This post is the 2nd instalment of the Irish leg of my current Celtic challenge. It covers parts of chapters 1 and 2 of Teach Yourself Irish (and part of appendix 2) .
I will cover the rest of chapters 1 and 2 in the next post. The 1st instalment covered Irish spelling and pronunciation. Irish spelling and pronunciation – Language Miscellany
Gender
Like Welsh, Irish has 2 genders: masculine and feminine.
Articles
Like Welsh, Irish has a definite article (English the, Welsh y (r)), but no indefinite article (English a(n)).
Perhaps confusingly for English speakers, the Irish definite article is an. The following changes occur to nouns following the definite article:
- t- is added before masculine nouns starting with a vowel and also before feminine nouns starting with s-:
an t-athair (‘the father’, masc)
an tsráid (‘the street’, fem) - for feminine nouns starting with a consonant, that initial consonant undergoes lenition (see discussion of mutation at Irish spelling and pronunciation – Language Miscellany)
Table 1. Mutation in feminine nouns starting with a consonant
| Meaning | Without article | With article |
| woman | bean | an bhean |
| mother | máhair | an mháhair |
| leaflet | bileog | an bhileog |
Reminder: <bh> and <mh> are both pronounced /v/.
Word order
The verb precedes its subject (VS order, reverse of normal English SV order).
A modifying word follows the word it qualifies:
- Uimhir teileafóin
number of telephone
‘telephone number’ - Sráid Mhór
Street Big
‘Main Street’
The verb be
Temporary states and existentials
The verb tá (invariable in the present tense) is used to describe temporary location (example 1) and other temporary states (examples 2 and 3), and is used in existential sentences (example 4):
( 1) Tá mé i mo chónaí i Luimneach
am I in my living in Limerick
‘I live in Limerick’
(2) Conas tá do mhathair
how is your mother’
(3) Tá Seán ina chathaoirleach
Is Sean in.he chairman
‘Sean is chairman’
(4) Tá bhileog ansin
Is leaflet there
‘there is a leaflet there.
Permanent states
The copula is is used in describing permanent states (example 5).
(5) Cad is ainm duit
What is name your
‘what is your name?’
The copula is is not to be confused with another is, the short form of agus (‘and’).
Is with indefinite and indefinite nouns
Note the word order when is appears with indefinite nouns (example 6)
(6) Is múinteoir mé
am teacher I
‘I am a teacher’
There is a different word order when is appears with definite nouns and the emphatic form of a pronoun (example 7). The pronouns é, í, iad are repeated in this construction (example 8).
(7) Is mise múinteoir [or just mise múinteoir]
am I teacher
‘I am the teacher’
(8) Is í an t-údar í
is she the author she
‘she is the author’
Pronouns
Table 2 shows the Irish personal pronouns, showing separately the basic pronoun used as the subject, an emphatic version used when the pronoun needs to be stressed and the corresponding possessive pronoun.
Table 2. Pronouns: subject, emphatic, possessive
| Pronoun | Meaning | Emphatic | Possessive | Meaning |
| mé | I | mise | mo | my |
| tú | you | tusa | do | your |
| sé | he /it | (a)eisean, (a)ise | a | his /its |
| si | she /it | (a)eisean, (a)ise | a | her / its |
| muid | we | sinne | ár | our |
| sibh | you | sibhe | bhur | your |
| siad | they | (a)iadsan | a | their |
A consonant following a pronoun undergoes:
- lenition after mo (‘my’), do (‘your’), a (‘his’), but not after a (‘her’).
- eclipsis after ár (‘our’), bhur (‘your plural’), a (‘their’)
After a (‘her’)—but not after a (‘his’)—<h-> is inserted before an initial vowel:
a hainm (‘her name’)
a ainm (his name’)
Stressed possessive pronouns
The possessive pronouns are always unstressed. To create a stressed version, add to the noun the suffix -sa (if the last vowel of the word is broad /a o u/) but -se (if the last vowel is slender /i e/):
mo charras(‘my car’)
m’ainmse (‘my name)
Named 3rd person subject with optional pronoun
In sentences involving a named 3rd person subject, the pronoun may optionally appear before the name (example 9).
(9) Is Gardaí (iad) Tomás agus Pól.
Are policemen (they) Thomas and Paul
‘Thomas and Paul are policemen’
Please
A possessive pronoun is present in the phrase le do thoil (‘with your will’ = ‘please’; thoil is the lenited form of toil, ‘will’).
Tá fáilte romhat (‘you’re welcome)
Numbers 0-20
| zero | náid | ||
| 1 | aon | 7 | seacht |
| 2 | dó | 8 | ocht |
| 3 | trí | 9 | naoi |
| 4 | ceathair | 10 | déag |
| 5 | cúig | 11 | aon déag |
| 6 | sé | 20 | fiche |
The numbers from 12 -19 are formed in the same way as 11: by adding déag (‘ten’) after the number representing the number of units.
It is necessary to put a before a number when:
(a) counting;
(b) giving the number of a house, flat etc; or
(c) calling out a number.
After this a, h- is added before the 2 numbers starting with a vowel: a haon (1); a hocht (8).
D’uimhir means ‘your number’.
Greetings
Dia dhuit / Dia is Muire dhuit ‘hello’, literally God / God and Mary be with you.
Slán ‘goodbye’
Other useful phrases and words
go raibh maith agat ‘thank you’
tá mé go maith ‘I am well’
conas tá do shlaghdán ‘how is your cold?’
conas tá sé smuigh ‘how is the weather’
ta sé fuar inniu ‘it is cold today’
fear ‘man’, bean ‘woman’, cathaoir ‘chair’, leabhar ‘book’, nuachtán ‘newspaper’, seoladh ‘address’
ansin ‘there’, anseo ‘here’
inniu ‘today’, aris ‘again’, cinnte ‘certainly’
Source
Teach Yourself Irish, Diarmuid Ó Sé and Joseph Sheils (1993)