Tre is one of the rare adverbial particles used in Breton (like in, out, etc. in English).

For regular verbs in the singular (familiar 'you'), it has the same form as the radical (root stem), that is got by removing the verb ending from the infinitive if it has one. So for verbs ending in -añ, -at, -al (evañ, labourat, dañsal) you need to simply remove this ending:

ev ! (= drink !)

To form the second person plural (polite 'you' and plural), add to the root stem the ending -it :

evit ! (= drink !)

An exception: dont changes to deus and deuit.

This is the 2nd of 5 irregular verbs in Breton, that we will study. Its conjugaison is very different from all other verbs. In the present tense we have:

1. am (em) eus
2. ac'h (ec'h) eus / az (ez) peus
3. en deus
4. he deus
5. hon eus
6. hoc'h eus ('peus)
7. o deus

It is in 2 parts and is the only verb which works in this way.

1. The 1st part shows the person : am eus, etc... and changes for all the persons ;
2. The 2nd shows the tense and is accented. It is invariable. In the present it always ends in eus.

In the 3rd person singular there is a masculine form and a feminine form.

Except when the subject or the direct object come before, we use em and ec'h (or ez) instead of am et ac'h (ou az), in the written language.

N'em eus ket amzer

Hiziv ec'h eus (ez peus) labour

These differences are not made in the spoken language when contractions are used.

The usual contracted forms are : 'meus (lS), 'teus (2S) and 'peus ( 2S/2P)

The verb kaout (have) expresses possession but does not express accompaniment .

Ur c'harr am eus, met n'eus karr ebet ganin hiziv

N'en deus ket arc'hant, met dilhad brav zo gantañ !

Use kaout c'hoant da + verb

N'em eus ket c'hoant da vont ganit

This is expressed by kaout ezhomm da + verb

Ezhomm am eus da ziskuizhañ

Ezhomm hoc'h eus da brenañ riz ?

Ebet is used with a singular noun without the article. You can say :

N'eus ket bara

N'hon eus ket bara

But :

N'eus tamm bara ebet

N'hon eus tamm bara ebet

There is no relative pronoun in Breton.

Emaon o c'hortoz Anna a zo o pellgomz

Setu ur paotr a zo o chom e Sant Malo hag a zo o labourat e Roazhon