dentals and the word sna

mengele

two questions
1. when do you use the word sna?
2. when do the dentals occur and when dont they?

An Sionnach Glic

mengele wrote: »

two questions
1. when do you use the word sna?
2. when do the dentals occur and when dont they?

1. Sna is used when you want to say in the (plural), or i na in Irish. You don't use/say i na in this context, as it could mean a number of different things in Irish and could cause confusion and sna is probably better for the flow of speech as well, I'd reckon.
So if you want to say In the houses, for instance, you'd say sna tithe rather than i na tithe (a person hearing i na tithe could interpret it to mean in her houses, as one example of potential confusion).
Sna only affects the spelling of the following noun if it begins with a vowel, in which case you put a h in front of it:
Sna héadaí, sna héisteachtaí, but sna tíortha, sna foirgnimh etc.

2. Could you be a bit more specific about what you mean by this? The question is very broad.

pog it

Sna is plural for 'in the' and is the short version of 'ins na'. So, sna scoileanna = in the schools. Sna is used in modern Irish, ins na is older and better.

The singular form is the well known 'sa' which is short for 'ins an'.

An Sionnach Glic

pog it wrote: »

Sna is used in modern Irish, ins na is older and better.

Please do expand.

pog it

An Sionnach Glic wrote: »

Please do expand.

I will expand by saying that the old and best speakers of the language still use the ins an and ins na forms. And not so much sa and sna.