Afrikaans to Irish: identical-looking is can conceal a different construction
Afrikaans is does not always become Irish is
The Afrikaans copular system uses forms of wees for identity, description, and location. Irish distinguishes the copula is from the substantive verb bí, commonly seen as tá in the present. The visual coincidence of Afrikaans is and Irish is is therefore a poor replacement rule. Determine what the sentence asserts before selecting the target construction.
The curriculum guidance contrasts an incorrect identification pattern with Is múinteoir é Seán, Seán is a teacher. A statement about Seán’s location or a current condition would use a different type of construction. If an Afrikaans source changes from a job identity to a temporary situation, regenerate the Irish clause rather than retaining its opening because the source still contains is.
A name can require an identification pattern
The dictionary records Is mé Brian, I am Brian, as an identification example. The target’s arrangement differs from the ordinary Afrikaans order even though the proposition is simple. Do not rearrange the Irish to imitate Ek is Brian just because the same person and name occur in both.
For an introduction, distinguish identifying a person from describing a property. This helps prevent the translation from using a familiar tá opening indiscriminately. A natural Irish sentence is selected by the relationship between the subject and predicate, not simply by a lookup for Afrikaans wees.
Nie must follow the target kind of clause
Afrikaans negative nie occurs within its own sentence patterns. Irish negative forms depend on the verb or copular construction involved; the dictionary lists ní among the present copula’s negatives and other forms in related contexts. Inserting a target negative into a positive sentence without revising its grammar is not a reliable procedure.
For a correction such as someone not being the named person, preserve the identification being denied. For a message about someone not being at a place, preserve the location claim instead. Both can contain Afrikaans is and nie, yet the Irish distinction between kinds of being still matters in the negative.
Mutation and accents are part of the wording
Irish can change initial forms in grammatical environments, and its accents distinguish written words. An Afrikaans reader should not remove a fada or restore every unfamiliar initial to a dictionary shape to make a phrase look simpler. Keep the target construction intact while checking its meaning.
Before reusing a translation, compare the type of claim, the person identified, and the negative or question form with the Afrikaans original. This is especially useful for brief introductions and corrections, where a single source is hides several possible Irish structures. Save the complete sentence with its purpose rather than preserving only an apparently equivalent opening word.
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