InIrish grammar,declension happens tonouns, the definitearticle, and theadjectives.

Irish mostly has five noun declensions(seebelow), each with four cases (nominative,^{[note 1]} vocative, genitive, dative), and singular and plural forms.^{[note 2]} There are four classes of declension of adjectives in Irish, which correspond to the first four declensions of nouns. There are two genders in Irish, masculine and feminine. The gender of nouns in each declension is somewhat mixed, but there are clear patterns.

Thedefinite article has two forms in Irish:an andna. There is no indefinite article in Irish, so depending on contextcat can mean "cat" or "a cat". Their distribution depends on number, case, and gender, and they trigger mutation partly on the basis of the initial sound of the following word.

The WikibookIrish has a page on the topic of:Nouns

Nouns in Irish are divided into twogenders, masculine and feminine; theOld Irish neuter gender no longer exists. While gender should be learned when the specific noun is learned, there are some guidelines that can be followed:

Generally, nouns in singular form ending withbroad consonants are masculine, while those ending in aslender consonant are feminine. (Help:IPA/Irish shows the difference)

There are some exceptions, mostly dealing with specific endings andsuffixes; for example, words ending in-óir/-eoir and-ín (with a slender/ɾʲ/ and/nʲ/ respectively) are categorically masculine, while words ending in-óg (with a broad/ɡ/) are feminine. This leads to some unexpected gender assignments, such asgasóg "boy scout" being feminine, andcailín "girl" masculine (the diminutive-ín suffix is always masculine irrespective of the noun it applies to).

Irish has fourcases: common (usually called thenominative, but it covers the role of theaccusative as well),vocative,genitive, and thedative or prepositional case.

The nominative case (an tuiseal ainmneach) is used in the following functions:

1. Sentence subject

   Tá ancat ag ól. "The cat is drinking."

2. Sentence object

   Bhris Seán anfhuinneog. "Seán broke the window."

3. Predicate of thecopula

   Isamadán é. "He is an idiot."

4. Object of theprepositionsgan "without",go dtí "(up) to" andmar "like, as".

   gan ant-airgead "without the money"

   go dtí ant-am "(up) to the time"

   mar anchearc "like the hen"

The vocative case (an tuiseal gairmeach) is used indirect address, and is always preceded by theparticlea, which triggerslenition (the vocative particle is not pronounced before avowel sound). The first declension is the only declension in which the vocative is distinct from the nominative.

• mac →Cá bhfuil tú,a mhic? "Where are you, son?"
• Seán →A Sheáin, tar anseo! "Seán, come here!"

The genitive case (an tuiseal ginideach) indicates possession and material of composition:

• fear →hata anfhir ("the man's hat")
• bean →clann namná ("the woman's children")
• easpag →coinnleoirí aneaspaig ("the bishop's candelabras")
• ór →fáinneóir ("a ring of gold, a golden ring")
• leathar →brógaleathair ("shoes of leather, leather shoes")

The object of averbal noun also requires the genitive:

• airgead →ag caitheamhairgid "(the act of) spending money"

The object of acompound preposition is in the genitive. Formally, these prepositions are actually prepositional phrases.

• doras →ar chúl andorais "behind the door" (lit. "on the back of the door")
• mí →ar feadhmíosa "one month long" (lit. "for the duration of one month")
• Éire →ar son nahÉireann "for Ireland's sake"

The dative/prepositional is used as the object of most simple prepositions exceptgan andgo dtí. Instandard language, the dative is almost always identical to the nominative. Some dialects, however, have distinct standalone datives in the second and fifth declensions. In the standard language, only two wordsÉire ("Ireland") andfiche ("twenty") have distinct datives -Éirinn andfichid, respectively. They are also found in certain fixed phrases with nouns of the second declension, such asos cionn ("above", lit. "over head" –cionn is the old dative ofceann ("head")).

• athair →ag anathair "at the father"
• teach →as anteach "out of the house"
• arán →ar anarán "on the bread"
• oráiste →inoráiste "in an orange"
• ifreann →gohifreann "to hell"
• airgead →leis anairgead "with the money"
• Éire →óÉirinn "from Ireland"

There are five recognized declensions in Irish. The makeup of the declensions depends on three factors:

1. the gender of the noun
2. the formation of the genitive singular
3. relation of genitive singular to nominative plural

The following chart describes the characteristics of each declension class:

The first declension is made up of masculine nouns. The nominative singular ends in a broad consonant, which is made slender in the genitive singular. The most common formation of the plural has the opposite pattern: the nominative ends in a slender consonant, the genitive in a broad consonant (these plurals are known as weak plurals in comparison with strong plurals which maintain identical endings for all cases in the plural). The dative is identical to the nominative in both numbers, although an obsolete dative plural in-aibh is still sometimes encountered in old-fashioned literary style.

When/x/ in the gen. sing. and nom. pl. of a polysyllabic word is made slender, it also becomesvoiced, thus:

• /x/ >/ç/ >/j/. The resulting/əj/ is written -⟨(a)igh⟩ and is pronounced/iː/,/ə/, or/əɟ/, depending on dialect.

Some nouns undergo a vowel change before the slender consonant of the genitive singular/nominative plural:

• ball, baill - an (internal) organ, component part
• bonn, boinn - a sole, coin
• ceann, cinn - a head
• fear, fir - a man
• iasc, éisc - a fish
• mac, mic/mˠak,mʲɪc/ - a son (note: thefirst consonant is made slender in the gen.sg./nom.pl. as well)
• poll, poill - a hole

Many words of this declension form the plural with one of the endings-(a)í, -ta, -tha, -anna. These are known as "strong plural" endings, which means the plural is identical in all cases in the standard language. Some examples:

• aonach, gen. sg.aonaigh, pl.aontaí - a fair
• bealach, gen. sg.bealaigh, pl.bealaí - a way
• carr/kaːɾˠ/, gen. sg.cairr/kaːɾˠ/, pl.carranna/kaɾˠən̪ˠə/ - a car
• glór, gen. sg.glóir, pl.glórtha - a voice
• leanbh, gen. sg.linbh, pl.leanaí - a child
• néal, gen. sg.néil, pl.néalta - a cloud
• rós, gen. sg.róis, pl.rósanna - a rose
• samhradh, gen. sg.samhraidh, pl.samhraí - a summer
• scéal, gen. sg.scéil, pl.scéalta - a story
• toradh, gen. sg.toraidh, pl.torthaí - fruit

Some nouns have a weak plural (a plural where the genitive is different from the nominative, and is identical to the form of the nominative singular) in-a:

• ceart, gen. sg.cirt, nom. pl.cearta, gen. pl.ceart - a right
• cleas, gen. sg.clis, nom. pl.cleasa, gen. pl.cleas - a trick
• úll, gen. sg.úill, nom. pl.úlla, gen. pl.úll - an apple

Other strong plural formations are found in:

• bóthar, bóthair; bóithre - road
• breitheamh, breithimh; breithiúna - judge
• briathar, briathair; briathra - verb
• cloigeann, cloiginn; cloigne - skull
• doras, dorais; doirse - door
• ollamh, ollaimh; ollúna - professor
• solas, solais; soilse - light

The second declension is made up of mostly feminine nouns, and features a nominative singular form that can end in either a broad or a slender consonant. The genitive singular ends in a slender consonant followed by-e. The most common plural form has a broad consonant followed by-a in the nominative, and a broad consonant alone in the genitive. The vocative has the same endings as the nominative, as does the dative in standard language.

InConnacht Irish and Waterford Irish it is often the case that all nouns of the second declension in the nom. sg. end with a slender consonant (e.g.bróig "a shoe").

In some Munster varieties as well as the old literary language, the dative singular is distinct and ends in a slender consonant alone (in effect the dative sg. is formed by dropping the-e from the genitive sg.), e.g.i mo bhróig "in my shoe" (historically, nominative forms likebróig are descended from the old dative).

When/x/ in the gen. sing. is made slender, it is also voiced, so/x/ >/ç/ >/j/./əjə/ becomes/iː/, and is written-(a)í.

Many words in this declension form a strong plural with one of the endings-t(h)a,-te, -(e)acha or-eanna:

• áit, áite, áiteanna "place"
• coill, coille, coillte "forest"
• iníon, iníne, iníonacha "daughter"
• obair, oibre, oibreacha "work"
• spéir, spéire, spéartha "sky"
• tír, tíre, tíortha "country"
• tonn, toinne, tonnta "wave"
• ubh, uibhe, uibheacha "egg"

Other strong plural formations are found in:

• fiacail, fiacaile; fiacla - tooth
• gualainn, gualainne; guaillí - shoulder
• scian, scine; sceana - knife (irregular genitive singular)
• sliabh, sléibhe; sléibhte (m.) - mountain (irregular genitive singular and masculine gender)

The third declension is made up of masculine and feminine nouns. It is characterized by the genitive singular in-a. The majority of nouns in this class form the plural in-(a)í. The final consonant of the stem may be broad or slender: it retains its quality in the plural, but is always broad in the genitive singular.

Feminine nouns in-áint or-úint lose their⟨t⟩ in the gen. sg.; those in-irt have -⟨th⟩- instead of -⟨t⟩- in the gen. sg.

• bagairt, bagartha, bagairtí (f.) "threat"
• canúint, canúna, canúintí (f.) "dialect"

Many words in this declension form the plural with one of the endings-anna or-acha:

• am, ama, amanna (m.) "time"
• anam, anama, anamacha (m.) "soul"
• droim, droma, dromanna (m.) "back"
• loch, locha, lochanna (m.) "lake"
• troid, troda, troideanna (f.) "fight, struggle"

Some words in Munster Irish also have a separate dative form:

• nom.drom,dat.droim,gen.droma,pl.dromanna (m.) "back"

The fourth declension is made up of masculine and feminine nouns. It is characterized by a genitive singular that is identical in form to the nominative/vocative/dative singular. The singular may end in a vowel or a consonant (usually the diminutive suffix-ín). The most common plural ending is-(a)í.

Many words of this declension form the plural with the following endings-tha/-t(h)e,-((e)a)nna or-((e)a)cha:

• ainmhí; ainmhithe (m.) "animal"
• aturnae; aturnaetha (m.) "attorney"
• baile; bailte (m.) "village"
• bus; busanna (m.) "bus"
• cliamhain; cliamhaineacha (m.) "son-in-law"
• cneá; cneácha (f.) "wound, sore"
• cnó; cnónna (m.) "nut"
• cró; cróite (m.) "outhouse; eye of a needle"
• dlí; dlíthe (m.) "law"
• dosaen; dosaenacha (m.) "dozen"
• ga; gathanna (m.) "ray, radius"
• gé; géanna (f.) "goose"
• léine; léine, léinte (f.) "shirt"
• rá; ráite (m.) "saying"
• rí; ríthe (m.) "king"
• sloinne; sloinnte (m.) "last name"
• teanga; teangacha (f.) "language, tongue"
• tine; tinte (f.) "fire"

Other strong plural formations are found in:

• ainm; ainmneacha (m.) "name"
• airí; airíona (m.) "characteristic, symptom"
• aithne; aitheanta (f.) "commandment"
• bruach; bruacha (m.) "bank (of river etc.)"
• cine; ciníocha (m.) "race, tribe"
• duine; daoine (m.) "person, human being"
• gabha; gaibhne (m.) "blacksmith"
• gnó; gnóthaí (m.) "business"
• oíche; oícheanta (f.) "night"

One noun in this class has a weak plural:

• bó, bó; ba, bó (f.) - cow

The fifth declension is made up mostly of feminine nouns and is characterized by a genitive singular that ends in a broad consonant that has been added to the nominative/vocative/dative singular. The most common plural is strong, formed by adding-a to the genitive singular.

In someMunster Irish varieties as well as the oldliterary language, the dative singular is distinct and ends in a slender consonant (in effect the dative sg. is formed by palatalizing the genitive sg.), for example,do phearsain "to a person",ón gcathraigh "from the city". The wordÉire ("Ireland") retains the distinct dative formÉirinn in the standard language.

Some words form the genitive singular by changing the final consonant of the nominative singular to broad. The plural is then strong-eacha.

• abhainn, abhann, aibhneacha "river"
• athair, athar, aithreacha (m.) "father"
• deartháir, dearthár, deartháireacha (m.) "brother"
• máthair, máthar, máithreacha "mother"

Other strong plural formations are found in:

• bráthair, bráthar; bráithre (m.) "brother (monk), friar"
• cara, carad; cairde (m.) "friend"
• namhaid, namhad; naimhde (m.) "enemy"
• Nollaig, Nollag; Nollaigí "Christmas"

Some nouns have weak plurals; here the genitive singular and genitive plural have the same form:

• caora, caorach; caoirigh, caorach - sheep
• lacha, lachan; lachain, lachan - duck

The most productiveverbal nouns end with-(e)adh (1st conjugation) or-(i)ú (2nd conjugation). These originally belonged to the third declension, but synchronically are best regarded as separate declensions.

The 1st conjugation verbal noun in-(e)adh has a genitive singular in-te/-ta and a plural in-t(a)í.

• briseadh, briste; bristí "breaking"
• moladh, molta; moltaí "praising; recommendation"

The 2nd conjugation verbal noun in-(i)ú has a genitive singular in-(a)ithe and a plural in-(u)ithe. These endings are pronounced the same regardless of the spelling distinction.

• scrúdú, scrúdaithe; scrúduithe "examining, examination"
• síniú, sínithe; sínithe "stretching"

The following nouns are declined irregularly:

• bean, mná; mná, ban (f.) "woman"
• deirfiúr, deirféar; deirfiúracha (f.) "sister"
• deoch, dí; deochanna (f.) "drink"
• Dia, Dé; déithe (m.) "God"
• lá, lae; laethanta (m.) "day"
• leaba, leapa; leapacha (f.) "bed"
• mí, míosa; míonna (f.) "month"
• muir, mara; mara (f.) "sea"
• olann, olla (f.) "wool"
• talamh, talaimh (m.) ortalún (f.);tailte "land"
• teach, tí; tithe (m.) "house"

Thedefinite article has two forms in Irish:an andna. Their distribution depends on number, case, and gender, and they trigger mutation partly on the basis of the initial sound of the following word. Each entry of the table gives an example of one noun starting with a consonant and one with a vowel.

Dative (i) is used with all prepositions in Ulster usage; in Munster and the standard language it is used only withden "from the",don "to the", andsa(n) "in the" but there are also Munster dialects in which onlysa(n) triggers lenition andden anddon eclipse, as with every other article-preposition compound. In Connachtsa(n) eclipses whereasden anddon lenite. Dative (ii) is used outside Ulster with other prepositions.

The article never mutates a following⟨d⟩ or⟨t⟩ in the singular, and⟨s⟩ is lenited to⟨ts⟩ (pronounced[t̪ˠ,tʲ]) rather than the usual⟨sh⟩.⟨s⟩ furthermore lenites in both dative (i) and (ii) in the singular with feminine nouns but does not lenite at all with masculine nouns.

It does, however, eclipse⟨t⟩ and⟨d⟩ in Munster dialects and forms like "agan ndoras" instead of the usual pattern "agan doras", which is used in all other dialects, do occur.

There is noindefinite article in Irish, so depending on contextcat can mean "cat" or "a cat".

Almost alladjectives in Irish can be used either predicatively or attributively. A predicative adjective is one that forms a part of the predicate, likered in the sentenceThe car is red. An attributive adjective directly modifies a noun, as inthe red car.

A predicate adjective in Irish does not inflect:

• Tá an fear sinbeag. "That man is small."
• Tá na fir sinbeag. "Those men are small."
• Tá an bhean seobeag. "This woman is small."
• Tá na mná seobeag. "These women are small."

A predicate adjective expressing a value judgment is often preceded by the particlego. This particle attaches⟨h⟩ to a following vowel.

• Tá mégo maith. "I'm fine" (lit. "I am good.")
• Tá an scéalgo holc. "The story is bad."
• Bhí an aimsirgo hálainn. "The weather was beautiful."

In Ulster,go is not generally used in these cases.

An attributive adjective mostly follows the noun and is inflected:

• an fearbeag "the small man"
• an fhirbhig "of the small man" (genitive)

There are four classes of declension of adjectives in Irish, which correspond to the first four declensions of nouns:

This declension does not inflect, but it does mutate.

Notes

• The nominative plural undergoeslenition only if the noun ends with a slender consonant:cait bhacacha "lame cats". Otherwise, the adjective in the nominative plural does not lenite:táilliúirí bacacha "lame tailors".
• The long form of the genitive plural (e.g.bochta,bacacha,ciúine) is used when the noun has a strong plural, e.g.máithreacha bacacha "of lame mothers". The short form (e.g.bocht,bacach,ciúin) is used when the noun has a weak plural, e.g.cat bacach "of lame cats".
• The dative has the same form as the nominative.
• The vocative has the same form as the nominative except in the masculine singular of the 1st/2nd declension, where it has the same form as the genitive.

Irish adjectives have acomparative form equivalent to the comparative andsuperlative in English. The comparative does not undergo inflexion and is the same as the feminine singular genitive in regular and many irregular adjectives.

There are two constructions to express the comparative:

1) Copula + comparative form + subject +ná ("than") + predicate. The preterite of the copula causes lenition, while the present tense does not.

• Ba thréine Cáit ná Cathal. "Cáit was stronger than Cathal."
• Is airde Seán ná mise. "Seán is bigger than me."
• B'óige an madra ná an cat. "The dog was younger than the cat."
• Is fearr Gaeilge bhriste ná Béarla cliste. "Broken Irish is better than clever English."

2)níos/ní ba/ní b’ + comparative +ná + predicate.Níos is used if the sentence is in the present or future tense.

Ní ba/ní b’, which triggers lenition, is used if the sentence is in the past tense.Ní b’ is used before words starting with vowels andní ba before those starting with consonants.

• Tá an ghrian níos gile ná an ghealach. "The sun is brighter than the moon."
• Beidh Peadar níos saibhre ná a athair. "Peadar will be richer than his father."
• D'éirigh Peadar ní ba shaibhre ná a athair. "Peadar became richer than his father."
• Bhí Seán ní b’airde ná mise. "Seán was bigger than me."

A superlative is expressed as a relative clause: noun +is/ba/ab + comparative form.

• an cailín is tréine "the strongest girl" (lit. "the girl who is the strongest")
• an cailín ba thréine "the strongest girl" (lit. "the girl who was/would be the strongest")
• an buachaill is óige "the youngest boy" (lit. "the boy who is the youngest")
• an buachaill ab óige "the youngest boy" (lit. "the boy who was/would be the youngest")

Some content in the lead copied fromAppendix:Irish nouns onWiktionary.

• Christian Brothers (1994).New Irish Grammar. Dublin: C. J. Fallon.
• Gramadach na Gaeilge agus litriú na Gaeilge: An Caighdeán Oifigiúil. Dublin: Oifig an tSoláthair. 1994.
• Alexey Shibakov (2017).Irish Word Forms / Irische Wortformen (Book I&II). Berlin: epubli.

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