?
Nóta: For 4 Ulster Irish uses the form 'Cé atá Liam a dh'ithe?' where the 'do - dho before a vowel makes a reappearance.
To find out who is suffering the action of the verbal noun, ie. its object as a person.