'An-' / 'ana'

pog it

Just wondering bout when and how exactly you use the prefix 'an'.

I know that when it means 'very' you use a hyphen after it, so that it is an-mhór (aspirates the adjective too).

But when it means 'great' as in say for example great craic, do you always put the hyphen in there too? As in 'an-chraic'?

Also, I know that ana is used to mean 'very' as an alternative to 'an' on its own.

Is 'ana' standard caighdeán Irish as well??

Cheers folks

Múinteoir

Yes the rules are exactly the same if it's followed by a noun instead of a verb -
i.e. an-chraic, an-fhear, an-obair etc.

They say ana- in Munster whereas it's just an- in the rest of the country and an- is also the standard Irish. As well as that, ana- in Munster aspirates all words that can be aspirated, whereas with plain an-, the dentals don't take a séimhiú. So...

An-mhór or ana-mhór

but

an-deacair or ana-dheacair

Is that all clear?

arse..biscuits

An-chlear

pog it

yes sir, Tis indeedy..
It's a bonus when you're reading something and you see the likes of ana- and you know where it came from.