Tá na hÉireannacha álainn. = The Irish
women are beautiful.
Cá bhfuil scuab
na hÉireannaí an Éireannaigh? = Where's the brush of the Irish
woman person)
quote:Do such nouns/adjectives inflect like the Irish adjectives or the 1st and 2nd declention nouns (according to the gender)?
The
noun 'Éireannach' inflects as (and it is) a 1st declension masculine noun.
an tÉireannach = the Irish person,
an Éireannaigh = of the Irish person,
na hÉireannaigh = the Irish (persons),
na nÉireannach = of the Irish (persons) i.e. person = both sexes and hermaphrodites!
But if you want to mention the particular sex of that person you must use the nouns "bean" and "fear" with the
adjective 'Éireannach':
an fear Éireannach = the Irish man,
an fhir Éireannaigh = of the Irish man,
na fir Éireannacha = the Irish men,
na bhfear Éireannach = of the Irish men. an bhean Éireannach = the Irish woman,
na mná Éireannaí = of the Irish woman,
na mná Éireannacha = the Irish women,
na mban Éireannach = of the Irish women. Perhaps you could use some compounds with the noun "Éireannach" instead, e.g.
"the female Irish person":
"an ban-Éireannach", "an tÉireannach mná", "an tÉireannach baineann" "the male Irish person":
"an fear-Éireannach", "an tÉireannach fir", "an tÉirannach fireann" As you see: Éireannach is still a masculine noun.
But I don't think these compounds are much used (if used at all).
Lars
(Message edited by Lars on July 25, 2009)
