ALT ROIMH AINMFHOCAL All nouns in Gaeilge are either masculine or feminine. There are no neutral nouns. The gender of nouns is important. There are some rules of thumb which can help you decide whether a noun is masculine or feminine, but it’s a good idea to learn a new noun along with its gender. Gender of nouns is not always very logical – cailín (girl) is a masculine noun, stail (stallion) is feminine. In general, names of continents, countries, languages and rivers are mostly feminine. 1. Gaeilge has no indefinite article (a). Bord means ‘table’ or ‘a table’, while ‘cathaoir’ means ‘chair’ or ‘a chair’.
2. The definite article (the) has a singular and plural form an / na An bord na boird
-
the table the tables
an chathaoir - the chair na cathaoireacha - the chairs
3. Gaeilge doesn’t have a word for “it”: everything is either
é / í “he” or “she”
It’s (the weather) cold - Tá sí (an aimsir) fuar It’s (the day) cold . - Tá sé (an lá ) fuar. It’s a cat
- Is cat é
It’s a mouse – Is luch í.
4. The beginning of nouns can also change through either a séimhiú or an urú, depending on how the nouns are used. Definite Article The sound and spelling of a noun can change after an depending on the gender of the noun and whether it begins with a consonant / vowel or the letter s. Due to the changes that nouns can undergo in Gaeilge, it can be a little difficult to get used to at the beginning. This section aims to explain how nouns are used and what changes are needed, and this should help learners become more confident and comfortable using nouns in their everyday conversations.
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