# Graiméar na Gaedhilge

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1906
Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son.
THIRD EDITION – REVISED.
CAHILL & CO., Printers, Dublin.
PREFACE.
THE Grammar of Spoken Irish presents many difficulties owing to the forms peculiar to different places, but as the literary usage embraces the dialects current in different localities, save a few archaic survivals, the literary usage has been adopted as the standard of this grammer.
Modern Irish may be said to date from the end of the 16th, or the beginning of the 17th century. At the commencement of the modern period many forms are found which belong to an earlier period, and many forms which have since grown obsolete, side by side with those by which they have since been replaced. We have deemed it advisable not to introduce into this grammer any obsolete grammatical forms, how prominent soever they may be in early modern literature. However, as students preparing for public examinations are frequently required to read the works of early modern authors, we have added in the present edition an appendix containing the verb-system of early modern Irish. Such early modern grammatical forms as survive only within a small area are not given in the large type; on the other hand, those grammatical forms generally found in literature, and which are still in use in any one of the three Irish-speaking Provinces, are given in the large print in preference to those more generally used by Irish speakers, but which are not found in literary works. It is hoped that this method may help to popularise Irish literature, and to reconcile in some degree the slight discrepancies which exist between the spoken and the literary usages.
In the present Grammar the letters l, n, and r are reckoned among the aspirable consonants, and s is omitted ​from the eclipsable ones. The declension of verbal nouns is transferred from the third declension to the chapter on the verbs. A collection of heteroclite nouns is inserted. The usual declension of the personal pronouns is not employed, and the terms Conjunctive and Disjunctive pronouns are adopted. The naming of the four principal parts of an Irish verb, the treatment of the Autonomous form of conjugation, the rejection of compound prepositions, infinitive mood, and present participle form a few of the features of this grammar. Among the appendices will be found lists of words belonging to the various declensions, of verbs of both conjugation, and of irregular verbal nouns.
Many of the rules have been taken from the "O'Growney Series" and from the "Gaelic Journal." The grammars of Neilson, O'Donovan, Bourke, Craig, and of many other authors, have been consulted. The chapter on the classification of the uses of the prepositions is based on Dr. Atkinson's edition of Keating's Trí Bior-ġaoiṫe an Ḃáis. Some of the sentences which illustrate the rules have been culled, with the author's permission, from the Mion-ċaint of the Rev. Peter O'Leary, P.P.
In the present edition the enunciation of the rule Caol le caol ⁊ leaṫan le leaṫan has been modified so as to bring it more into harmony with the spoken language. The sections on the Relative pronouns, Demonstrative pronouns, Adverbs, and Conjunctions have been greatly enlarged and improved. A large collection of Idiomatic expressions and an exhaustive Index have been also added.
The Christian Brothers acknowledge with pleasure their indebtedness to Mr. John McNeill, B.A., and Rev. Peter O'Leary, P.P., for their generous and invaluable aid in the production of this grammar. To Mr. R. J. O'Mulrenin, M.A., Mr. J. H. Lloyd, to Mr. Shortall, and to many other friends their best thanks are due, and gratefully tendered. ​
CONTENTS.
| | Page |
| The Letters | 1 |
| Sounds of the Vowels | 2 |
| The Diphthongs | 2 |
| The Triphthongs | 3 |
| Consonants, Division of the | 4 |
| „   Combination of the | 6 |
| Accent | 6 |
| „  Words distinguished by | 7 |
| Obscure Sounds of the Vowels | 7 |
| Aspiration, Explanation of | 9 |
| „   How marked | 10 |
| „   Rules for | 11 |
| Eclipsis | 13 |
| „  Rules for | 15 |
| Insertion of n | 16 |
| „  t | 17 |
| „  h | 18 |
| Attenuation and Broadening | 18 |
| Caol le caol ⁊ leaṫan le leaṫan | 19 |
| Syncope, Explanation of | 20 |
| „   Examples of | 21 |
| The Article | 23 |
| „   Initial changes produced by | 23 |
| Gender, Rules for | 26 |
| Cases, Number of | 28 |
| „  Rules for formation of the | 28 ​ |
| First Declension | 30 |
| „    Examples of vowel-changes | 33 |
| „    Irregular Genitive Singular | 34 |
| „    Irregular Nominative Plural | 34 |
| Second Declension | 36 |
| „    Examples of vowel-changes | 37 |
| „    Irregular Genitive Singular | 39 |
| „    Irregular Nominative Plural | 39 |
| Third Declension | 41 |
| „    Irregular Nominative Plural | 44 |
| Fourth Declension | 45 |
| „    Irregular Nominative Plural | 46 |
| Fifth Declension | 47 |
| Heteroclite Nouns | 51 |
| Irregular Nouns | 52 |
| The Adjective | 56 |
| „    First Declension | 56 |
| „    Second Declension | 59 |
| „    Third Declension | 60 |
| „    Fourth Declension | 60 |
| „    Aspiration of | 61 |
| „    Eclipsis of | 62 |
| „    Comparison of | 63 |
| „    Irregular Comparison | 68 |
| Numeral Adjectives | 69 |
| „    „   Notes on | 71 |
| Personal Numerals | 73 |
| Possessive Adjectives | 74 |
| Demonstrative „ | 78 |
| Indefinite   „ | 79 |
| Distributive  „ | 82 |
| Interrogative  „ | 82 |
| Intensifying Particles | 66 |
| Emphatic   „ | 75 ​ |
| Translation of “Some” | 80 |
| „    “Any” | 81 |
| The Pronoun ||
| Personal | 83 |
| Reflexive | 84 |
| Conjunctive and Disjunctive | 85 |
| Neuter Pronoun eadh | 86 |
| Prepositional | 87 |
| Relative | 91 |
| Demonstrative | 93 |
| Indefinite | 94 |
| Distributive | 95 |
| Interrogative | 96 |
| Reciprocal | 97 |
| The Verb ||
| Conjugations, Number of | 98 |
| „    Three forms of | 99 |
| „    Autonomous form of | 100 |
| Moods, Number of | 102 |
| Tenses, Number of | 103 |
| „  Various forms of the | 104 |
| Principle Parts of a Verb | 106 |
| „    Examples of | 107 |
| First Conjugation | 108 |
| „    Notes on Moods and Tenses of | 112 |
| Rule for Aspiration of t of the Past Participle | 116 |
| Participle of Necessity | 116 |
| Derivative Participles | 117 |
| Declension of Verbal Nouns | 118 |
| Second Conjugation | 118 |
| Verbs in iġ and uiġ | 119 |
| Syncopated Verbs | 120 |
| Rules for formation of Verbal Noun | 125 |
| Irregular Verbs | 127 ​ |
| Irregular Verbs, Absolute and Dependent forms of | 138 |
| Táim | 127 |
| Is | 133 |
| Beir | 136 |
| Taḃair | 137 |
| Abair | 140 |
| Gaḃ | 142 |
| Faġ | 142 |
| Deun | 145 |
| Feic | 147 |
| Clois or Cluin | 150 |
| Tar | 150 |
| Téiġ (Téiḋ) | 152 |
| Iṫ | 154 |
| Riġim | 155 |
| Defective Verbs ||
| Ar, Dar, Feadar | 156 |
| Ṫárla, D’ḟóbair, Feudaim | 157 |
| Adverbs | 157 |
| Interrogative Words | 160 |
| “Up and Down,” &c. | 160 |
| “This side, that side,” &c. | 162 |
| “Over” | 162 |
| North, South, East, West | 163 |
| Compound or Phrase Adverbs | 164 |
| Days of the Week | 167 |
| “Head-foremost” | 167 |
| “However” | 168 |
| The Adverb “The” | 168 |
| Prepositions | 168 |
| Conjunctions | 168 |
| Use of ná and ná go | 170 |
| Use of mar | 170 |
| Interjections | 171 ​ |
| Word-Building ||
| Prefixes | 173 |
| Affixes | 176 |
| Diminutives | 178 |
| „  in ín | 179 |
| „  in án | 179 |
| „  in óg | 180 |
| Derivative Nouns | 181 |
| Compound Nouns | 182 |
| Derivative Adjectives | 186 |
| Verbs derived from Nouns | 190 |
| „  „     Adjectives | 191 |
| Syntax of the Article | 192 |
| Article used in Irish but not in English | 193 |
| Syntax of the Noun | 196 |
| Apposition | 197 |
| Collective Nouns | 197 |
| Personal Numerals | 198 |
| Personal Nouns | 199 |
| Syntax of the Adjective | 201 |
| Adjective used Attributively | 202 |
| „    Predicatively | 204 |
| Numeral Adjectives | 205 |
| Dual Number | 209 |
| Possessive Adjectives | 211 |
| Syntax of the Pronoun | 213 |
| Relative Pronoun | 214 |
| Translation of the Genitive case of the English Relative | 216 |
| Syntax of the Verb | 218 |
| Uses of the Subjunctive Mood | 219 |
| Relative form of the Verb | 221 |
| Verbal Noun and its Functions | 224 |
| How to translate the English Infinitive | 226 |
| Definition of a Definite Noun | 235 ​ |
| When to use the Verb is | 236 |
| Position of Words with is | 240 |
| Translation of the English Secondary Tenses | 241 |
| Prepositions after Verbs | 243 |
| Translation of the Word “Not” | 246 |
| Syntax of the Preposition | 249 |
| Translation of the Preposition “For” | 256 |
| „     „    “Of” | 260 |
| Uses of the Preposition | 262 |
| Specimens of Parsing | 284 |
| Idioms | 289 |
| Idiomatic Phrases | 305 |
| The Autonomous form of the Irish Verb | 315 |
| Appendices ||
| i. List of Nouns belonging to First Declension | 325 |
| ii. List of Feminine Nouns ending in a broad consonant belonging to Second Declension | 327 |
| iii. List of Nouns belonging to Third Declension | 329 |
| iv. List of Nouns belonging to Fifth Declension | 333 |
| v. List of Irregular Verbal Nouns | 334 |
| vi. List of Verbs of First Conjugation | 336 |
| vii. List of Syncopated Verbs | 338 |
| viii. Termination of the Regular Verbs in present-day usage | 339 |
| ix. Verb-System of Early Modern Irish | 340 |
| Index | 343 |
This work was published in 1906 and is anonymous or pseudonymous due to unknown authorship. It is in the public domain in the United States as well as countries and areas where the copyright terms of anonymous or pseudonymous works are 117 years or less since publication.
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