Gaelic - Lesson 3, From www.taic.btinternet.co.uk/taic.htm
The Nominative Case of Nouns
This is the basic form used when the noun is either the subject or the direct object in a sentence. E.g. in English: boy as subject - The boy is cold boy as direct object - I saw the boy
There is no word for a or an in Gàidhlig. All indefinite nouns are simply entered without an article. Nouns are considered to be either masculine or feminine, you will see these in the NEW WORDS and Vocabulary sections as either (m) or (f) respectively: doras (m) - door eaglais (f) - church balach (m) - boy leabaidh (f) - bed taigh (m) - house caileag (f) - girl
Masculine Nouns The masculine nominative nouns have the definite article as an t- before a vowel; am before words beginning with b, f, m, or p; and an in all other instances: An t-òran (*) - The song An t-each (*) - The horse Am balach - The boy Am peann - The pen An duine - The man An seòmar - The room
(*) The omission of the initial t- is not uncommon in colloquial speech
Feminine Nouns Feminine nominative nouns beginning with b, f, m, p, c or g are all lenited with the definite article a' (or an with lenited f). Words beginning with sl, sn, sr or s+vowel have the definite article as an t-. In all other instances the definite article is an: A' chaileag - The girl An fhearg - The anger An t-snàthad - The needle An t-sìth - The peace An abhainn - The river An litir - The letter
The good news is that all nominative nouns, whether masculine or feminine, beginning with d, t, l, n, r, sg, sm, sp or st all have their definite articles as an: An leabhar (m) - The book An làmh (f) - The hand An sgàthan (m) - The mirror An sgian (f) - The knife An nead (m) - The nest An nighean (f) - The daughter
Plurals The nominative plural definite article in all cases is na: Na taighean (m) - The houses Na caileagan (f) - The girls
Don't worry too much just now about the plurals. Remember you can find the other forms of the nouns in the Vocabulary section at http://www.taic.btinternet.co.uk/taic.htm.
Nouns balach (m) - boy bàta (m) - boat doras (m) - door duine (m) - person, husband each (m) - horse gille (m) - lad làr (m) - floor leabhar (m) - book loch (m) - loch nead (m) - nest òran (m) - song peann (m) - pen rathad (m) - road seòmar (m) - room sgàthan (m) - mirror taigh (m) - house teine (m) - fire
abhainn (f) - river caileag (f) - girl eaglais (f)- church fearg (f) - anger làmh (f) - hand leabaidh (f) - bed litir (f) - letter nighean (f) - girl, daughter oidhche (f) - night sgian (f) - knife sgoil (f) - school sìth (f) - peace snàthad (f) - needle
EXERCISE 1 Translate into English 1.Chan eil an sgoil glè ghlan 2.Tha an eaglais fuar 3.An robh an sgian geur? Cha robh 4.A bheil an litir mòr? Chan eil 5.Tha am peann tioram 6.Nach eil an loch ìosal? Tha 7.Tha an snàthad glè gheur 8.Bha an nead falamh 9.A bheil an seòmar blàth? Chan eil 10.Cha robh an t-òran snog
EXERCISE 2 Translate into Gàidhlig 1.Was the book small? No 2.The lad is terribly tired 3.Is the door dry? 4.The floor wasn't wet 5.The mirror isn't clean 6.The peace was nice (good) 7.Wasn't the house empty? Yes 8.The fire was hot 9.The hand was wet 10.Isn't the night cold? Yes 11.The bed wasn't clean 12.The girl wasn't too happy 13.The anger was great
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Slàn agus beannachd, Allen R. Alderman
'S i Alba tìr mo chridhe. 'S i Gàidhlig cànan m' anama. Scotland is the land of my heart. Gaelic is the language of my soul.
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