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Gaeilge Irish
Family	Sub-family	Language of	Script
Indo-European	Celtic	Ireland	Extended Latin

The mutations – Na Athruithe

Lenition

Lenition is one form of mutation where an h is inserted after some consonants.

consonant - lenited form - approximate pronounciation

b bh w

c ch ch

d dh dj as in Swedish

f fh voiceless

g gh dj as in Swedish

m mh w

p ph f

s sh h

t th h

If /s/ is followed by a consonant one does not lenite as this would make the word impossible to pronounce.

Lenitions occurs after;

The vocative particle „a“ - a Shéain! - John!

Feminine nominative nouns after the article an – an bhean – the woman

Genitive masculine nouns after the article an

Functional genitive. i.e two genitives can never follow each other, hence the first noun is kept in its nominative form and lenited

An attribute in compound words scían phoca – pocket knife

After possesive pronouns in singular

After uile – everyone

After Mac, Ní, Mhic, Uí, Nic in surnames

Feminine adjectives bean mhór – big woman

After prefixes ana-mhath – very good

Verbs in the past tense

Verbal nouns after the preposition a

Eclipses

The eclipse is used with the following consonants – b, c, d, f, g, p and t and are used for the following purposes

After prepositions that can conjugate with personal pronouns if followed by an article

After the preposition i if not followed by an article

After genitive plural article

After plural possessive pronouns

After the numbers 7,8,9 and 10

After possessive pronouns in singular

consonant - eclipsed form - approximate pronunciation

b mb m

c gc g

d nd n

f bhf w

g ng c

p bp b

t dt d

Eclipses do not exist in Scottish Gaelic however something similar can be heard in some dialects of Gàidhlig. Historically an eclipse only means that the preceding word used to end with m or n, which is retained in Modern Gàidhlig spelling but exist as eclipses in Irish Gaelic. As an example we may take Latha nam pàistean which is lá na mpáisde in Irish (children‘s day)

Irish pages
Introduction · Adjectives · Articles and Gender · Cases · Colours · Conjunctions · Mutation · Numbers · Prepositions · Pronouns · Syntax · Verbs