Gary Holton and Laura Robinson,The Internal History of the Alor-Pantar language family, inThe Alor-Pantar languages: History and Typology, edited by Marian Klamer
Marian Klamer,One item, many faces: ‘come’ in Teiwa (2010, in wing & Klamer) andKaera (2014, in Schapper)
(preceding the gerund of a verb,intransitive)denotes an ongoing action with a sense of progression or movement through space or time; togo on;carry on;continue
FromProto-Baltic*irā (cf. dialectal, archaic formsirād,iraid,irāg, and alsoLithuanianyrà, which existed alongside*esti (cf.Old Church Slavonicєстъ(estŭ),Russianесть(jestʹ),Lithuanian dialectalẽsti,Old Prussianast), initially with basically existential (“there is”) meaning, but later on extending to all copular meanings, thus replacing*esti. InSudovian, also the first person formirm(“I am”) is derived from this stem. The origin ofProto-Baltic*irā is, however, unclear. Various sources have been proposed: an older interjection (cf.Lithuanianaurè(“look!”)), the particle and conjunctionir(“both... and...”), a noun with the meaning “existence,” “reality,” “thing,” or even (more recently) theProto-Indo-European secondary third-person verbal ending*-r with a later-ā-extension.[1]
gribējasir smieties,ir raudāt ―one wantedboth to laughand to cry
nācair jaunie,ir vecie ―both the youngand the old came
tolaikir tēvs,ir māte bija miruši ―at that time,both the fatherand the mother had died
tā bija droša, interesanta un glīta meitene, kas prata būtir jautra,ir nopietna ―that was a brave, fun (lit. interesting) and pretty girl, who knew how to beboth cheerfuland serious
nakts kā jau nakts:ir mēness spīd,ir tālē rūsa plaiksnī ―the night is like the night (= as usual): the moon shinesand also in the distance silent lightning flashes
Ludis nolēca lielā dubļu pančkā un turir palika, ratiem pakaļ skatīdamies ―Ludis jumped into a big mud puddle and therealso he stayed, looking ahead at the cart
Dūdums pateica: “man vēl laika diezgan”, un pārliecināt viņu par piegādes normu nodošanu pirms termiņa tāir neizdevās — Dūdums said: “I still have enough time,” andalso,so it was impossible to convince him about the rules for delivery before the deadline
late9th century, Otfrid of Weissenburg,Letter to Bishop Salomo of Constance v. 5-7:
Lékza ih therara búachi /iu sentu in suábo richi, thazir irkíaset ubar ál, / oba siu frúma wesan scal; Obair hiar fíndet iawiht thés / thaz wírdig ist thes lésannes:
I sendto you in Swabia the selection of books, so thatyou can decide above all if it will be useful; [and] ifyou find here something that is worthy of being read. (quoted in and tr. by Horst J. Simon in Taavitsainen & Jucker 2003:88)
Some speakers of Old High German appear to have contrasted the "polite" singular (plural forms) with the regular, informal singular (singular forms), as in Modern GermanSie versusdu. This distinction is however not well-attested, and may have been regional, genre-dependent, or only in late Old High German.
Inherited fromLatinīre. The forms beginning with /v/ derive from corresponding forms ofLatinvādere; those beginning with /f/ derive from corresponding forms ofLatinesse.
2012,Luís Fernando Veríssimo, “Os pêssegos”, inDiálogos Impossíveis, Rio de Janeiro: Editora Objetiva,→ISBN, page29:
Não se ouvia mais nada, além dos ruídos naturais do pôquer. O clicar das fichas. Frases curtas: "Dou cartas." "Vou." "Nãovou." "Pago pra ver." "Não é possível!"
The use of auxiliaryir with lexicalir (e.g.Eu vou ir para casa “I'm going to go home”) is sometimes proscribed. A singleir (Eu vou para casa, even though this also means the present “I'm going home”) or the future tense form (Eu irei para casa, which is rather formal) can be used instead.
Usually used in the preterite and with the pronoun preceding the verb:
Inherited fromLatinīre. The forms beginning with /v/ derive from corresponding conjugations ofvādere, and those beginning with /m/ presumably frommeāre.
be serious about something, make a real attempt at something
Si por honestidadva, ¿qué cosa más honesta que la virtud? Ahorava de veras.
Ifit's about honesty, what could be more honest than virtue? Now Iam serious.
(preceding the gerund of a verb,intransitive)denotes an ongoing action with a sense of progression or movement through space or time; togo on, tocarry on
Voy caminando.
Igo on walking
(preceding the gerund of a verb,intransitive)an action or process is beginning to occur or unfold; togrow (dark),get (cloudy)
Voy a decirle la verdad. ―Iam going to tell her the truth.
(intransitive, said of a thing, especially a sum of money) to bestaked orbet in a dispute or competition(only used in the third-person plural present indicative formvan to entice someone to engage in abet)
Van cinco euros a que gana el Madrid ―Ibet five euros that Madrid will win the match
En verano,vamos a la playa. ―In summer, wego to the beach.
(intransitive)used to describe the manner in which someone behaves or acts under specific conditions[withcon(+abstractnoun)]
ir con cuidado ―to be careful (literally, “to go with carefulness”)
(intransitive)indicates an inclination towards a particular profession or career path, especially one that is perceived in other people based on their current skills or personality
Este niñova para médico. ―This childwill become a doctor (perceived by the speaker).
(intransitive)indicates the pursuit of a particular career or vocation[withpor‘career or vocation’]
Ellava por la música. ―Sheis pursuing a career in music
Estar + gerund expresses the fact that the action of the verb is happening on the immediate present, with no inherent sense of past or future movement through time or space. It's the standard and more common expression.
"Ella está cantando" (She is singing) could imply:
Current Action (She is singing right now)
Continuous State (She is currently engaged in an event where she regularly sings, but might not be doing so at the moment)
(now(dated) or(formal)): Habitual action "she sings in the morning every day"
ir + gerund expresses a kind of iterative or durative aspect. It emphasizes that the action involves movement or change over time, particularly along a longer process or journey, one that will usually be continued into the future. It is less common in casual speech and is mostly found in formal or literary works.
"Ellava cantando" (She goes on singing) could imply:
She is moving and singing, either simultaneously or independently (She could move, stop to sing, and then continue moving). Either moving and singing with no defined direction through different locations (She goes around singing wherever she is) or along a specified path.
The continuous and habitual nature and development of the action over the past, present and often future (She sings little by little and improves over time) Emphasizes progression and the gradual unfolding of a habitual action.
The basic meaning "go" applies to any kind of animate or inanimate motion:walk,ride,sail,fly, etc.
The verbir has one of the most irregular conjugations of all Spanish verbs, with many of its irregularities being unique, or nearly unique, to this verb. In particular:
It is one of only three verbs (alongsideser andver, and their derivatives) to have irregular forms in the imperfect indicative tense.
In the preterite indicative and the imperfect and future subjunctive, the conjugation ofir is identical to that ofser ("to be"). Thus, for example,yo fui can mean either "I went" or "I was", depending on context.
In contemporary Spanish, the first-person plural affirmative imperative form ofir is usuallyvamos; the alternative formvayamos, while not proscribed by theRoyal Spanish Academy, is used almost exclusively inliterary language and otherwise considered archaic. However,vayamos remains in use for the (first-person plural) present subjunctive and negative imperative forms (the use ofvamos in these cases is nonstandard). This makesir the only Spanish verb for which the two first-person plural imperative forms (i.e., the affirmative and the negative) are not identical.
The verb does not have a standardisedvoseo form in the second-person singular imperative – instead, the imperative ofandar (which has the formandá) is usually used in its place byvoseo speakers.[2] The formi is sometimes used as well, though this is considered nonstandard.
It is also the only verb in Spanish in which the verb-final-d is not fully elided when the affirmative imperativevosotros form is combined with the pronominal suffixos. The correct form forid+os is eitheridos oriros; the more predictable formíos (analogous to such forms in other-ir verbs) had been in use in the past, but is viewed as nonstandard today.
R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “ir”, inGeiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies