10-03 Declension of Adjectives
MT 10-03 Declension of Adjectives
Grammar
Singular
Endings of Words
There are three ways to modify the ending of the adjective for genitive singular:–
Type 1/2:
For genitive singular…
Masculine: add glide-vowel -i- [as for type 1 nouns]
an fear mór, cóta an fhir mhóir,
Feminine: add -e [as for type 2 nouns]
an bhróg mhór, dath na bróige móire
Type 3:
For genitive singular…
Masculine and feminine: Add -a [as for type 3 nouns]
an fear misniúil, cóta an fhir mhisniúla,
an iníon mhisniúil, cóta na hiníne misniúla
Type 4:
For genitive singular…
Masculine and feminine: No change [as for type 4 nouns]
an bóthar fada, radharc an bhóthair fhada,
an oíche fhada, i rith na hoíche fada
Beginnings of Words
All masculine nouns have the same set of rules for an adjective following the noun, and
all feminine nouns have a different set of rules, but also the same for all adjectives.
Notice that they are opposite for masculine and feminine:
For masculine, Nominative –> lomú, Genitive –> Seimhiú;
For feminine, Nominative –> Seimhiú, Genitive –> lomú:–
E.g. with an adjective of …………….. Type 1 /2; Type 3; Type 4
Masculine: Nominative noun + mór + misniúil +fada
Genitive noun + mhóir + mhisniúla +fhada
Feminine: Nominative noun + mhór + mhisniúil +fhada
Genitive noun + móire + misniúla +fada
N.B. Each adjective belongs to one only of these types. The beginning of the word
depends only on whether the noun was masculine or feminine, and the ending of the
adjective is completely independent of the ending of the noun.
Plural
Endings of Words
There are three ways to modify the ending of the adjective for the plural:–
Plural Type 1
Add -a
All adjectives ending in a broad consonant
Plural Type 2
Adjectives with two or more consonants ending in -úil –> -úla
Plural Type 3
Adjectives with a slender final consonant (except -úil)
Add -e.
Plural Type 4
All adjectives ending in a vowel in the singular (except breá –> breátha and te –> teo) Keep the same ending in the plural.
Genitive plural
If the noun has the same ending in both nominative and genitive plural, so does the
adjective:–
na háiteanna móra, na n-áiteanna móra
If the noun has genitive plural ending the same as the nominative singular, so does the adjective:–
na bróga móra, na mbróg mór
Beginnings of words
Nominative plural
If the noun in the nominative plural ends with a slender consonant, the adjective
undergoes séimhiú:
an capall bán, na capaill bhána
If the noun in the nominative plural ends with a vowel, the adjective does not change the beginning:
an bhróg bhán, na bróga bána
Urú of Adjective
N.B. In the modern language, the adjective never undergoes urú:–
na capaill bhána, na gcapall bán.
The only exceptions are where the adjective comes before the noun:
(i) when it is made part of a compound word; this is common in traditional poetry:–
Bán-chnoic Éireann Óighe The bright hills of Holy Ireland
Radharc na mBán-chnoic úd The sight of yonder bright hills
(ii) numbers count as adjectives, and come before the noun:–
Caoineadh na dTrí Muire The Lament of the Three Marys
MT 10-93 Declension of Adjectives