Ar dheis Dé...

mrsdewinter wrote: »

Have I got this right:
If the gender of the departed is male, the phrase is 'Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam', whereas if the gender of the person about whom I'm speaking is female, the phrase is 'Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam'?

Spot on.

I know that generally, the possessive 'a' gets a séimhiú, the exception being when the gender of the 'owner' is male. From memory, where the object begins with a vowel, the séimhiú is then deployed.

Male + consonant: séimhiú (his car = a charr)
Female + consonant: no séimhiú (her car = a carr)
Male + vowel: no séimhiú (his name = a ainm)
Female + vowel: add a "h" (her name = a hainm)

Plural + consonant: add an urú (their car = a gcarr)
Plural + vowel: add the letter "n" and a dash (their names = a n-ainmneacha)

mrsdewinter wrote: »

Blimey. So the séimhiú doesn't apply to the adjective in the example where the soul is male?

The adjective only takes a séimhiú if the noun that precedes it is feminine.

This can be confusing when referring to people, especially when most job titles are masculine nouns.

It's always "an múinteoir", even if you're talking about a female teacher, because the noun "múinteoir" is a masculine one. Therefore, adjectives after it do not take a séimhiú.

In the case of "bean" or "banaltra", you would add a séimhiú because the noun itself is feminine. "An bhean dheas chairdiúil", for example.

It does take a bit of practice and study to figure out masculine and feminine nouns, to be fair, and there are some perplexing exceptions to the guidelines too.