The Possessive Adjective is the possessive pronouns, such as, ‘my’, ‘your’, ‘her’, and ‘his’, etc. In Irish, their use incurs different changes to the nouns which follow them.
Mo, do, and a (his) lenite the word beginning with a consonant (where possible). A (her) incurs no change on a word beginning with a consonant. Ár, bhur, and a (their) are eclipsed, where possible, to words beginning with a consonant.
| Pronoun | Noun (beginning with a consonant) | |
| Mo (Mine) | Mo theach | Lenited |
| Do (Yours) | Do theach | Lenited |
| A (His) | A theach | Lenited |
| A (Her) | A teach | No change |
| Ár (Our) | Ár dteach | Eclipsis |
| Bhur (Your (plural)) | Bhur dteach | Eclipsis |
| A (Their) | A dteach | Eclipsis |
Note: A word beginning with an ‘s’ would take an úrú for our, your (plural)) and a (their), but as it happens, s stays the same under eclipsis in most dialects e.g. a sráid (their street).
Coming after / following
Possessive pronouns are so important in Irish as they’re needed for many idiomatic expressions not just to talk about ownership. For example, in the below table you can see how say that someone is coming behind/after us in Irish:
| Noun (beginning with a consonant) | ||
| I mo (me) | i mo dhiaidh | Lenited |
| I do (you) | i do dhiaidh | Lenited |
| Ina (him) | ina dhiaidh | Lenited |
| Ina (her) | ina diaidh | No change |
| Inár (us) | inár ndiaidh | Eclipsis |
| I bhur (you (pl.) | i bhur ndiaidh | Eclipsis |
| Ina (them) | ina ndiaidh | Eclipsis |
Other examples include:
- I + mo + coinne (against me) e.g. Bíonn tú i gcónaí ag argóint i mo choinne
- I + mo + cónaí (to talk about where I’m living) e.g. Tá mé i mo chónaí i gCill Dara
- I + mo + suí (to talk about where you’re sitting) e.g. Tá mé i mo shuí ar an gcathaoir
Vowels
When a word begins on a vowel mo, and do, contract to form m’, and d’, as the two vowels cannot come together. A (his) incurs no change on a word beginning with a vowel. A (her) prefixes the letter ‘h’ to the word. Ár, bhur, and a (their) add cause eclipses to words beginning with a vowel. The eclipses for all vowels is n-.
| Pronoun | Noun (beginning with a vowel) | ||
| Mo | Árasan | M’árasán | Mo contracted |
| Do | Árasan | D’árasán | Do contracted |
| A (His) | Árasan | A árasán | No change |
| A (Her) | Árasan | A hárasán | H prefixed |
| Ár (Our) | Árasan | Ár n-árasán | Eclipsis |
| Bhur (Your (plural)) | Árasan | Bhur n-árasán | Eclipsis |
| A (Their) | Árasan | A n-árasán | Eclipsis |
Image by Howard Walsh from Pixabay