#buneolas

[toinghaeilge]

Dictionaries Will Break Your Heart

I’ve seen this hit people from time to time, so I thought I’d throw in a little word or two about it. “I’d like to buy a new speaker for my computer”, you’d like to say... but what’s the word for 'speaker'? You pick up the dictionary. Cainteoir. 

Wrong.

Cainteoir refers to a speaker of the human kind. 

In So- and Do-, I state as an example that soiléir expresses clarity, while doiléir expresses a fogginess. However, taking this at face value is taking a risk. Can doiléir apply to the mind? The weather? Glass? 

How do I be...  ar dheis?

See how the word is used in a sentence. When I look up “foggy” on foclóir, the first word I’m given is ceomhar. This example specifically says “weather”, but not every dictionary will give you that. 

Say I mean fogginess of the mind. I can do two things:

See if there’s another Irish word under the same definition

Search again using a synonym

The second word they give me is doiléir, and it says “confused”. Perfect. 

With this knowledge, you’ll be more than equipped to not say “mór” (great, in size) in response to someone telling you you’ve won a prize. 

[toinghaeilge]

Séimhiú

Prepositions

De, do ó, roimh, trí, and faoi cause séimhiú to nouns that follow.

Ó Chorcaigh

Ar as a preposition also causes a séimhiú, but not all the time.

Ar bharr an uisce Ar dhoras an tí

Exceptions to this would be for established phrases:

Ar meisce Ar cíos Ar fáil Ar díol

Possessive Forms

Mo, do and masculine a will also cause séimhiú.

Certain numbers

Dhá, trí, ceithre, cúig, and sé will trigger séimhiú when counting:

Sé bharra seacláide

Aon and beirt will cause a séimhiú with word that do not start with D, T or S:

Aon chupán amháin Beirt tuismitheoirí

Statements

Ba is always followed by a séimhiú

Ba mhaith liom

Ar, nár and níor also trigger the séimhiú before verbs:

Ar cheannaigh Nar dhún

How Séimhiú and Urú Came to Be: Why do we have mutations like these?

[toinghaeilge]

Urú

Prepositions

As, ar, um, chuig, ag, thar, trí, ó, roimh, le and faoi cause urú to the nouns that follow, but only when they have the definite article an.

Ar an mbórd Ag an bpáiste Leis an bhfarraige Faoin gcathaoir Thar an mbosca Tríd an bhfuinneoig

The preposition i will also cause urú without the definite article.

i mBaile Átha Cliath i nDún ar Aill

Plural Possessive Forms

Ár, a and bhur will also cause an urú.

Certain numbers

Seacht, ocht, naoi, and deich will trigger urú when counting:

Ocht gcathaoir Seacht mbord

Questions

An, nach and cá also trigger the urú before verbs:

An dtógann tú? Cá bhfuil do chat?

How Séimhiú and Urú Came to Be: Why do we have mutations like these?

[toinghaeilge]

The Possessive Adjective

Before Vowels

Before Consonants

Mine Yours His Hers Ours Yours(p) Theirs

Mo chara Do chara A chara A cara Ár gcara Bhur gcara A gcara

M'athair D'athair A athair A hathair Ár n-athair Bhur n-athair A n-athair

Possessive Prepositional Pronouns

[toinghaeilge]

Plural Forms

Strong plural form: Formed by adding a consonant-containing ending.

(a)í liathróid — liathróidí / gaeltacht — gaeitachtaí (e)anna troid — troideanna / pléasc — pléascanna (e)acha barúil — barúlacha / ainm — ainmneacha -tha or -the tír — tíortha / sclábhaí — sclábhaithe

Note: The ending -(a)í is considered a strong plural because it was originally -idhe

Weak plural form: Formed by adding the ending -a, or by adding and/or removing letters (vowels) within the word itself.

Slender final syllable fear — fir / leabhar — leabhair a fuinneog — fuinneoga

Irregular plurals: No relation to the singular forms.

teach — tithe bean — mná

As always, there are rules, but I don’t recommend memorising anything.

Also to note: Plurals can vary by dialect:

Take, for example, fuinneog. In standard Irish, the plural is fuinneoga, making it a weak plural. In Connacht and Ulster Irish, however, it's fuinneogaí, making it a strong one.

Or, leabhar, which is in Connacht pluralized to leabhra instead.

Try it

Try some of these common ones:

1. Questions 2. Apples 3. Clothes

Hover below for answers

1. Ceisteanna 2. Úlla 3. Éadaí

Next: Adjectives in the Plural

[toinghaeilge]

The Genitive Case

The genitive case is most commonly used to show possession, in a place of “of”, or to modify a noun into an adjective. To see how the genitive applies differently to masculine and feminine nouns, read my post on gender nouns.

Possession: the genitive forms of the owner(s) are used. For example, “Sean’s house” would be teach Sheáin and “ the Murphys’ house” would be teach Uí Mhurchú. For a definite article, the same applies: “the man’s clothes” would be eadaí an fhir.

To mean “Of”: Mac Domhnaill would be “son of Domhnall”. As you can see, the genitive is applied to Domhnall. It also applies to titles and occupations (Scoil Mhuire).

Noun modifier: When a noun modifies another noun, the adjective takes on the genitive case. For example, butter knife: butter is now an adjective (scian ime).

Indefinite quantity: When the noun cannot be measured, it takes the genitive case.

Tuilleadh solais Go leor ama

With certain prepositions: chun, cois, timpeall, trasna and fearacht (Relevant: my post on the article in the genitive case)

an scoil an pháirc

chun na scoil trasna na páirce

History lesson! These prepositions take genitive because they used to be nouns.

After the verbal noun:

eating the dinner ag ithe an dinnéir

An dinnéar becomes an dinnéir when it follows the verbal noun ag X. This is because this is literally phrased as "we are at the dinner's eating". (See: the point on possession)

Recap: What are Verbal Nouns?

All posts on verbal nouns

Try it

Translate these:

1. School board 2. Steak knife 3. Tadhg's house

Hover below for answers

1. Bord scoile 2. Scian stéige 3. Teach Thaidhg

[toingaeilge]

Séimhiú

Prepositions

De, do ó, roimh, trí, and faoi cause séimhiú to nouns that follow.

Ó Chorcaigh

Ar as a preposition also causes a séimhiú, but not all the time.

Ar bharr an uisce Ar dhoras an tí

Exceptions to this would be for established phrases:

Ar meisce Ar cíos Ar fáil Ar díol

Possessive Forms

Mo, do and masculine a will also cause séimhiú.

Certain numbers

Dhá, trí, ceithre, cúig, and sé will trigger séimhiú when counting:

Sé bharra seacláide

Aon and beirt will cause a séimhiú with word that do not start with D, T or S:

Aon chupán amháin Beirt tuismitheoirí

Statements

Ba is always followed by a séimhiú

Ba mhaith liom

Ar, nár and níor also trigger the séimhiú before verbs:

Ar cheannaigh Nar dhún

Etymology: Why do we have mutations like these?

[toingaeilge]

Urú

Prepositions

As, ar, um, chuig, ag, thar, trí, ó, roimh, le and faoi cause urú to the nouns that follow, but only when they have the definite article an.

Ar an mbórd Ag an bpáiste Leis an bhfarraige Faoin gcathaoir Thar an mbosca Tríd an bhfuinneoig

The preposition i will also cause urú without the definite article.

i mBaile Átha Cliath

Plural Possessive Forms

Ár, a and bhur will also cause an urú.

Certain numbers

Seacht, ocht, naoi, and deich will trigger urú when counting:

Ocht gcathaoir Seacht mbord

Questions

An, nach and cá also trigger the urú before verbs:

An dtógann tú? Cá bhfuil do chat?

Etymology: Why do we have mutations like these?