Punctuation
In general, punctuation marks are used in Irish much as they are in English. One punctuation mark worth noting is the Tironian et ⁊ which is generally used to abbreviate the word agus "and", much as the ampersand is generally used to abbreviate the word and in English.
The hyphen (Irish: fleiscín) is used in Irish after the letters t and n when these are attached to a vowel-initial word through the rules of the initial mutations, as in an t-arán "the bread", a n-iníon "their daughter". However, the hyphen is not used when the vowel is capitalised, as in an tAlbanach "the Scotsman", Ár nAthair "Our Father". No hyphen is used with the h that is attached to a vowel-initial word: a hiníon "her daughter".
The hyphen is also used in compound words under certain circumstances:
- between two vowels, e.g. mí-ádh "misfortune"
- between two similar consonants, e.g. droch-chaint "bad language", grod-díol "prompt payment"
- in a three-part compound, e.g. buan-chomhchoiste "permanent joint committee"
- after the prefixes do-, fo-, so- before a word beginning with bha, bhla, bhra, dha, gha, ghla, ghra, mha, e.g. do-bhlasta "bad tasting", fo-ghlac "subsume", so-mharfacht "mortality"
- in capitalised titles, e.g. An Príomh-Bhreitheamh "the Chief Justice"
- after an- "very" and dea- "good", e.g. an-mhór "very big", dea-mhéin "goodwill"
The apostrophe (Irish: uaschama) is used to indicate an omitted vowel in the following cases:
- the prepositions de "from" and do "to" both become d’ before a vowel (or fh + vowel, since fh is silent), as in Thit sí d'each "She fell from a horse" and Tabhair d'fhear an tí é "Give it to the landlord"
- the possessive pronouns mo "my" and do "your (singular)" become m’ and d’ before a vowel or fh + vowel, as in m'óige "my youth", d'fhiacail "your tooth"
- the preverbal particle do becomes d’ before a vowel or fh + vowel, as in d'ardaigh mé "I raised", d'fhanfadh sé "he would wait"
- the copular particle ba becomes b’ before a vowel or fh + vowel, as in B'ait liom é sin "I would like that" and b'fhéidir "maybe". However, ba retains its vowel before the pronouns é, í, iad, as in Ba iad na ginearáil a choinnigh an chumhacht "It was the generals who kept the power"
Read more about this topic: Irish Orthography