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
Voccab and topics specificially related to Ireland craic, gardaí,
taoiseach, eachtarán etc... Can be used to explain things about
Ireland.
updated 2018-10-25
In previous skills you will already have met lenition and eclipsis, the
two most important initial mutations that can occur to words in Irish.
Here are some other more minor changes that can occur.
Words beginning with vowels
If a masculine singular noun starts with a vowel, a t- is added at the
start of the word after the definite article an (for example, am time,
an t-am the time; uisce water, an t-uisce the water). A hyphen is
placed between the letter t and the vowel —unless that vowel is a
capital letter (for example, an tUachtarán the President).
Exceptions include euro euro, iomad a great number, and oiread amount.
These are written as an euro, an iomad and an oiread respectively.
Other exceptions include the following number words: aon one, aonú
first, ochtó eighty, ochtú eighth, ochtódú eightieth.
If a plural noun starts with a vowel, a h is added at the start of the
word after the definite article na (for example, ainmneacha names, na
hainmneacha the names). No hyphen is used.
Words beginning with s
If a feminine singular noun starts with s, AND the s is itself followed
by a vowel, l, n or r, then a t is added at the start of the word after
the definite article an (for example, seanbhean old woman, an
tseanbhean the old woman). No hyphen is used.
The Irish calendar
The names of the seasons and months in the Irish calendar reflect
ancient Gaelic culture and tradition.
The seasons of the year are:
English Irish Duration Spring Earrach February to April Summer Samhradh May to July Autumn, Fall Fómhar August to October Winter Geimhreadh November to January
The seasons are based around the summer and winter solstices (the
longest and shortest days of the year, which take place around 21 June
and 21 December respectively in the northern hemisphere) and the
equinoxes (the days in spring and autumn on which night and day are of
equal length, around 20 March and 22 September in the northern
hemisphere). The summer solstice in June is deemed to be the high point
of summer and the months of summer are May, June and July accordingly.
The other seasons are similarly centred around the winter solstice in
December, and the vernal and autumnal equinoxes in March and September.
The months of the year are:
English Irish January Eanáir February Feabhra March Márta April Aibreán May Bealtaine June Meitheamh July Iúil August Lúnasa September Mean Fómhair October Deireadh Fómhair November Samhain, Mí na Samhna December Nollaig, Mí na Nollag
Bealtaine, Lúnasa and Samhain were all originally pagan festivals
occuring around these times. Meán Fómhair and Deireadh Fómhair
literally mean middle of the harvest and end of the harvest. Nollaig
also means Christmas.
updated 2018-10-25
Muintir, teaghlach, clann
If you look up family in an English-Irish dictionary, you could be
presented with all of the above as potential translations - but each
has a different meaning!
Muintir is probably the closest to the English word family or kinsfolk,
and in its broadest sense it can include parents, children and siblings
as well as extended relations.
Teaghlach means family in the sense of household, a group of people
living together under the same roof - most commonly parents and
children.
Clann refers to the group of children that belong to a set of parents.
For example, mo chlann could mean my own children, or my siblings and
I. If a girl says that there are five people in her clann, it means
that she has four other brothers or sisters.
updated 2018-10-25
Unusual First Conjugation Verbs
In this skill, you will also be introduced to some...peculiar first
conjugation verbs such as tiomáin (to drive), taispeáin (to show) and
sábháil (to save). These verbs clearly have 2 syllables, not the usual
1 syllable you've come to expect of first conjugation verbs. These
verbs are not considered irregular...they're just a bit odd. Even
though they are not monosyllabic, they are conjugated like other verbs
in the first conjugation.
Examples:
* Tiomáinim (I drive) Note the short -im ending, as opposed to the
longer -ím ending you might expect
* Taispeánann sé (He shows) Note the short -ann ending, as opposed to
the longer -aíonn ending you might expect. Also note how the second
"i" was dropped from taispeáin to form the stem. This is another
peculiarity of some of these verbs
Exception: The Habitual Present Bím/Bíonn
The Habitual Present is used for actions that occur regularly
(normally, generally, often, sometimes, seldom, never). The only verb
conjugated in the habitual present tense in Irish is the verb Bí (to
be) which becomes Bím (first person singular) or Bíonn sé/sí/muid
etc.... In Hiberno-English (the English that is spoken in Ireland) the
Irish present habitual has be incorporated into the language using the
English verb 'do' as an auxiliary verb followed by a verb in the
present continuous tense. This structure is commonly used throughout
Ireland.
Examples:
* Bím ag rith - I do be running. In standard English this would be
written: 'I run often or I usually run' etc....
* Bíonn sé ag ól - He does be drinking. In standard English this
would be written: 'He drinks often or he regularly drinks' etc...
* Bíonn sé ag cur báistí in Éirinn - It does be raining in Ireland .
Standard English: 'It rains often in Ireland, in Ireland it
regularly rains, it usually rains in Ireland' etc...
* Ní bhíonn airgead againn - We don't be having money. In standard
English this would be written: 'We don't often have money, we
regularly don't have money.
updated 2018-10-25
Here are five more prepositional pronouns in all their forms:
Pronoun in before out of under, about off, of, from (none) i, in roimh as faoi de, d' me ionam romham asam fúm díom you (singular) ionat romhat asat fút díot he, it ann roimhe as faoi de she, it inti roimpi aisti fúithi di us ionainn romhainn asainn fúinn dínn you (plural) ionaibh romhaibh asaibh fúibh díbh them iontu rompu astu fúthú díobh
__________________________________________________________________
I
The basic meaning of this word is in. When the next word begins with a
vowel, you write in instead of i. For example, Ritheann sé i bpáirc
means He runs in a field, and Oibríonn sé in ospidéal means He works in
a hospital.
When i is followed by the singular definite article an, the two words
combine to form sa (before a consonant) or san (before a vowel or f
followed by a vowel). Similarly, i + na becomes sna.
* Ceannaím bia sa siopa I buy food in the shop
* Tá an dochtúir san ospidéal The doctor is in the hospital
* Tá an t-iasc san fharraige The fish is in the sea
* Tá na dochtúirí sna nuachtáin The doctors are in the newspapers
The preposition i also combines with the possessive adjectives a and ár
to form ina and inár.
* Tá an leabhar ina teach The book is in her house
* Tá an madra inár dteach The dog is in our house
When used with special forms of the verb bí, it is possible to use this
preposition to describe what something is, instead of using the copula
is.
* Is dochtúir é = He is a doctor = "[It is] a doctor that is in him"
= (Is) dochtúir atá ann
* Is feirmeoirí muid = We are farmers = "[It is] farmers that are in
us" = (Is) feirmeoirí atá ionainn
* Is dlíodóir í = She is a lawyer = "[It is] a lawyer that is in her"
= (Is) dlíodóir atá inti
__________________________________________________________________
Faoi
The basic meaning of this word is under or about. For example, Ritheann
sé faoi dhroichead means He runs under a bridge, and Léann sé faoi
eolaíocht means He reads about science.
When used with the verb bí, it conveys the idea of intention to do
something, or planning to do something. For example, Tá fúm rith means
I intend to run. (The literal translation of the phrase would be "It is
about me to run".)
* Tá fút snámh You intend to swim
* Tá faoi Phól éisteacht Paul intends to listen
* Tá fúthú siúl They intend to walk
updated 2018-10-25
Cases
Nouns in Irish have different forms depending on their gender
(masculine or feminine), number (singular or plural), and case. Irish
has several cases, and each one has a specific grammatical function.
The case you will have used in previous lessons is called the
nominative case (tuiseal ainmneach), which is used for the subjects and
objects of sentences.
The genitive case
The genitive case (tuiseal ginideach) is used to demonstrate a
relationship between two nouns. It can often be translated literally as
"of". For example, in the phrase "noun A of noun B", noun A would be
written in the nominative, and noun B would be in the genitive.
It is used:
* to express ownership ("the dog's bowl", "Paul's sandwich")
* after the verbal noun
* after some prepositions, like tar éis after or os comhair over
* after some adverbs, like go leor lots or níos mó more
Just as when forming a plural, the ending of a noun may change when
writing the genitive form, and most nouns obey a regular pattern. For
some words the genitive spelling is the same as the nominative singular
spelling (or even the plural spelling), but it is always clear from the
context which case is being used.
Here is an example of the genitive:
* an hata the hat
* an fear the man
* hata an fhir the man's hat (literally, the hat of the man)
This example highlights three separate features:
1. The definite article (in this case an) is used only once in Irish,
where it is used twice in English.
2. The noun in the genitive case is lenited (an fhir), whereas it is
not lenited in the nominative case (an fear). For singular nouns in
the genitive, the rules of lenition in response to gender are
reversed compared to the nominative case (in other words, masculine
nouns are lenited and feminine nouns are not lenited).
3. The genitive singular form of fear (fir) is the same as the plural
(fir). It will be clear from context and/or from the associated
article (an or na) which case is being used.
Examples:
* Tá hata ag na fir The men have a hat
* Seo é hata an fhir This is the man's hat
The plural form in the genitive is eclipsed where this is possible. For
example, the men's hats is hata na bhfear.
It is helpful to think of the forms in a table like this:
Case Singular Plural Nominative an fear na fir Genitive an fhir na bhfear
As for the genitive plural, there are many rules to how it is formed
and these are best learned by observing patterns. In the example above,
the vowel groups change from broad to slender and vice versa [ea] to
[i].
For feminine nouns, the definite article na is used in both the
genitive singular and genitive plural, as in the following example:
Case Singular Plural Nominative an bhialann na bialanna Genitive na bialainne na mbialann
Declensions
All nouns in Irish belong to one of five groups called declensions
(díochlaontaí). Nouns in each declension follow similar rules for the
way they form the genitive and the plural, although there are often
exceptions. Most dictionaries indicate the declension to which a given
noun belongs.
The first declension
These nouns are all masculine and end with broad consonants. In the
genitive singular, the last consonant is slenderised by swapping the
vowels or adding an extra -i-. Some of these nouns end in -ach; the
genitive singular for these nouns will change this to -aigh.
The second declension
These nouns are all feminine. Some end in broad consonants and some end
in slender consonants. The genitive singular will usually end in -e.
Some of these nouns end in -ach; the genitive singular for these nouns
will change this to -aí.
The third declension
Some end in -óir, -éir or -úir; these are masculine. Others end in
-íocht, -acht or -int; these are feminine (with the exception of some
short words like acht or ceacht which are masculine). The genitive
singular ends in -a*.
The fourth declension
These end in -ín or with a vowel. They can be either masculine or
feminine. For these nouns, the genitive is identical to the nominative.
The fifth declension
Most of these are feminine. The genitive singular is varied for these
nouns; they can end in -ach, -n, -nn or -d.