Quick grammar question

arse..biscuits

When I say

(My) Mo...
(Your) Do....
(His) A....

Does the following word always take a "h"

Mo bhéal (sounds right)
Mo bhainne ?

Does it matter if the word is masc/fem?


I know this is very basic stuff but I'd like to try to improve my grammar a bit and can't find an answer to this.

Thanks.

Edinduberdeen

After mo, do, a (his), the following word always takes a 'h' if it begins with a consonant that can take a h (i.e. if it begins with b,c,d,f,g,m,p,s,t). If it begins with a consonant that can't take a 'h' (l,n,r) or if it begins with a vowel, then no h.

(but with a (her) you need a h if the next word starts with a vowel... e.g.
a athair (his father); a hathair (her father).

pog it

Edinduberdeen wrote: »

(but with a (her) you need a h if the next word starts with a vowel... e.g.
a athair (his father); a hathair (her father).

This also applies to consonants:

a mháthair: his mother
a máthair: her mother

With do and mo there is a séimhiú all the time, regardless of gender. But with F nouns the do and mo change as in:

d'fhreagra, m'fhreagra etc.

AshtownGuy

Sorry to jump on your thread, but it is Irish grammar. I've been wondering about the irish spelling on my new t-shirt. It says "Buachaill Dána", but someone told me that was spelt incorrectly. Is it?

Aard

• The gender of the noun doesn't matter.
• The "h" is called séimhiú/lenition.
• The other consonant mutation is called urú/eclipsis.

Example using: cat, and éan
my: mo chat, m'éan
your: do chat, d'éan
his: a chat, a éan
her: a cat, a héan
our: ár gcat, ár n-éan
your (pl): bhur gcat, bhur n-éan
their: a gcat, a n-éan

As you can see, the only way of differentiating his, her, and their in Irish is by the mutuation on the associated noun.

Krusader

AshtownGuy wrote: »

Sorry to jump on your thread, but it is Irish grammar. I've been wondering about the irish spelling on my new t-shirt. It says "Buachaill Dána", but someone told me that was spelt incorrectly. Is it?

No

arse..biscuits

Thanks all. That clears it up 100%

Gael

AshtownGuy wrote: »

Sorry to jump on your thread, but it is Irish grammar. I've been wondering about the irish spelling on my new t-shirt. It says "Buachaill Dána", but someone told me that was spelt incorrectly. Is it?

No it's fine. What did they think was wrong with the spelling?

arse..biscuits

If a word beginning with "L" can't take a "h" or be eclipsed, how do you know if your talking about his, hers or theirs?


eg

mo leaba
do leaba
a leaba ?
a leaba ?
ár leaba
bhur leaba
a leaba ?

Aard

You don't.


...but context should tell.

stephanus

Is it possible to use emphatic forms to the possessor clear?

a leaba seisean
a leaba sise
a leaba siadsan

Or would that change the meaning or shift stress too much?

They do it like this in French and Spanish, I think, if they want to make clear about the sex.

Krusader

Yes you can do that, and it's a good way to be distinctive,

It would be translated as "HIS/HER/THEIR bed

Aard

Although it doesn't work in every circumstance, like with leaba above, a fairly common way to differentiate would be to say:
a chuid ~
a cuid ~
a gcuid ~
for his, her, and their, respectively.

Off the top of my head, it appears it would be used only for plurals and collective nouns (eg milk, grass, water). The following noun would be in the genitive case.

Of course, "a chuid ~" has other applications too.

stephanus

I have consulted a few sources on Irish Grammar and found that a phonetic distinction is made in some dialects.

I remember having learned something to that respect in my course which teaches the dialect spoken in Cois Fharraige.

Slender l is lenated for example. So you make a distinction between:

Tá Máire léisciúil - lenated that means: That lazy Mary is ...
Not lenated that is supposed to mean: Mary is lazy.

So it would be similar in this case, I guess.

That would give:

a leaban - lenated meaning "his bed" and
a leaban - unlenated meaning "her bed".

So much for my book nolij.

Aard

Lenition of L, N, and R, is rarely - if ever - surfaced in contemporary spoken Irish. If it were, though, it'd certainly be helpful, not to mention pretty cool.

stephanus

Not mentioning the fact that it exercises your tounge and lips.