Caibidil a Dó: The Adjective (an Aidiacht)
Miscellaneous
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preceding adjectives and other prefixes (na réimíreanna)
Adjectives normally always come after the nouns they modify. Only a few may precede the noun.
Before the noun regularly stand:
- many pronominal adjectives, like uile = all, gach = every , etc. e.g.: gach teach = every house
- possessive pronouns (in Irish termed as "possessive adjectives ") e.g.: mo theach = my house
- adjectively used numbers (cardinal- and ordinal numbers) e.g.: an tríú teach = the third house, trí theach = three houses
For m ore about those, see their corresponding sections.
All other (monosyllabic) adjectives may then only precede the noun in the form of a prefix (réimír). A differentiation between prefixes, as is made in German, and preceding adjectives is generally not possible.
- Some adjectives occur only in this form as the prefix auf (e.g. deá- = good , droch- = bad )
e.g.: deá-bhád = a good boat, drochbhád = a bad boat
- By some adjectives this form is preferred (e.g.: sean- = alt).
e.g.: seanfhear = an old man (rather wrong: fear sean)
- By most of the adjectives this is less common; if so, it is for forming set terms. They would in other cases come after the noun.
e.g.: ardrí = High King , but: sliabh ard = high mountain
- Some prefixes may also further modify normal adjectives. In English, one would use adverbs like "very", "really", "too" etc.
e.g.: an-mhaith = very good, fíormhaith = really good, rómhaith = too good .
Amazingly, many of these prefixes can be used with other parts of speech.
e.g.: an-charr = a great car (lit.: "very-car").
- The prefixes so-, do-, in- can today only modify verbal adjectives (more exact and more complicated: only the genitive of the verbal noun), see also in that section.
Some rules for using these prefixes:
- There is lenition following every one of these prefixes, except after éa- = un-, there eclipsis, but in modern spelling with the omission of the eclipsing sound (e.g.: éa + cóir - éagóir = injustice)
- prefix and noun are always written together (sean + bean = seanbhean = old woman ), except:
- an- and dea- always with a hyphen (an-bhean, dea-bhean)
- Hyphens otherwise only by multiple prefixes (e.g.: droch-sheanbhád = bad old boat) or when the same phonemes collide (e.g.: ró-óg = too young, sean-nós = old style )
Some examples: (There are many more prefixes than those mentioned here.)
prefix |
translation |
example |
translation |
droch |
bad |
drochbhád |
a bad boat |
sean |
old |
seanbhean |
an old woman |
barr |
excellent |
barrthuirseach |
extremely tired |
dea- (deá-) |
good |
dea-cheol |
good music |
an- |
very |
an-charr |
great car |
ró (ro) |
too much |
róshean |
too old |
fior |
really |
fíormhaith |
really good |
mí |
un- |
míshásta |
unhappy |
éa |
un- |
éagóir |
injustice |
síor |
eternal |
síordheifir |
eternal rush |
corr |
odd |
corruimhir
corrdhuine |
odd number
odd person |
il |
many, poly- |
ilteangach |
polyglot |
leath |
half |
leathchéad |
half hundred = 50 |
priomh |
primary, main |
priomhtheanga |
primary language |
ard |
high, arch- |
ardeaspag |
archbishop |
ath |
re- |
Athbhliain |
New Year |
so |
easily |
sobhriste |
fragile |
do |
impossible, difficult |
dodhéanta |
impossible to do |
in |
possible |
inite |
edible |
Some of these prefixes end (in Munster) in -a, if they precede a consonant (e.g. ana-mhaith = very good)
suas
adjectives
Gramadach na Gaeilge
© Lars Bräsicke 1999 / 2000
[ 1 ] amlaidh etymologically actually a prepositional pronoun made of amhail + eadh (old form of ea) = "like it "
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