Tuiseal Ginideach (The Genitive Case)
Dia daoibh! This week, we'll be covering a slightly difficult grammar concept called tuiseal ginideach - also known as the "genitive case" in English. This involves changing the spelling of the word slightly in certain situations.
Here are the rules for applying tuiseal ginideach (there are exceptions, of course):
(i) For feminine nouns ending in "ach", the "ach" is replaced with an "aí", the letter "h" is removed, and the "an" is changed to "na". (For example, "an ghealach" changes to “na gealaí").
(ii) For nouns ending in "íocht" (which are almost always feminine), an "a" is added to the end of the noun, and the "an" and the "h" are left unchanged. (For example, "an dramaíocht" changes to "an dramaíochta")
(iii) For feminine nouns that don't use the endings above, the "an" is changed to "na", the noun is made slender by adding an "e" to the end, and the letter "h" is removed from it. (For example, "an tsráid –" changes to "na tsráide").
(iv) For masculine nouns ending in "ach", the "ach" is replaced with an "aigh", and the "an" and the "h" are left unchanged. (For example, "an deatach" changes to "an deataigh".)
(v) For masculine nouns ending in "ir" (which includes several professions, such as "feirmeoir", which means "farmer") the "i" in the "ir" is removed, and an "a" is added at the very end of the word. The "an" is left unchanged. (For example, "feirmeoir" changes to "feirmeora")
(vi) For masculine nouns that don't use the endings above, the "an" is left unchanged, the noun is made slender by adding an "i" to the end, and the letter "h" is added to it. (For example, an béal is changed to "an bhéali")
When do we apply tuiseal ginideach?
(i)After "ag".
(ii)After either trasna/chun/timpeall in a sentence.
(iii)When talking about possession (for example; "the bird's nest")
(iv) When two nouns are connected (such as "lighthouse" or "school bag")
(v) When using quantities/amounts.
We hope you found this useful!
Hi, this was great but some examples would be really helpful. I had a hard time trying to apply the descriptions to anything in my head....
ReplyDeleteWe've updated our post with some examples!
DeleteGRMA ach tá ceist agam.
ReplyDeleteIn exception (iii), was it an error to include the words 'and the letter "h" is removed from it'? If not, can you please clarify what you mean when you say that?
Mar shampla, is 'an seafóid' focal baininscneach é.
1. Ar dtús, an mbeadh an tuiseal ginideach 'na seafóide' a bheith?
2. Also there is no 'h' in the word 'seafóid'. Nor is there an 'h' in 'an tsráid'. So then is the instruction 'and the letter "h" is removed from it' in exception (iii) therefore inapplicable in cases of feminine nouns that don't use the endings "ach" or "íocht"?
Dia Daoibh Seoigh, We're so sorry we couldn't respond earlier as we didn't see your comment.
Delete1) It wasn't an error to include "and the letter "h" is removed from it". Since our example, "an tsráid", doesn't explain that very clearly due to the lack of the letter "h" in the word. However, what we're trying to say if you're trying to apply tuiseal ginideach to a feminine noun that doesn't end in "ach" or "íocht" and has the letter "h" in it, the "h" is removed.
2) Yes, 'na seafóide' is the correct genitive case for "an "na seafóid", much like how we've applied the genitive case to "an tsráid" in our example above.
3) Yes, point (iii) is not applicable to feminine nouns ending in "ach" or "íocht" - the method for applying tuiseal ginideach to such nouns is explained in points (i) and (ii). We hope this helps! And once again, we're so sorry we responded this late! Thank you for being so patient!