Irish Pronouns: An Easy Guide To The 4+ Types

Learning a new language is not just about memorizing words and basic expressions to sound local. Learning complex grammar rules is a must if you genuinely want to make sense. There’s nothing more that we can recommend for beginners than starting with the basics of Irish pronouns. Today’s post will walk you through all the pronouns and their conjugations. We have broken down related grammatical rules with easy examples to master this topic in no time. Take your notebook and pen out, and let the learning begin!

 

Irish Grammar

Irish grammar comprises various elements in a sentence, and one of those elements is its pronouns. We all know the cliche definition of a pronoun: a pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun in a sentence. The use of pronouns in Irish grammar is essential because several conjugations are associated with them.

For instance, “Sarah is my sister. She is nice”. We talk about the same person in these two sentences but use different words. Sarah is the girl’s name, but using the same name when we want to talk more about her can make it redundant, which is why we replace the noun, i.e., “Sarah,” with a pronoun, i.e., “she.”

In Irish, pronouns are known as “Forainmneacha.” Here is a table showing Irish pronouns along with example sentences:

Irish Pronouns	English Translations	Irish Sentences	English Translations
Mé	I	Tá mé gleoite	I am cute
Tú	You	Tá tú gleoite	You are cute
Sé	He	Tá sé gleoite	He is cute
Sí	She	Tá sí gleoite	She is cute
Sinn	We	Tá sinn gleoite	We are cute
Siad	They	Tá siad gleoite	They are cute

Subject Pronoun

A pronoun is generally referred to as a subject pronoun. A subject pronoun is called “forainm ábhair” in Irish. In most cases, the noun being replaced by a pronoun is the subject of the sentence, which is why it’s called a subject pronoun.

Sarah was the subject in the sentence mentioned above, and a pronoun replaced her name. But the word “she” was still the subject of the sentence, and that is why that pronoun is called the subject pronoun.

Possessive Pronoun

A possessive pronoun is a pronoun that shows the quality of possession in a sentence. For instance, in the sentence “this is my dog,” the pronoun “my” is a possessive pronoun since it shows that a person/thing possesses the dog.

In Irish, possessive pronouns are called “forainmneacha sealbhacha.” The table below shows the possessive pronouns in Irish:

Irish Pronouns	English Translations
Mo	My
Do	Your
Ár	Our
A	His
A	Her
A	Their
Bhur	You (All)

Possessive pronouns are conjugated differently for both singular and plural nouns. For both singular and plural nouns, the lenition is based on the alphabet that the word starts with. In the case of words starting with a vowel, the conjugation is different. The same goes for the words beginning with consonants.

L, m, n, r, and s are some alphabets that are not lenited. If any word starting with these alphabets is written with the pronouns, then it is written as it is unless some exceptions.

Singular Words (Vowels)

The possessive pronouns in Irish are conjugated with the nouns if nouns start with vowels. There are some rules for singular words that start with vowels and are as follows with examples:

• To conjugate a singular word starting with a vowel with the possessive pronoun mo (my), we omit the o and replace it with an apostrophe and write the word with it. For instance, the word for the name in Irish is “ainm”. The possessive pronoun for my name will be “m’ainm”; m’-word.

In English, this can also be observed where an apostrophe is added to a word to show possession. For instance, “dog’s hair”, etc.

• To conjugate such words with the possessive pronoun do (your), the same phenomenon happens. O gets omitted and replaced by an apostrophe and the word. For instance, the word for the almond in Irish is “almón”. The possessive pronoun for your almond will be “d’almón”; d’-word.
• To conjugate, such words with the possessive pronoun ár (our), “n” is added to the main word. For instance, the word for the sauce in Irish is “anlann”. The possessive pronoun for our sauce will be “ár n-anlann”; ár+n-word
• To conjugate, such words with the possessive pronoun a (his), the pronoun “a” is written with the word. For instance, the word for the grave in Irish is “uaigh”. The conjugation for his grave will be “a uaigh” a+word
• To conjugate, such words with the possessive pronoun a (her), “h” is added to the main word. For instance, the word for the magazine in Irish is “irisliabhar”. The conjugation for her magazine will be “a h-irisliabhar”; a+h-word .
• To conjugate, such words with the possessive pronoun a (their), “n” is added to the main word. For instance, the word for the worker in Irish is “oibrí”. The conjugation for her magazine will be “a n-oibrí”; a+n-word.
• To conjugate, such words with the possessive pronoun bhur (your), “n” is added to the main word. For instance, the word for treasure in Irish is “ulaidh”. The conjugation for your treasure will be “bhur n-ulaidh”; bhur+n-word.

Here is a table with the possessive pronouns conjugated with words starting with a vowel along with their examples:

Irish Conjugations	English Translations
M’ainm	My name
D’ainm	Your name
A Ainm	His name
A H-Ainm	Her name
A N-Ainm	Their name
Bhur N-Ainm	Your (all) name
Ár N-Ainm	Our name
M’almón	My almond
D’almón	Your almond
Ár N-Almón	Our almond
A Almón	His almond
A H-Almón	Her almond
A N-Almón	Their almond
Bhur N-Almón	Your (all) almond
M’anlann	My sauce
D’anlann	Your sauce
Ár N-Anlann	Our sauce
A Anlann	His sauce
A H-Anlann	Her sauce
A N-Anlann	Their sauce
Bhur N-Anlann	Your (all) sauce
M’uaigh	My grave
D’uaigh	Your grave
Ár N-Uaigh	Our grave
A Uaigh	Their
A H-Uaigh	Her grave
A N-Uaigh	Their grave
Bhur N-Uaigh	Your (all) grave
M’eàrr	My section
D’eàrr	Your section
Ár N-Eàrr	Our section
A Eàrr	Their section
A H-Eàrr	Her section
A N-Eàrr	Their section
Bhur N-Eàrr	Your (all) section
M’irisliabhar	My magazine
D’irisliabhar	Your magazine
Ár N-Irisliabhar	Our magazine
A Irisliabhar	Their magazine
A H-Irisliabhar	Her magazine
A N-Irisliabhar	Their magazine
Bhur N-Irisliabhar	Your (all) magazine
M’oibrí	My worker
D’oibrí	Your worker
Ár N-Oibrí	Our worker
A Oibrí	Their worker
A H-Oibrí	Her worker
A N-Oibrí	Their worker
Bhur N-Oibrí	Your (all) worker
M’ulaidh	My treasure
D’ulaidh	Your treasure
Ár N-Ulaidh	Our treasure
A Ulaidh	Their treasure
A H-Ulaidh	Her treasure
A N-Ulaidh	Their treasure
Bhur N-Ulaidh	Your (all) treasure

Singular Words (Consonants)

Each pronoun is conjugated in a different way for the words starting with a singular consonant.

• To conjugate a singular word starting with a consonant with the possessive pronoun mo (my), add an “h” after the consonant of the word. For instance, the word for the son in Irish is “mac”. The possessive pronoun for my name will be “mo mhac”; mo+h after first consonant in the word.
• To conjugate such words with the possessive pronoun do (your), add an “h” after the consonant of the word. For instance, the word for tree in Irish is “crann”. The possessive pronoun for your tree will be “do chrann”; do+h after first consonant in the word.
• To conjugate such words with the possessive pronoun Ár (our), add and m before the consonant. For instance, the word for student in Irish is “dalta”. The possessive pronoun for our student will be “Ár mdalta”; ár+m-word.
• To conjugate such words with the possessive pronoun A (their), add an m before the consonant. For instance, the word for vote in Irish is “vóta”. The possessive pronoun for their vote will be “A vóta”; a+m-word.
• To conjugate a singular word starting with a consonant with the possessive pronoun A (his), add an “h” after the consonant of the word. For instance, the word for the train in Irish is “traein”. The possessive pronoun for his train will be “A thraein”; a+h after the first consonant of the word.
• Conjugating the pronoun a “her” is relatively simple as the pronoun is added before the word. For instance, the word for the school in Irish is “scoil”. The possessive pronoun for her school will be “A scoil”; a+word.
• And finally to conjugate Bhur (ya’ll) you can simply follow what you did with Ár (our) and A (their), you can add and m before the consonant. For instance, the word for the dress in Irish is “gúna”. The possessive pronoun for her school will be “Bhur mgúna”; bhur+m-word.

Here is a table with the possessive pronouns conjugated with words starting with a consonant along with their examples:

Irish words	English Translations
Mo mhac	My son
Do mhac	Your son
Ár mac	Our son
A mhac	Their son
A mac	Her son
A mac	Their son
Bhur mac	Your (all) son
Mo scoil	My school
Do scoil	Your school
Ár scoil	Our school
A scoil	Their school
A scoil	Her school
A scoil	Their school
Bhur scoil	Your (all) school
Mo chrann	My tree
Do chrann	Your tree
Ár mcrann	Our tree
A mcrann	Their tree
A chrann	His tree
A crann	Her tree
Bhur mcrann	Your (all) tree
Mo dhalta	My student
Do dhalta	Your student
Ár mdalta	Our student
A mdalta	Their student
A dhalta	His student
A dalta	Her student
Bhur mdalta	Your (all) student
Mo vhóta	My vote
Do vhóta	Your vote
Ár mvóta	Our vote
A mvóta	Their vote
A vhóta	His vote
A vóta	Her vote
Bhur mvóta	Your (all) vote
Mo thraein	My train
Do thraein	Your train
Ár mtraein	Our train
A mtraein	Their train
A thraein	His train
A traein	Her train
Bhur mtraein	Your (all) train
Mo ghúna	My dress
Do ghúna	Your dress
Ár mgúna	Our dress
A mgúna	Their dress
A ghúna	His dress
A gúna	Her dress
Bhur mgúna	You’re (all) dress

Many learners add another “m” or “h” to the words which are wrong. If a word has an “h” as a second alphabet then it does not need to conjugate in the case of Mo, do, and a (my, your, and his). Similarly having a word that starts with m does not require another “m” to be added to it in the case of ár, a, and Bhur (our, their, and ya’ll’s).

Plural Words

I know you must be tired of learning all those baffling conjugations in the case of vowels and consonants. One way of conjugating the possessive pronouns with plural words is using “cuid.” Cuid roughly translates to some or share. Well, guess what? It’s not the same in the case of plurals.

There is no difference in the words (having vowels and consonants) because these are not conjugated here. Many people make the mistake of conjugating the words as well since they have practiced to do so with all other cases. But it is important to remember not to conjugate the words.

Conjugations are only for the term “cuid,” and you can learn them quickly. Here is how to conjugate each possessive pronoun using “cuid.”

• For mo, do and a (my, your, his) an “h” is added after c in cuid these making it “chuid”. For instance, saying mo chuid uisce means “my (share of) water”. Similarly, “do chuid uisce” and “a chuid uisce” means “your water and his water”.
• For Bhur, ár and a (ya’all, our and their) a “g” is added before cuid thus making it “gcuid”. Ya’ll’s water, our water and their water will become “bhur gcuid uisce”, “ár gcuid uisce” and “a gcuid uisce”.
• For A (her) no conjugations are needed and the word is written as it is. Her water will become “a cuid uisce”

*Note: Cuid is usually used for uncountable nouns e.g liquid. It can also be used for all the things/ people which are in the form of a group but can be separated. Cuid cannot be used with things/ people who show a sense of permanency, such as body parts and family members. It should not be used for anything that is an inherent belonging of a person.

Prepositional Pronouns

Prepositional pronouns are the pronouns that deal with the spatial and temporal directions of something. There are different prepositions, for example, on, under, above, etc. Prepositional pronouns are written right next to the prepositions, and that is why they have this name.

Here are some examples with prepositional pronouns and their usage for you to learn from:

Irish sentences	English Translations	Prepositional pronouns	English Translations
Tá sé liom.	He is with me.	liom	With me
Tá mé leis.	I am with him.	leis	With him
Tá sé léi.	He is with her.	léi.	with her
Tá sí leo.	She is with them.	leo	with them
Tá siad linn.	They are with us.	linn	with us
Tá muid leat.	We are with you.	leat	with you
Tá muid libh.	We are with you (all).	Libh	with you (all)
Tá sé orm.	It is on me.	orm.	on me
Tá sé ort.	It is on you.	ort.	on you
Tá sé orainn.	It is on us.	orainn.	on us
Tá sé uirthi.	It is on her.	uirthi.	on her
Tá sé air.	It is on him.	air.	on him
Tá sé orthu.	It is on them.	orthu.	on them
Tá sé oraibh.	It is on you (all).	oraibh.	on ya’ll
Tábhachtach dom.	Important to me.	dom	to me.
Tábhachtach duit.	Important to you.	duit	to you
Tábhachtach di	Important to her	di	to her
Tábhachtach dó	Important to him	dó	to him
Tábhachtach dúinn	Important to us	dúinn	to us
Tábhachtach dóibh.	Important to them.	dóibh	to them

Emphatic Forms

The emphatic form of pronouns is the form in which the emphasis is on the pronouns themselves. For instance, myself, himself, etc. are some of the emphatic pronouns. The following are the emphatic pronouns in the Irish language with examples:

Irish Sentences	English Translation
Tá mise go dona	I myself am bad
Tá tusa go dona	You, yourself, are bad
Tá muidne go dona	We, ourselves, are bad
Tá seisan go dona	He, himself, is bad
Tá sise go dona	She, herself, is bad
Tá siadsan go dona	They, themselves, are bad
Tá sibhse go dona	You (all), yourselves, are bad.

*Note: The word dona means bad in Irish.

 

Wrapping Up

If you liked this blog, feel free to check out other blogs on Ling App by Simya Solutions. We also have blogs on sentences in Irish and Irish verbs. I hope by now you can quickly tell what’s yours and what’s not with the help of Irish pronouns.

The Ling app has different creative ways for you to learn any language. You can check each link out to make notes on other languages. It is essential to enjoy learning because that helps one retain the information better.

Happy learning!