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!
Séimhiú (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 cailín ch chailín d doras dh dhoras f fuinneog fh fhuinneog g geata gh gheata m mála mh mhála 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 tsláinte the health
* an tsnaidhm the knot
* an tsráid 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
* trí bhuidéal three bottles
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5. Vocative Case
The vocative case is used when directly addressing someone or
something, as in Cá bhfuil tú, a chailín? 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 Pól becomes a Phóil.)
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, ó from, roimh before, sa/san in the, trí
through, um around/about.
Examples:
* don bhuachaill to the boy
* sa pháirc 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 sú to the juice
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7. Other Words
Lenition is also used after the phrase nuair a when, the prefixes ró-
too and an- very, and the word má if (unless the next word is a version
of tá or deir). Other special cases will be highlighted in other
lessons.
Examples:
* nuair a bhrisim when I break
* ró-mhór too big
* an-mhaith very good
* má dhúnann sé 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 chóta
your (singular) do lenition do chóta
his/its a lenition a chóta
her/its a no change a cóta
our ár eclipsis ár gcóta
your (plural) bhur eclipsis bhur gcóta
their a eclipsis a gcóta
Before words starting with fh + a vowel, mo and do are abbreviated to
m' and d', with no space before the next word.
Examples:
* fón phone
* m'fhón my phone
* d'fhón 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
* ár 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'oráiste your (singular) d' no change d'oráiste his/its a no change a oráiste her/its a h a horáiste our ár n- ár n-oráiste your (plural) bhur n- bhur n-oráiste their a n- a n-oráiste
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 ár, 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 syllable¹, 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 dún ("close"), ól ("drink"), bris ("break")
Pronoun Broad ending Example Slender ending Example
I -aim¹ dúnaim -im² brisim
you (singular) -ann tú dúnann tú -eann tú briseann tú
he/it -ann sé dúnann sé -eann sé briseann sé
she/it -ann sí dúnann sí -eann sí briseann sí
we -aimid¹ dúnaimid -imid² brisimid
you (plural) -ann sibh dúnann sibh -eann sibh briseann sibh
they -ann siad dúnann siad -eann siad briseann siad
¹There 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.
²In present tense verbs, mé 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:
* dúnaim I close
* dúnann sé 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 -aím osclaím -ím bailím
you (singular) -aíonn tú osclaíonn tú -íonn tú bailíonn tú
he/it -aíonn sé osclaíonn sé -íonn sé bailíonn sé
she/it -aíonn sí osclaíonn sí -íonn sí bailíonn sí
we -aímid osclaímid -ímid bailímid
you (plural) -aíonn sibh osclaíonn sibh -íonn sibh bailíonn sibh
they -aíonn siad osclaíonn siad -íonn siad bailíonn siad
Examples:
* bailíonn tú you collect
* ceannaímid / ceannaíonn muid we buy
* insím I tell
* osclaíonn 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 (urú) to the verb if possible.
Examples:
* Dúnann tú You close
* An ndúnann tú? Do you close?
* Briseann sí She breaks
* An mbriseann sí? Does she break?
The irregular verb bí be is an exception:
* Tá tú You are
* An bhfuil tú? Are you?
* Táimid 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 ní and add a lenition (séimhiú) to the verb if
possible.
Examples:
* Dúnann tú You close
* Ní dhúnann tú You do not close
* Briseann tú You break
* Ní bhriseann sí She does not break
Again, the verb bí is an exception in this tense, as well as the verb
abair say:
Bí
* Tá tú You are
* Níl tú? You are not
* Táimid We are
* Nílimid? We are not
Abair
* Deir tú You say
* Ní deir tú You do not say
* Deirimid We say
* Ní 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 ndúnann tú an doras? Do you close the door?
* Dúnaim (an doras) Yes, I close the door. (literally just "I close
(the door)")
* Ní dhúnaim (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 é or i í) 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 bándearg 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, cá, cad.
Here are some examples of C question words:
English Irish
who cé
what cad / céard
which cén
where cá
when cathain
what time cén uair / cá huair / cén t-am
whose cé leis
what place cá háit / cén áit
why cén fáth
how conas / cad é mar
how many / how much cé mhéad / cá 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 imríonn
tú sacar? Imrím.
* Do you eat cheese? No. = Do you eat cheese? I do not eat. = An
itheann tú cáis? Ní ithim.
* Does she work in the city? Yes. = Does she work in the city? She
works. = An oibríonn sí sa chathair? Oibríonn (sí).
* Do the children listen to you? No. = Do the children listen to you?
They do not listen. = An éisteann na páistí leat? Ní éisteann
(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:
* Tá an fear liom The man is with me
* Ritheann an cailín 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
bhóthar means He runs on a road.
When used with the verb bí, it conveys the idea of obligation to do
something. For example, Tá orm rith means I must run. (The literal
translation of the phrase would be "It is on me to run".)
* Tá ort snámh You must swim
* Tá ar Phól éisteacht Paul must listen
* Tá orthu siúl They must walk
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Ó
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 bí, it conveys the idea of wanting something.
For example, Tá 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?
* Tá madraí uaidh He wants dogs
* Tá uathu siúl They want to walk
* Tá úll ó Phól Paul wants an apple
* Tá na páistí ó 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 ó. Written this way,
Teastaíonn 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".)
* Teastaíonn na leabhair uaithi She wants/needs the books
* Teastaíonn seacláid uainn We want/need chocolate
* Teastaíonn uaim snámh I want/need to swim
* Teastaíonn cáca ó chailín A girl wants/needs a cake
* An dteastaíonn na hataí? Are the hats needed?