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p1 * Basics 1 * Prepositions 3
* Basics 2 * Passive
* Common Phrases * Numbers
* Food * Feelings and Traits
* Plurals p5 * Verbs: Past 1
* Eclipsis * Characteristics
p2 * Lenition * Verbs: Past 2
| * Possessives * Verbal Noun
| * Verbs: Present 1 * Ireland 2
| * Colors * Pronouns Reflexive
| * Questions p6 * Directions
| * Prepositions 1 * Sport
p3 * Ireland 1 * Verbs: Future 1
* Dates and Time * Imperative
* Family * Verbs: Imperfect
* Verbs: Present 2 * Verbs: Conditional
* Prepositions 2
* Genitive Case
p4 * Negatives
* Comparison
updated 2018-10-25
Welcome to the Lenition skill!
SĂ©imhiĂș (lenition) is where an extra h is added between the first and
second letters of a word in certain situations. This changes the
spelling and pronunciation of the word, but not the meaning. Only some
initial letters can be lenited: b, c, d, f, g, m, p, s, and t. Words
that begin with other letters do not undergo lenition at all.
Here are examples of words being lenited:
Initial letter Example Lenition Example b buachaill bh bhuachaill c cailĂn ch chailĂn d doras dh dhoras f fuinneog fh fhuinneog g geata gh gheata m mĂĄla mh mhĂĄla p poll ph pholl s seomra sh sheomra t teach th theach
Lenition is used in the following situations.
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1. Feminine Nouns
Feminine nouns are lenited after the definite article an in the
nominative case.
Examples:
* mairteoil beef, an mhairteoil the beef
* bean woman, an bhean the woman
An exception to this rule is that feminine nouns beginning with d or t
are not lenited. Another exception is that nouns beginning with s
becomes ts if the s precedes a vowel, l, n or r.
Examples:
* an deasc the desk
* an traein the train
* an tsubh the jam
* an tslĂĄinte the health
* an tsnaidhm the knot
* an tsrĂĄid the street
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2. Feminine Adjectives
Singular feminine nouns cause lenition of the following adjective.
Examples:
* bean mhaith a good woman
* an mhairteoil dhearg the red beef
Note: Only when the adjective directly follows its noun.
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3. Possessive Adjectives
Lenition occurs after mo my, do your, a his.
Examples:
* mo chara my friend
* do mhadra your dog
* a mhac his son
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4. Numbers
Lenition occurs after the numbers one to six.
Examples:
* sé chapall six horses
* trà bhuidéal three bottles
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5. Vocative Case
The vocative case is used when directly addressing someone or
something, as in CĂĄ bhfuil tĂș, a chailĂn? Where are you, girl? Lenition
is used after the vocative particle a.
(Note that masculine nouns and names are also slenderised after the
vocative particle: fear becomes a fhir, and PĂłl becomes a PhĂłil.)
More on this case in a later skill.
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6. Prepositions
Lenition occurs after the words ar on, de off, den off the, do to/for,
don to the, faoi under/about, Ăł from, roimh before, sa/san in the, trĂ
through, um around/about.
Examples:
* don bhuachaill to the boy
* sa phĂĄirc in the field
An exception is that words beginning with d, t, s are not lenited after
den, don, sa or san.
Examples:
* den doras off the door
* sa teach in the house
* don sĂș to the juice
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7. Other Words
Lenition is also used after the phrase nuair a when, the prefixes rĂł-
too and an- very, and the word mĂĄ if (unless the next word is a version
of tĂĄ or deir). Other special cases will be highlighted in other
lessons.
Examples:
* nuair a bhrisim when I break
* rĂł-mhĂłr too big
* an-mhaith very good
* mĂĄ dhĂșnann sĂ© if he closes
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DeNTaLS-DoTS
This is a handy mnemonic! If a word begins with d, t or s and it would
normally be lenited according to the above rules, but the word that
came before it in the sentence ends with d, n, t, l or s, then the word
is not lenited.
Examples:
* den sagart off the priest
* an-te very hot
Phew! I hope that wasn't too complicated. It will start to make sense
when you see some more examples! Good luck and see you in the next
skill :D
updated 2018-10-25
When possessives are used in Irish, certain changes occur to the
following word. There are two systems: one for words starting with a
consonant, and one for word starting with a vowel.
Words starting with a consonant
Here are the possessive adjectives and changes that occur when a word
begins with a consonant:
English Irish Change Example
my mo lenition mo chĂłta
your (singular) do lenition do chĂłta
his/its a lenition a chĂłta
her/its a no change a cĂłta
our ĂĄr eclipsis ĂĄr gcĂłta
your (plural) bhur eclipsis bhur gcĂłta
their a eclipsis a gcĂłta
Before words starting with fh + a vowel, mo and do are abbreviated to
m' and d', with no space before the next word.
Examples:
* fĂłn phone
* m'fhĂłn my phone
* d'fhĂłn your phone
If the word begins with a consonant that does not undergo lenition (or
eclipsis), the spelling remains unchanged.
Examples:
* léine shirt
* mo léine my shirt
* år léine our shirt
* a léine his/her/its/their shirt
Words starting with a vowel
Here are the possessive adjectives and changes that occur when a word
begins with a vowel:
English Irish Change Example my m' no change m'orĂĄiste your (singular) d' no change d'orĂĄiste his/its a no change a orĂĄiste her/its a h a horĂĄiste our ĂĄr n- ĂĄr n-orĂĄiste your (plural) bhur n- bhur n-orĂĄiste their a n- a n-orĂĄiste
Instead of lenition or eclipsis, here you can see two other initial
letter mutations used in Irish: the h-prefix and the n-prefix.
* The h-prefix is used after the word a (when it means her). Note
that there is no hyphen.
* The n-prefix is used after ĂĄr, bhur, and a (when it means their).
Note the hyphen between the n- and the word.
You can also see from the examples above that m' and d are used instead
of mo or do, with no space before the next word.
A
The possessive adjective a can mean his, her, its or their. If you look
at the tables above, you can see how to identify which one is used. It
is usually clear from context, and from the word that follows the
possessive.
updated 2018-10-25
In Irish, it is important to note that there are two present tenses:
the present, and the present habitual. The present describes what one
is doing (right now) and the present habitual is used to describe what
one does (every day, every week, and so on).
In this skill you will learn verbs in the present habitual. You
previously met the endings for conjugating regular verbs in the present
habitual tense in Basics 2. But, lets revisit them here.
1. The first conjugation
These verbs have only one syllableÂč, and the root form seen in the
dictionary is identical to the stem used for verb conjugation. In the
present tense the ending is, generally, added directly onto the stem.
Examples are dĂșn ("close"), Ăłl ("drink"), bris ("break")
Pronoun Broad ending Example Slender ending Example
I -aimÂč dĂșnaim -imÂČ brisim
you (singular) -ann tĂș dĂșnann tĂș -eann tĂș briseann tĂș
he/it -ann sĂ© dĂșnann sĂ© -eann sĂ© briseann sĂ©
she/it -ann sĂ dĂșnann sĂ -eann sĂ briseann sĂ
we -aimidÂč dĂșnaimid -imidÂČ brisimid
you (plural) -ann sibh dĂșnann sibh -eann sibh briseann sibh
they -ann siad dĂșnann siad -eann siad briseann siad
ÂčThere is a small handful of first conjugation verbs that have more
than one syllable. They aren't considered irregular- just a bit odd.
These will be dealt with later.
ÂČIn present tense verbs, mĂ© and muid are generally not used; instead,
they are incorporated into the verb that precedes it, to make what is
known as the "synthetic form".
Examples:
* dĂșnaim I close
* dĂșnann sĂ© he closes
* brisim I break
* briseann sé he breaks
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2. The second conjugation
These verbs have more than one syllable.
Many end in -aigh and -igh in the root form seen in the dictionary; to
get the stem used for conjugation, the last syllable of the root is
removed (i.e. remove the -aigh/-igh). The endings are then added to
that stem. Examples include ceannaigh buy, bailigh collect. The stems
for these would be ceann- and bail-.
Others end in -ail/-il, -ain/-in, -ais/-is or -air/-ir. To get the
stem, the last syllable of the root is removed but the very last letter
is kept, and then the appropriate ending is added. Examples include
inis tell and oscail open. The stems for these would be ins- and oscl-.
Pronoun Broad ending Example Slender ending Example
I -aĂm osclaĂm -Ăm bailĂm
you (singular) -aĂonn tĂș osclaĂonn tĂș -Ăonn tĂș bailĂonn tĂș
he/it -aĂonn sĂ© osclaĂonn sĂ© -Ăonn sĂ© bailĂonn sĂ©
she/it -aĂonn sĂ osclaĂonn sĂ -Ăonn sĂ bailĂonn sĂ
we -aĂmid osclaĂmid -Ămid bailĂmid
you (plural) -aĂonn sibh osclaĂonn sibh -Ăonn sibh bailĂonn sibh
they -aĂonn siad osclaĂonn siad -Ăonn siad bailĂonn siad
Examples:
* bailĂonn tĂș you collect
* ceannaĂmid / ceannaĂonn muid we buy
* insĂm I tell
* osclaĂonn sibh you open
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3. Irregular verbs
The last group of verbs in Irish are the irregular verbs. There are
only 11 of these. Some of them appear quite regular most of the time,
but all of them have at least one tense in which they don't obey the
standard rules, so it is necessary to memorise these 11 verbs in all
their forms and tenses!
The question form
To ask a question in this tense using a verb, you use the question word
an and add an eclipsis (urĂș) to the verb if possible.
Examples:
* DĂșnann tĂș You close
* An ndĂșnann tĂș? Do you close?
* Briseann sĂ She breaks
* An mbriseann sĂ? Does she break?
The irregular verb bĂ be is an exception:
* TĂĄ tĂș You are
* An bhfuil tĂș? Are you?
* TĂĄimid We are
* An bhfuilimid? Are we?
The negative form
To put a verb in the present habitual tense into the negative form, you
use the negation word nĂ and add a lenition (sĂ©imhiĂș) to the verb if
possible.
Examples:
* DĂșnann tĂș You close
* NĂ dhĂșnann tĂș You do not close
* Briseann tĂș You break
* NĂ bhriseann sĂ She does not break
Again, the verb bĂ is an exception in this tense, as well as the verb
abair say:
BĂ
* TĂĄ tĂș You are
* NĂl tĂș? You are not
* TĂĄimid We are
* NĂlimid? We are not
Abair
* Deir tĂș You say
* NĂ deir tĂș You do not say
* Deirimid We say
* NĂ deirimid We do not say
Yes or No?
Irish has no word for "yes" or "no". That means when someone asks a
questions using a verb like those above, you either answer with the
positive form of the verb (the standard conjugated form) or the
negative form (as seen above)
Example:
* An ndĂșnann tĂș an doras? Do you close the door?
* DĂșnaim (an doras) Yes, I close the door. (literally just "I close
(the door)")
* NĂ dhĂșnaim (an doras) No, I do not close the door (literally just
"I do not close (the door)")
updated 2018-10-25
Adjectives (such as colors) generally come after the noun in Irish.
Their spelling is modified so that they agree with the noun, in number
and in gender.
Masculine singular nouns
An adjective that follows a masculine singular noun does not change
(for example, an bosca dubh the black box).
Feminine singular nouns
An adjective that follows a feminine singular noun is lenited if
possible (for example, an eilifint dhubh the black elephant).
Plural nouns
An adjective that follows a plural noun has its spelling changed to the
plural form of that adjective. If the noun ends with a slender
consonant, the adjective is also lenited.
What is a slender consonant? A slender consonant is a consonant with a
slender vowel (e Ă© or i Ă) next to it. For example, in the word beoir,
r is a slender consonant.
Getting Descriptive
In this skill, we give you the basic vocabulary to describe most of the
colours. One fun quirk in Irish is that there aren't of lots of words
for all the different shades on the spectrum. Instead, you describe a
particular colour by naming something that has that colour, or adding
some detail (such as another colour!). So for example, you could
distinguish something that is spéirghorm sky-blue from something that
is gormghlas blue-green, or contrast dearg red with bĂĄndearg pink
(literally white-red). Use the vocabulary you learn and get creative to
think of how you could say things like 'blood-red', and 'forest green'!
updated 2018-10-25
C question words
When asking a question in English, you generally use a W question word
such as who, where, what. Similarly, in Irish you generally use a C
question word such as cé, cå, cad.
Here are some examples of C question words:
English Irish
who cé
what cad / céard
which cén
where cĂĄ
when cathain
what time cén uair / cå huair / cén t-am
whose cé leis
what place cå håit / cén åit
why cén fåth
how conas / cad Ă© mar
how many / how much cé mhéad / cå mhéad
Yes and no
There is no direct translation for the words yes and no in Irish. Where
in English you would use these words to answer a question, in Irish you
repeat the verb from the original question in either the positive or
the negative form. (You can choose to omit the pronoun if you like -
unless you are using a synthetic form of the verb.)
Examples:
* Do you play soccer? Yes. = Do you play soccer? I play. = An imrĂonn
tĂș sacar? ImrĂm.
* Do you eat cheese? No. = Do you eat cheese? I do not eat. = An
itheann tĂș cĂĄis? NĂ ithim.
* Does she work in the city? Yes. = Does she work in the city? She
works. = An oibrĂonn sĂ sa chathair? OibrĂonn (sĂ).
* Do the children listen to you? No. = Do the children listen to you?
They do not listen. = An Ă©isteann na pĂĄistĂ leat? NĂ Ă©isteann
(siad).
updated 2018-12-30
Prepositions (réamhfhocail) are short words that express relationships
between things, like to, for, with, on, between.
In Irish most prepositions are usually written on their own, but when
you use them together with a pronoun (me, you, he, she, it, us, them),
the two words get contracted together to make what are known as
prepositional pronouns (forainmneacha réamhfhoclacha).
Here are five prepositional pronouns in all their forms:
Pronoun on with at from to, toward/s (none) ar le ag ó chun (chuig) me orm liom agam uaim chugam you (singular) ort leat agat uait chugat he, it air leis aige uaidh chuige she, it uirthi léi aici uaithi chuici us orainn linn againn uainn chugainn you (plural) oraibh libh agaibh uaibh chugaibh them orthu leo acu uathu chucu
Examples:
* TĂĄ an fear liom The man is with me
* Ritheann an cailĂn chuici The girl runs to/toward/towards her
When used in specific ways, some prepositions have special idiomatic
meanings in Irish. You already met the idiomatic use of ag to mean have
in Basics 2; here are some other examples.
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Ar
The basic meaning of this word is on. For example, Ritheann sé ar
bhĂłthar means He runs on a road.
When used with the verb bĂ, it conveys the idea of obligation to do
something. For example, TĂĄ orm rith means I must run. (The literal
translation of the phrase would be "It is on me to run".)
* TĂĄ ort snĂĄmh You must swim
* TĂĄ ar PhĂłl Ă©isteacht Paul must listen
* TĂĄ orthu siĂșl They must walk
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Ă
The basic meaning of this word is from. For example, Ritheann sé ó
theach means He runs from a house.
When used with the verb bĂ, it conveys the idea of wanting something.
For example, TĂĄ bia uaim means I want food. (The literal translation of
the phrase would be "food is from me".)
* An bhfuil léine uait? Do you want a shirt?
* TĂĄ madraĂ uaidh He wants dogs
* TĂĄ uathu siĂșl They want to walk
* TĂĄ Ășll Ăł PhĂłl Paul wants an apple
* TĂĄ na pĂĄistĂ Ăł bhean A woman wants the children
Another way to express wanting something is to use the verb teastaigh
(to be wanted/needed), followed by a version of Ăł. Written this way,
TeastaĂonn bia uaim is the alternative way to say I want food; it can
also mean I need food. (A literal translation would be "food is needed
from me".)
* TeastaĂonn na leabhair uaithi She wants/needs the books
* TeastaĂonn seaclĂĄid uainn We want/need chocolate
* TeastaĂonn uaim snĂĄmh I want/need to swim
* TeastaĂonn cĂĄca Ăł chailĂn A girl wants/needs a cake
* An dteastaĂonn na hataĂ? Are the hats needed?