Irish morphology
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The morphology of Irish is in some respects typical of an Indo-European language. Nouns are declined for gender, number, and case, and verbs for person and number. Other aspects of Irish morphology, while typical for a Celtic language, are not typical for Indo-European, such as the presence of inflected prepositions and the initial consonant mutations.
The discussion of Irish morphology has been split up into three articles. On this page, the pronouns, inflected prepositions, and numbers are discussed. Irish nouns, adjectives, and the definite article are discussed on the page on Irish nominals. Irish verbs are discussed at Irish verbs.
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Pronouns
Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns in Irish do not inflect for case, but there are three different sets of pronouns used: conjunctive forms, disjunctive forms, and emphatic forms (which may be used either conjunctively or disjunctively)
Conjunctive forms
The normal word order in Irish is verb-subject-object (VSO). The forms of the subject pronoun directly following the verb are called conjunctive:
| Person | Singular | Plural |
| 1st | mé | (muid) |
| 2nd | tú | sibh |
| 3rd | masc. sé; fem. sí | siad |
The form muid in the 1st person plural is not used in the standard language, but is very common in the dialects. The standard has no subject pronoun in the 1st person plural but uses synthetic verb endings instead.
Irish has no T-V distinction, i.e. it does not differentiate between formal and familiar forms of second person pronouns. The difference between tú and sibh is simply one of grammatical number.
Disjunctive forms
If a pronoun is not the subject or if a subject pronoun does not follow the verb (as in a verbless clause, or as the subject of the copula, where the pronoun stands at the end of the sentence), the so-called disjunctive forms are used:
| Person | Singular | Plural |
| 1st | mé | sinn |
| 2nd | thú | sibh |
| 3rd | masc. é; fem. í | iad |
Emphatic forms
Irish also has emphatic forms, used to give the pronouns a bit more weight.
| Person | Singular | Plural |
| 1st | mise | muidne, sinne |
| 2nd | t(h)usa | sibhse |
| 3rd | masc. (s)eisean; fem. (s)ise | (s)iadsan |
The word féin ([f´e:n´] or [he:n´]) '-self' can follow a pronoun, either to add emphasis or to form a reflexive pronoun.
- Rinne mé féin é. 'I did it myself.'
- Ar ghortaigh tú thú féin? 'Did you hurt yourself?'
- Sinn Féin is thus 'We Ourselves'
Possessive pronouns
The possessive pronouns cause different initial consonant mutations. mo 'my' lenites; m' precedes vowels
- mo chara 'my friend'
- m'fheirm 'my farm'
- m'athair 'my father'
do 'your (sg.)' lenites; d' precedes vowels
- do chara 'your friend'
- d'fheirm 'your farm'
- d'athair 'your father'
a 'his' lenites
- a chara 'his friend'
- a fheirm 'his farm'
- a athair 'his father'
a 'her' takes the radical of a consonant and adds an h to a vowel
- a cara 'her friend'
- a feirm 'her farm'
- a hathair 'her father'
ár 'our' eclipses
- ár gcara 'our friend'
- ár bhfeirm 'our farm'
- ár n-athair 'our father'
bhur 'your(pl.)' eclipses
- bhur gcara 'your friend'
- bhur bhfeirm 'your farm'
- bhur n-athair 'your father'
a 'their' eclipses
- a gcara 'their friend'
- a bhfeirm 'their farm'
- a n-athair 'their father'
The forms a and ár can also blend with certain prepositions:
| de and do | dá chara 'from/to his friend'; dá feirm 'from/to her farm'; dár n-athair 'from/to our father'; dá n-athair 'from/to their father' |
| faoi | faoina chara 'about his friend'; faoinár n-athair 'about our father' |
| i | ina feirm 'in her farm'; inár bhfeirm 'in our farm' |
| le | lena n-athair 'with their father; lenár bpáiste 'with our child' |
| ó | óna bhean 'from his wife'; ónár dtaighde 'from our research' |
| trí | trína cos 'through her foot'; trínár dteach 'through our house' |
The object of a verbal noun is governed by the genitive:
- Tá sé ag plé a rothair. 'He's discussing his bicycle' (lit.: He is at the discussing of his bicycle)
If the object of the verbal noun is a pronoun, that pronoun is possessive:
- Tá sé á phlé. 'He's discussing it.' (lit.: He is at its (i.e. the bicycle's) discussing)
More examples:
- Tá sí do mo bhualadh. 'She's hitting me.'
- Tá siad do do phlé. 'They are discussing you.'
- Tá sé á pógadh. 'He's kissing her.'
- Tá tú dár mbualadh. 'You're hitting us.'
- Tá mé do bhur bplé. 'I'm discussing you(pl.).'
- Tá sibh á bpógadh. 'You(pl.) are kissing them.'
Interrogative pronouns
Interrogative pronouns introduce a question, e.g. the words who, what, which. The Irish equivalents are:
- cé 'who?, which?'
- cad or céard 'what?'
- cá 'which?'
Examples:
- Cé a rinne é? 'Who did it?'
- Cé a chonaic tú? 'Who did you see?'
- Cé ar thug tú an leabhar dó? 'Who did you give the book to?'
- Cad atá ort? 'What's wrong (with you)?' (lit. 'What is on you?')
- Céard a dúirt tú? 'What did you say?'
- Cá hainm atá ort? 'What's your name?' (lit. 'Which name is upon you?')
- Cá haois tú? 'How old are you?' (lit. 'Which age are you?')
Inflected prepositions
As the object of a preposition, a pronoun is fused with the preposition; one speaks here of "inflected" or "conjugated" prepositions.
ag 'at'
| 1 | agam 'at me' | againn 'at us' |
| 2 | agat 'at you' | agaibh 'at you(pl.)' |
| 3 | aige 'at him' aici 'at her' | acu 'at them' |
ar 'on'
| 1 | orm | orainn |
| 2 | ort | oraibh |
| 3 | air uirthi | orthu |
as 'out of, from'
| 1 | asam | asainn |
| 2 | asat | asaibh |
| 3 | as aisti | astu |
chuig, chun 'to, towards'
| 1 | chugam | chugainn |
| 2 | chugat | chugaibh |
| 3 | chuige chuici | chucu |
de 'from,of'
| 1 | díom | dínn |
| 2 | díot | díbh |
| 3 | de di | díobh |
do 'to, for'
| 1 | dom | dúinn |
| 2 | duit | daoibh |
| 3 | dó di | dóibh |
faoi 'under; about (concerning)'
| 1 | fúm | fúinn |
| 2 | fút | fúibh |
| 3 | faoi fúithi | fúthu |
i 'in'
| 1 | ionam | ionainn |
| 2 | ionat | ionaibh |
| 3 | ann inti | iontu |
idir 'between'
| 1 | idir mé | eadrainn |
| 2 | idir thú | eadraibh |
| 3 | idir é idir í | eatarthu |
le 'with'
| 1 | liom | linn |
| 2 | leat | libh |
| 3 | leis léi | leo |
ó 'from, since'
| 1 | uaim | uainn |
| 2 | uait | uaibh |
| 3 | uaidh uaithi | uathu |
roimh 'before, in front of'
| 1 | romham | romhainn |
| 2 | romhat | romhaibh |
| 3 | roimhe roimpi | rompu |
thar 'beyond, over'
| 1 | tharam | tharainn |
| 2 | tharat | tharaibh |
| 3 | thairis thairsti | tharstu |
trí 'through'
| 1 | tríom | trínn |
| 2 | tríot | tríbh |
| 3 | tríd tríthi | tríothu |
um 'around'
| 1 | umam | umainn |
| 2 | umat | umaibh |
| 3 | uime uimpi | umpu |
Numbers
Cardinal numbers
There are three kinds of cardinal numbers in Irish: disjunctive numbers, nonhuman conjunctive numbers, and human conjunctive numbers.
Disjunctive numbers
| 0 | náid | 13 | a trí déag |
| 1 | a haon | 14 | a ceathair déag |
| 2 | a dó | 20 | fiche |
| 3 | a trí | 21 | fiche a haon |
| 4 | a ceathair | 30 | tríocha |
| 5 | a cúig | 40 | daichead |
| 6 | a sé | 50 | caoga |
| 7 | a seacht | 60 | seasca |
| 8 | a hocht | 70 | seachtó |
| 9 | a naoi | 80 | ochtó |
| 10 | a deich | 90 | nócha |
| 11 | a haon déag | 100 | céad |
| 12 | a dó dhéag | 1000 | míle |
These numbers are used for example in arithmetic, in telling time, in telephone numbers and after nouns in forms like bus a trí déag
'Bus 13' or seomra a dó 'Room 2'.
Nonhuman conjunctive numbers
These numbers are used to count nouns that do not refer to human beings, e.g. capall 'horse'
| 1 | aon chapall amháin; capall amháin | 13 | trí chapall déag |
| 2 | dhá chapall | 20 | fiche capall |
| 3 | trí chapall | 21 | capall is fiche |
| 4 | ceithre chapall | 22 | dhá chapall is fiche |
| 5 | cúig chapall | 30 | tríocha capall |
| 6 | sé chapall | 40 | daichead capall |
| 7 | seacht gcapall | 50 | caoga capall |
| 8 | ocht gcapall | 60 | seasca capall |
| 9 | naoi gcapall | 70 | seachtó capall |
| 10 | deich gcapall | 80 | ochtó capall |
| 11 | aon chapall déag | 90 | nócha capall |
| 12 | dhá chapall déag | 100 | céad capall |
'one' as a pronoun = ceann (lit. 'head') when it concerns things and animals, e.g.:
- Tá cúig chapall agam; tá ceann acu breoite. 'I have five horses; one of them is sick.'
Human conjunctive numbers
These numbers are used to count nouns that refer to human beings, e.g. páiste 'child'
| 1 | aon pháiste amháin; páiste amháin | 7 | seachtar páiste |
| 2 | beirt pháiste | 8 | ochtar páiste |
| 3 | triúr páiste | 9 | naonúr páiste |
| 4 | ceathrar páiste | 10 | deichniúr páiste |
| 5 | cúigear páiste | 11 | aon pháiste déag |
| 6 | seisear páiste | 12 | dáréag páiste |
'one' as a pronoun = duine (lit. 'person') with people. The other "personal" numbers can also be used pronominally, e.g.:
- Tá cúigear páiste agam; tá duine acu breoite. 'I have five children; one of them is sick.'
- Tá seisear sa seomra. 'Six people are in the room.'
Higher numbers are done as with the nonhuman conjunctive numbers: trí pháiste déag, fiche páiste, etc.
Ordinal numbers
| 1st | an chéad chapall | 13th | an tríú capall déag |
| 2nd | an dara capall | 20th | an fichiú capall |
| 3rd | an tríú capall | 21st | an t-aonú capall is fiche |
| 4th | an ceathrú capall | 22nd | an dóú chapall is fiche |
| 5th | an cúigiú capall | 30th | an tríochadú capall |
| 6th | an séú capall | 40th | an daicheadú capall |
| 7th | an seachtú capall | 50th | an caogadú capall |
| 8th | an t-ochtú capall | 60th | an seascadú capall |
| 9th | an naoú capall | 70th | an seachtódú capall |
| 10th | an deichiú capall | 80th | an t-ochtódú capall |
| 11th | an t-aonú capall déag | 90th | an nóchadú capall |
| 12th | an dóú capall déag | 100th | an céadú capall |