URÚ ROIMH AINMFHOCAIL A major difference between Gaeilge and English is the way the sounds of the beginning of words can change depending on the context in which they’re being used. This feature is very common and needs to be mastered. This lesson looks at how simple prepositions ( ar an. as an, faoin, ag an ..etc) affect nouns. This effect is called an urú i nGaeilge and eclipse or nasalization in English.
An urú (or eclipsis in English) affects both vowels and consonants. It consists of adding an extra letter before the first letter of the word. This new letter is pronounced instead of the original first letter. Only the following consonants are affected: m before b
--> mb
n before g
-->
ng
g before c
-->
gc
b before p
-->
bp
n before d
-->
nd
d before t
--> dt
bh before f
-->
bhf
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