May be used with nouns in both the singular and plural; the singular is more common in general, but the plural must be used with units of measurement and the like. Triggerseclipsis:
deich gcat ―ten cats
deich dtroithe ―ten feet
deich n-éin ―ten birds
When used with the definite article, the definite article is always in the plural. When used with adjectives, the adjective is also in the plural and is always lenited after nouns in the singular; after nouns in the plural, the adjective only lenites after slender consonants:
deich gcapallbhána ―ten white horses
na deich n-eaglaismhóra ―the ten big churches
But:
deich gcapaillbhána ―ten white horses
na deich n-eaglaisímóra ―the ten big churches
When referring to human beings, the personal formdeichniúr is used.
Dinneen, Patrick S. (1927), “deiċ”, inFoclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 2nd edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society,page323; reprinted with additions1996,→ISBN
^Borgstrøm, Carl Hj. (1940),A linguistic survey of the Gaelic dialects of Scotland, Vol. I: The dialects of the Outer Hebrides, Oslo: Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap
