3. Mutations
Grammar
Irish words can have the first letter changed or mutated.
In Ancient Irish these changes were to help the sounds flow more smoothly.
In Modern Irish they are part of the meaning of the word. These mutations are a distinctive and attractive feature of all the Celtic tongues, adding greatly to the music of the language.
There are three mutations in Modern Irish: Lomú, Séimhiú, Urú.
[1] Lomú
or 'leaving bare'.
Consonants are unchanged:
a bróg her shoe.
Vowels of two words coming together are separated by a 'h':
a hasal her donkey.
[2] Séimhiú
or softening.
Add an h to the spelling of a consonant.
bh, ch, dh, fh, gh, mh, ph, sh, th. (NB fh is silent.)
a bhád his boat.
*s followed by sl, sn, sr becomes shl, shn, shr.
Vowels of two words coming together are run together:
a asal his donkey;
D'ól sé {= do ól sé} he drank.
Exceptions:
The following letters do not add -h- : l,n,r plus j,k,q,v,w,x,y,z.
Do not add -h- to sc, sp, st or sf:
a scamhóg his/her lung,
cruth an sféir the shape of the sphere,
an spiorad the spirit,
a stádas his/her status.
*The letter n protects a following d or t, as these sounds are made in the same part of the mouth as the n. E.g.
an dair, ‘the oak’, not *an dhair;
an táin, ‘the cattle raid’, not *an tháin.
[3] Urú
or 'eclipsing', ‘coming in front of and blocking out’:
mb, gc, nd, bhf [for vf], ng, bp, dt.
Vowels of two words coming together add an ‘n’:
Tír na nÓg The Land of the Young.
If a word beginning with a capital letter undergoes mutation, keep the original capital, even if it is now not pronounced:
Nollaig na mBan Women’s Christmas,
Tír na nÓg The Land of the Young,
Tír na hÉireann the Land of Ireland.
Extra rules for the article "An" (‘the’):–
"An", the definite article, once ended in 't' for certain words.
For Masculine words in the ‘normal’ form:
an t-asal the donkey. (Use a hyphen)
an tAifreann the Mass. (don’t use a hyphen for a capital letter)
For Feminine words after a preposition + an:
ar an tsráid on the street.
Words beginning with 'd' or 't' after -n are not changed, as the two sounds protect each other, being made by the tongue in the same place:
an taoibh of the side, not *an thaoibh;
Bean dána a bold woman, not *bean dhána.
ag an doras,
ar an traein at the door, on the train; not *ag an ndoras, *ar an dtraein.
MT 03-1 Mutations_Ord p1 of 2