"Dia dhuit, a Phercy' ar sé. "Bhí mé ag guí nach dtabharfá faoi dear mé. An bhfuil tú i do ghlagaire chomh mór agus a bhí tú an uair dheireanach a casadh orm thú?”
Bhí mé ag guí nach dtabharfá faoi dear mé - I was praying you would not notice me
There is an alternative way of casting this sentence: 'Bhí mé á ghuí nach dtabharfá faoi dear mé'
In the second, used more in the South, the forward reference works like this:
dá = do + a (possessive adjective, 3rd sing) - do, preposition + a possessive adjective - so roughly 'to its'
the 'a' is a place holder for the clause 'nach dtabharfá faoi dear mé'
In the first 'Bhí mé ag guí nach dtabharfá faoi dear mé, the whole clause 'nach dtabharfá faoi dear mé' is in the genitive, since it is the object of the verbal noun 'guí'. Similarily in:
Bhí sé ag rá nach maith leis tae = Bhí sé á rá nach maith leis tae;
Bhí sé ag maíomh gur amadán mé = Bhí sé á mhaíomh gur amadán mé.
An bhfuil tú i do ghlagaire chomh mór agus a bhí tú an uair dheireanach a casadh orm thú? - Are you as big of a slabber as you were the last time we met?
Break down:
Tá tú i do amadán = Is amadán thú - You are a fool
Bhí tú i do amadán = Ba amadán thú - You were a fool
The construction with 'tá/bhí' etc + i + possessive adjective, usually refers to a temporary state, rather than membership of a category: 'beidh mé i mo mhúinteoir, i gceann bliana' - I will be a teacher in a years time - lit: I will be in my teacher.
chomh mór le teach - as big as a house - comparison parts: chomh(as) + adjective + le + noun
chomh mór agus a bhí tú - as big as your were - comparison parts: chomh(as) + adjective + agus + relative clause
casadh orm thú - lit: you were turned on me = I met you.
There are two main ways of expressing 'meet' in Irish, both idiomatic: buail le x - meet x -> Bhuail me le Pól
casadh x orm - a sort of passive construction - casadh Pól orm
an uair dheireanach a casadh orm thú - an adverbial clause of time - the last time we met