Articles
The definite article has two forms in Irish: an and na. Their distribution depends on whether the noun is singular or plural, the case of the noun, and the initial sound of the noun. Each entry of the table gives an example of a noun starting with a consonant and one of a noun starting with a vowel.
| Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Feminine | both genders | |
| Nominative | an cat an t-éan |
an bhróg an eaglais |
(do) na cait (leis) na héin |
| Dative (i) | den chat san éan |
don bhróg den eaglais |
|
| Dative (ii) | ag an gcat ag an éan |
faoin mbróg tríd an eaglais |
|
| Genitive | an chait an éin |
na bróige na heaglaise |
na gcat na n-éin |
Dative (i) is used with all prepositions in Ulster usage; elsewhere it is used only with den "from the", don "to the", and sa(n) "in the". Dative (ii) is used outside Ulster with other prepositions.
The article never lenites a following t or d, and an s is lenited to ts (pronounced ) rather than the usual sh.
There is no indefinite article in Irish, so depending on context cat can mean "cat" or "a cat".
Read more about this topic: Irish Declension
Famous quotes containing the word articles:
“How many things served us but yesterday as articles of faith, which today we deem but fables?”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“There are several natural phenomena which I shall have to have explained to me before I can keep on going as a resident member of the human race. One is the metamorphosis which hats and suits undergo exactly one week after their purchase, whereby they are changed from smart, intensely becoming articles of apparel into something children use when they want to “dress up like daddy.””
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“It was not sufficient for the disquiet of our minds that we disputed at the end of seventeen hundred years upon the articles of our own religion, but we must likewise introduce into our quarrels those of the Chinese. This dispute, however, was not productive of any great disturbances, but it served more than any other to characterize that busy, contentious, and jarring spirit which prevails in our climates.”
—Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778)