Scottish Gaelic grammar
This article describes the grammar of the Scottish Gaelic language.
Grammar overview
Gaelic shares with other Celtic languages a number of interesting typological features:- Verb–subject–object basic word order in simple sentences with non-periphrastic verbal constructions, a typological characteristic relatively uncommon among the world's languages.
- conjugated prepositions : complex forms historically derived from the fusion of a preposition + pronoun sequence
- prepositional constructions for expressing possession and ownership :
- emphatic pronouns: Emphatic forms are systematically available in all pronominal constructions.
Consonant mutations
Lenition, as a grammatical process, affects the pronunciation of initial consonants, and is indicated orthographically by the addition of an :
- caileag → chaileag "girl"
- beag → bheag "small"
- faca → fhaca "saw"
- snog → shnog "nice"
Slenderisation, on the other hand, is a change in the pronunciation of the final consonant of a word, and it is typically indicated by the addition of an :
- facal → facail "word"
- balach → balaich "boy"
- òran → òrain "song"
- ùrlar → ùrlair "floor"
- cailleach → caillich "old woman"
- ceòl → ciùil "music"
- fiadh → fèidh "deer"
- cas → cois "foot"
Most cases of slenderisation can be explained historically as the palatalizing influence of a following front vowel in earlier stages of the language. Although this vowel has now disappeared, its effects on the preceding consonant are still preserved. Similarly, lenition of initial consonants was originally triggered by the final vowel of the preceding word, but in many cases, this vowel is no longer present in the modern language.
Many word-final consonants have also disappeared in the evolution of Scottish Gaelic, and some traces of them can be observed in the form of prosthetic or linking consonants that appear in some syntactic combinations, for example, after some determiners.
Nouns
Gender and number
Gaelic nouns and pronouns belong to one of two grammatical genders: masculine or feminine. Nouns with neuter gender in Old Gaelic were redistributed between the masculine and feminine.The gender of a small number of nouns differs between dialects. A very small group of nouns have declensional patterns that suggest mixed gender characteristics. Foreign nouns that are fairly recent loans arguably fall into a third gender class, if considered in terms of their declensional pattern. It is arguable that feminine gender is under pressure and that the system may be becoming simplified with the feminine paradigms incorporating some typically masculine patterns.
Nouns have three grammatical numbers: singular, dual and plural. Dual forms of nouns are only found after the numeral dà, where they are obligatory. The dual form is identical in form to the dative singular; depending on noun class, the dual is therefore either the same in form as the common singular, or have a palatalised final consonant in nouns of Class 2 and Class 5. Plurals are formed in a variety of ways, including suffixation and slenderisation. Pluralisation, as in Irish Gaelic and Manx, can vary according to noun class, however on the whole depends on the final sound of the singular form.
| Noun Class | Example | English |
| 1 | aon òran, dà òran, trì òrain | one song, two songs, three songs |
| 2 | aon uinneag, dà uinneig, trì uinneagan | one window, two windows, three windows |
| 3 | aon ghuth, dà ghuth, trì guthan | one voice, two voices, three voices |
| 4 | aon bhàta, dà bhàta, trì bàtaichean | one boat, two boats, three boats |
| 5 | aon chara, dà charaid, trì càirdean | one friend, two friends, three friends |
Cardinal numerals
For counting, or with numerals that are not followed by a noun, the form is slightly different.| Gaelic numeral | English translation |
| a h-aon | one |
| a dhà | two |
| a trì | three |
| a ceithir | four |
| a còig | five |
| a sia | six |
| a seachd | seven |
| a h-ochd | eight |
| a naoidh | nine |
| a deich | ten |
| a h-aon deug | eleven |
| a dhà dheug | twelve |
Cases
Nouns and pronouns in Gaelic have four cases: nominative, vocative, genitive, and dative case. There is no distinct accusative case form; the nominative is used for both subjects and objects. Nouns can be classified into a number of major declension classes, with a small number of nouns falling into minor patterns or irregular paradigms. Case forms can be related to the base form by suffixation, lenition, slenderisation, or a combination of such changes. See the [|example paradigms] [|below] for further details.The case system is now under tremendous pressure and speakers exhibit varying degrees of paradigm simplification.
Prepositional or dative
Nouns in the dative case only occur after a preposition, and never, for example, as the indirect object of a verb.Vocative
Nouns in the vocative case are introduced by the particle a+L, which lenites a following consonant, and is elided before a vowel. The vocative form of feminine singular nouns is otherwise identical to the nominative; additionally, masculine singular nouns are slenderised in the vocative.- feminine:
- * Màiri → a Mhàiri
- * Anna → Anna
- masculine:
- * Seumas → a Sheumais
- * Aonghas → Aonghais
Genitive
Indefinite and definite
Gaelic has no indefinite article. Cù may mean either "dog" or "a dog", and coin may mean either "dogs" or "some dogs."The definite article is discussed below in full under [|articles]. A noun or noun phrase is considered to be definite if it fulfils one of the following criteria.
- It is a proper noun
- * Màiri "Mary"
- * Inbhir Nis "Inverness"
- * Alba "Scotland"
- It is preceded by an article
- * an cù "the dog"
- * na h-aibhnichean "the rivers"
- It is preceded by a possessive determiner
- * mo cheann "my head"
- * àirde mo chinn "at the top of my voice"
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
Gaelic has singular and plural personal pronouns. Gender is distinguished only in the 3rd person singular. A T-V distinction is found in the 2nd person, with the plural form sibh used also as a polite singular.In most cases the Classical Gaelic lenited form of tu, i.e. thu, has become generalised. Tu is retained in constructions where it is preceded by a verb ending in - - or - :
- Is tu a rinn a' mhocheirigh! "You are an early riser!"
- Bu tu an gaisgeach! "What a hero you were!"
- Mun abradh tu “deas-dé.” "Before you could say Jack Robinson."
- Cuiridh tu an-seo e! "You will put it here!"
Emphatic personal pronouns
- Tha i bòidheach "She's beautiful"
- Tha ise bòidheach "She's beautiful "
- an taigh aicese "her house"
- chuirinn-sa "I would put"
- na mo bheachd-sa "in my opinion"
Adjectives
Adjectives normally follow the noun they modify, and agree with it in gender, number and case. In addition, in the dative singular of masculine nouns, the leniting effect of a preceding definite article can be seen on both the noun and the following adjective:
- breac mòr " a big trout"
- a' bhreac mhòr " the big trout"
- seann chù "old dog"
- droch shìde "bad weather"
- deagh thidsear "good teacher"
Determiners
Possessive determiners
Gaelic uses possessive determiners differently from English. In Gaelic, possessive determiners are used mostly to indicate inalienable possession, for example for body parts or family members.As indicated in the following table, some possessive determiners lenite the following word. Before a word beginning with a vowel, some of the determiners have elided forms, or require a linking consonant.
The 3rd plural possessive a takes the form am before words beginning with a labial consonant:.
As discussed [|above], the linking consonants n- and h- reflect the presence of a final consonant that has disappeared in other contexts. Ar and ur are derived from genitive plural forms that originally ended in a nasal.
The feminine singular a derives from a form ending in final -, whose only trace is now the prefixation of h- to a following vowel.
To refer to non-permanent possession, one uses the preposition aig, as described above:
- am faclair aice her dictionary
- an leabhar aca their book