In the text ó siadhail writes:

Bíonn cait dhall mar sin go minic.

Now, from my understanding of the chapter, it should be "cait dhalla" since with adjectives modifying nouns in plural, an "a" is added after broad consonants and, after nouns ending in a consonant, the adjective is also lenited...

can anyone explain what I'm missing...

g.r.m.a.

Maybe it's because "dall" is used a noun??

cat dall
cait dhalla

buachaill beag
buachaillí beaga

Tá na buachaillí beag

Bíonn cait dhall

Ní féidir liom an séimhiú atá ar "dall" a mhíniú thuas, déarfainnse "Bíonn cait dall" ina ionad.

I understand the grammar of 'cat dall' 'buachaill beag' 'buachaillí beaga' ...

but 'cait dhalla' i dont understand. 'dhalla' for example gets marked as a spelling mistake in my spell checker in word and ó siadhail don't use it either. But I dont know why it is wrong :-(

also in chapter 7, without any explantion (that I can find) ó saidhail starts spelling 'fuinneogaí' with the í at the end. in previous chapters he spells it 'fuinneoga'

Cén fath?

I don't know for sure, but I would say he starts off with fairly regular spelling and then goes on to writing as it is pronounced. The written version is certainly fuinneoga - as is the pronunciation in Munster. In Connacht it's pronounced as is spelled fuinneogaí.
In Cois Fhairrge at least you can find cat being pronounced cait. That is why he uses dhall, it's in the singular.

Well, he should have stuck to one spelling all through the book. What was he thinking of?

All the same, it's an excellent course.

Actually it's explained in the beginning of the book that he does this so that you can easier read along while listening to the tapes. You can later adjust your spelling of the language after you're more adept at speaking it.

In Cois Fhairrge at least you can find cat being pronounced cait. That is why he uses dhall, it's in the singular

hmmm...in the vocabulary 'cait' is listed as plural

cat (pronounced kut) = cat
cait (pronounced kit') = cats

Also, at the back of the book it is translated as 'Blind cats are often like that'


Actually it's explained in the beginning of the book that he does this so that you can easier read along while listening to the tapes. You can later adjust your spelling of the language after you're more adept at speaking it.

What is explained, in Appendix III, is that standard spelling is used throughout except for some departures where Cois Fhairrge spelling is used. For example 'fuinneoig' instead of 'fuinneog'. But what confuses me is why he writes 'fuinneoga' in chapter 3, but 'fuinneogaí' in chapter 7. Or also in chapter 7, where he gives 'rifíneacha' in the vocabulary but 'rifíneachaí' in the text o_O. If there was a unique Cois Fhairrge spelling why was it not given in the first pace in the vocabulary list (like he does with other words).

Or what am I missing here :( ?

(Message edited by cormac on August 11, 2004)

If the translation is "Blind cats are often like that" I agree it's in the plural ;-)

Still, the insertion of "i" in Cois Fhairrge is rather common. For instance, they have muic instead of standard muc.

Here's the answer. Learning Irish, p.28, 5(i) "After MOST nouns.......an unstressed vowel is added."

yeah i noticed that, but I was looking for an explanation of when the unstressed vowel is not added (as is the case with dall)...but it seems there is no rule and one just has to learn these exceptions...

The reason there is no rule is quite simple, you can hear good native speakers use an adjective with or without the plural ending. Sometimes even in the same sentence or at least in the same conversation.

As a good rule of thumb, with long adjectives you can usually skip the ending.

rudaí beaga could hardly become rudaí beag, that would sound quite strange.
rudaí tabhachtacha on the other hand, while correct, sounds almost pedantic. I'd say most native speakers would go for rudaí tabhachtach in natural conversations.

Of course there are variations, not only between dialects but also between age groups and individuals.

Thanks Jonas, I've often wondered about that. For example,

"Daoine cruthaitheacha" is really difficult to say, and be heard clearly, whereas if you remove the final "a" it's much easier and clearer.

ceann eile:

Ba amhlaidh a brúdh doras a hárasáin isteach le fórsa. Cheap na Gardaí, mar sin, go raibh sí i dtrióblóid éigin.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ broke the door of her apartment in by force. The gardaí thought, because of that, that she was in some trouble.

Am I close?

Ba amhlaidh - it was the case that

---

quote:

Ba amhlaidh a brúdh doras a hárasáin isteach le fórsa

---

It was the case that the door of her aparment had been forced.

Another translation of "is amhlaidh" would be "it so happens".

... a brúdh doras a hárasáin..

the door of her apartment was broken (autonomous form)