(28d) in which the definite noun is flanked by two personal pronouns agreeing with it in gender and number. When saying "this is", or "that is", and are used, in which case is usually dropped: (29a) "This is my mother." (29b) "That's the teacher." One can also add "that is in him/her/it", especially when an adjective is used if one wants to emphasise the quality: That sometimes appears in Hiberno-English, translated literally as "that is in it" or as "so it is". The present tense of the copula can be used for the future: (32) "He will be a teacher." The past tense of the copula can be used for the conditional: (33) "She would be a teacher." The forms and are not used after preverbal particles. (34a) "Are you a teacher?" (34b) "We were not teachers." If the predicate is definite, the copula is followed by a disjunctive personal pronoun, which may be repeated at the end of the sentence. (35a) "Siobhán is the teacher." (35b) "Those people are the teachers." (35c) "He is the teacher." If the predicate is indefinite, it follows the copula directly, with the disjunctive pronoun and subject coming at the end. (36a) "I am a student." (36b) "Cáit is a teacher." The copula can also be used to stress an adjective, as in the following instance: Topicalization Topicalization in Irish is formed by clefting: by fronting the topicalized element as the predicate of the copula, while the rest of the sentence becomes a relative clause. Compare "I said it" with "I said it." Other uses for the copula There are other set idiomatic phrases using the copula, as seen in the following examples. Here the predicate consists mostly of either a prepositional phrase or an adjective. (38a) "I like" (lit. "is good with me") (38b) "I would like" (lit. "would be good with me") (38c) "I prefer" (lit. "is better with me") (38d) "I can" (lit. "is possible with me") (38e) "one should" (lit. "would be right") (38f) "one shouldn't" (lit. "would not be right") (38g) "I hate" (lit. "is hatred with me") (38h) "I don't care" (lit. "is indifferent with me") (38i) "I wish/would like" (lit. "is desire with me") (38j) "I remember" (lit. "is memory with me") There are also the following constructions: Answering questions with copula Since the copula cannot stand alone, the answer must contain either a part of the