Irish: Lesson Thirteen
The Third Declension
i) Genitive
Nouns of the 3rd declension can be either masculine or feminine, and they end with a consonant. Their genitive is usually formed by adding "-a", and if the last vowel in the noun is "i" then a process opposite to slenderization, called "broadening", also takes place -- the slender vowel or vowels in the noun are dropped or turned into broad ones:
| Nominative: | beannacht [f.] | -- | a blessing |
| Genitive: | beannachta | -- | of a blessing |
| Nominative: | feoil [f.] | -- | meat |
| Genitive: | feola | -- | of meat |
| Nominative: | cuid [f.] | -- | share, portion |
| Genitive: | coda | -- | of a share, of a portion |
| Nominative: | fuil [f.] | -- | blood |
| Genitive: | fola | -- | of blood |
| Nominative: | áth [m.] | -- | a ford |
| Genitive: | átha | -- | of a ford ("Baile Átha Cliath", literally "town of the hurdle ford" -- Dublin) |
| Nominative: | mil [f.] | -- | honey |
| Genitive: | meala | -- | of honey ("Cluain Meala", literally "meadow of honey" -- Clonmel) |
Final "t" is dropped from nouns ending in "-int", and becomes "th" in words ending in "-irt":
| Nominative: | imirt [f.] | -- | playing; performance |
| Genitive: | imeartha | -- | of playing |
| Example: | páirc imeartha | -- | playing field |
| Nominative: | canúint [f.] | -- | dialect |
| Genitive: | canúna | -- | of a dialect |
ii) Plural
Nouns of this declension ending in "-aeir", "-éir", "-eoir", "-óir", and "-úir" are all masculine and form the plural by adding "-í":
| Nom. Sing. | Gaeilgeoir | -- | Irish-speaker |
| Nom. Plur. | Gaeilgeoirí | -- | Irish-speakers |
| Nom. Sing. | saighdiúir | -- | soldier |
| Nom. Plur. | saighdiúrí | -- | soldiers |
Nouns ending in "-cht" are all feminine and have plurals in "-aí":
| Nom. Sing. | mallacht | -- | curse |
| Nom. Plur. | mallachtaí | -- | curses |
| Nom. Sing. | eolaíocht | -- | science |
| Nom. Plur. | eolaíochtaí | -- | sciences |
Masculine nouns of one syllable ending in a broad consonant have plurals in "-anna" or "-aí":
| Nom. Sing. | loch | -- | lake |
| Nom. Plur. | lochanna | -- | lakes |
| Nom. Sing. | rud | -- | thing |
| Nom. Plur. | rudaí | -- | things |
The Fourth Declension
This declension includes most nouns ending in a vowel, diminutive nouns ending in "-ín", and some masculine nouns ending in a consonant.
i) Genitive:
The genitive form in this declension is the same as the nominative, for example
| rí | (king) | --> | mac an rí | (the king's son). |
ii) Plural:
Nouns ending in -ín form their plurals with -í:
| Nom. Sing. | cailín | -- | girl |
| Nom. Plur. | cailíní | -- | girls |
| Nom. Sing. | toitín | -- | cigarette |
| Nom. Plur. | toitíní | -- | cigarettes |
Nouns ending in -a or -e also form plurals with -í or -aí:
| Nom. Sing. | slabhra | -- | chain |
| Nom. Plur. | slabhraí | -- | chains |
| Nom. Sing. | file | -- | poet |
| Nom. Plur. | filí | -- | poets |
Nouns ending in -le or -ne take the plurals -lte and -nte:
| Nom. Sing. | baile | -- | town |
| Nom. Plur. | bailte | -- | towns |
| Nom. Sing. | sloinne | -- | surname |
| Nom. Plur. | sloinnte | -- | surnames |
Nouns ending in -í, -aí, -aoi, or -é, have strong plurals in -the:
| Nom. Sing. | croí | -- | heart |
| Nom. Plur. | croíthe | -- | hearts |
| Nom. Sing. | garraí | -- | garden |
| Nom. Plur. | garraíthe | -- | gardens |
| Nom. Sing. | saoi | -- | wise man |
| Nom. Plur. | saoithe | -- | wise men (in poetry "saoi" can also mean "warrior") |
Nouns with plurals in -nna:
| Nom. Sing. | cú [m.] | -- | hound |
| Nom. Plur. | cúnna | -- | hounds |
| Nom. Sing. | fia [m.] | -- | a deer |
| Nom. Plur. | fianna | -- | deer |
| Nom. Sing. | fleá [f.] | -- | feast |
| Nom. Plur. | fleánna | -- | feasts |
The Fifth Declension
Nouns of the 5th are usually feminine; their final vowel is normally "i", or they end in a vowel. Note that the Collins Gem Irish dictionary assigns nouns to only four declensions; it usually lists fifth declension nouns as irregular.
i) Genitive
The genitive is usually formed either by adding "-each" or by dropping the final "i" and adding "-ach":
| Nominative: | beoir | -- | beer |
| Genitive: | beorach | -- | of beer |
| Nominative: | litir | -- | letter |
| Genitive: | litreach | -- | of a letter |
| Nominative: | cathair | -- | city |
| Genitive: | cathrach | -- | of a city |
If they end with a vowel, they may add "n" or "d":
| Nominative: | cara | -- | friend |
| Genitive: | carad | -- | of a friend |
| Nominative: | pearsa | -- | person |
| Genitive: | pearsan | -- | of a person |
Or alternatively, they may just broaden their nominative form, but otherwise remain unchanged:
| Nominative: | athair | -- | father |
| Genitive: | athar | -- | of a father |
| Nominative: | Albain | -- | Scotland |
| Genitive: | Alban | -- | of Scotland |
| Nominative: | abhainn | -- | river |
| Genitive: | abhann | -- | of a river |
ii) Plural
Many nouns in the declension form their plural by adding "-a" to the genitive form, not the nominative:
| Nom. Sing. | cathair | -- | city |
| Gen. Sing. | cathrach | -- | of a city |
| Nom. Plur. | cathracha | -- | cities |
| Nom. Sing. | comharsa | -- | neighbour |
| Gen. Sing. | comharsan | -- | of a neighbour |
| Nom. Sing. | comharsana | -- | neighbours |
But important irregular plurals include
| athair | -- | father | |
| --> | aithreacha | -- | fathers |
| máthair | -- | mother | |
| --> | máithreacha | -- | mothers |
| abhainn | -- | river | |
| --> | aibhneacha | -- | rivers |
And so end the declensions.
Genitive Plural
The definite article of the genitive plural is always "na", which causes eclipsis and prefixes "n-" before a noun beginning with a vowel.
The genitive plural itself is formed in one of three ways. A "weak" genitive plural is one that is the same as the nominative singular, for example:
| Nom. Sing. | an crann | -- | the tree |
| Gen. Plur. | na gcrann | -- | of the trees |
| Nom. Sing. | an cat | -- | the cat |
| Gen. Plur. | na gcat | -- | of the cats |
| Nom. Sing. | an bhróg | -- | the shoe |
| Gen. Plur. | na mbróg | -- | of the shoes |
| Nom. Sing. | an t-éan | -- | the bird |
| Gen. Plur. | na n-éan | -- | of the birds |
By contrast, "strong" genitive plurals are those which are the same as the nominative plural:
| Nom. Plur. | na deochanna | -- | the drinks |
| Gen. Plur. | na ndeochanna | -- | of the drinks |
| Nom. Plur. | na cailíní | -- | the girls |
| Gen. Plur. | na gcailíní | -- | of the girls |
| Nom. Plur. | na haithreacha | -- | the fathers |
| Gen. Plur. | na n-aithreacha | -- | of the fathers |
A handful of nouns are neither weak nor strong but form a genitive plural that is different from the other forms. Here are a few common examples:
| Nom. Sing. | bean | -- | a woman |
| Gen. Plur. | ban | -- | of women |
| Nom. Sing. | caora | -- | a sheep |
| Gen. Plur. | caorach | -- | of sheep |
| Nom. Sing. | súil | -- | an eye |
| Gen. Plur. | súl | -- | of eyes |
| Nom. Sing. | ealaín | -- | an art |
| Gen. Plur. | ealaíon | -- | of arts |
| Nom. Sing. | binn | -- | cliff, peak |
| Gen. Plur. | beann | -- | of the cliffs, of the peaks |
Strong plurals include all nouns of the 3rd, 4th and 5th declensions, as well as many of the 2nd and some of the 1st. Weak plurals only predominate in the 1st declension.
Conditional Tense
We learned the conditional tense of "bi" in Lesson Ten. The conditional of regular verbs falls into the usual division of two conjugations:
i) 1st conjugation -- cuir, "put"; bog, "move"
| chuirfinn | -- | I would put | bhogfainn | -- | I would move |
| chuirfeá | -- | you would put | bhogfeá | -- | you would move |
| chuirfeadh sé | -- | he would put | bhogfadh sé | -- | he would move |
| chuirfeadh sí | -- | she would put | bhogfadh sí | -- | she would move |
| chuirfimis | -- | we would put | bhogfaimis | -- | we would move |
| chuirfeadh sibh | -- | you would put | bhogfadh sibh | -- | you would move |
| chuirfidís | -- | they would put | bhogfaidís | -- | they would move |
ii) 2nd conjugation -- beannaigh, "bless"; bailigh, "gather"
| bheannóinn | -- | I would bless | bhaileoinn | -- | I would gather |
| bheannófá | -- | you would bless | bhaileofá | -- | you would gather |
| bheannódh sé | -- | he would bless | bhaileodh sé | -- | he would gather |
| bheannódh sí | -- | she would bless | bhaileodh sí | -- | she would gather |
| bheannóimis | -- | we would bless | bhaileoimis | -- | we would gather |
| bheannódh sibh | -- | you would bless | bhaileodh sibh | -- | you would gather |
| bheannóidís | -- | they would bless | bhaileoidís | -- | they would gather |
Verbs beginning with a vowel or with "f" have "d'" in front of them:
| D'ólfainn | -- | I would drink |
| D'fhoghlaimeodh sé | -- | he would learn |
Conditional Statements
There are two ways of saying "if" in Irish, depending on whether the thing being speculated about is likely to come to pass or unlikely. If it's likely, the word "má" (if) is used with the present tense:
| Má bhuaileann tú leis... | -- | If you meet him... | |
| Más duine macánta é... | -- | If he is an honest man... (más = má + is) |
But if the condition is unlikely to be fulfilled, the eclipsing word "dá" (if) is used with the conditional tense:
| Dá mbuailfeá leis... | -- | If you were to meet him... (lit: "if you would meet with him") |
| Dá mba dhuine macanta é... | -- | If he were to be an honest man... |
Irish has a separate word meaning "if... not", which is the eclipsing word "mura":
| Dá gceannófá é... | -- | If you were to buy it... |
| Mura gceannófá e... | -- | If you were not to buy it... |
"Mura" before the past tense of regular verbs becomes "murar", which aspirates:
| Murar chaith tú é... | -- | If you didn't throw it... |
... and when it comes before the past tense form of the copula, "ba", it combines with "ba" to become "murab":
| Murab é sin é... | -- | If that isn't it... |
