This is Chapter 1 of the unofficial translation of An Caighdeán Oifigiúil based on the 2017 version. You can find all other chapters here.

1.1 General

1.1.1

There is one article in the Irish language — the definite article. A noun governed by the article is called a definite noun. The article has two forms: an and na. The article is placed before the noun, e.g. an baile; an mhír; na caoirigh; teach na cúirte; or before whatever word is put before the noun as a qualifier, e.g. an uile dhuine; scéal mhadra na n-ocht gcos; tús na chéad seachtaine. It is possible to use the article in place of the possessive adjective, e.g. Tá an croí ag cur air; Bhí an ghrian ag baint na súl asam.

1.1.2

The article is written with a lowercase letter in the middle of sentences, e.g. Nach raibh tú ag an Oireachtas i mbliana? Bhí aithne mhaith agam ar an Seabhac; except in certain cases, such as publication titles, e.g., Cé a scríobh An tOileánach?

1.1.3

If a title containing an article (see 1.1.5 (a), (b) and (c)) is written on its own, for example, on a public notice or on headed paper, the article is always included and capitalised, e.g. An Ghníomhaireacht um Thacaíocht Teaghlaigh; Na Coimisinéirí Ioncaim; An Ceoláras Náisiúnta.

1.1.4

A hyphen is put between the prefixed letter t and a vowel, except when the vowel is capitalised, e.g. an t-ospidéal; an tAlbanach. A hyphen is not put between the prefixed letter t and s, e.g. an tsaoirse; an tSionainn; tús an tsaoil; or between the prefixed letter h and a vowel, e.g. na hainmneacha; lár na habairte; stair na hUachtaránachta.

1.1.5

The article is used in the following cases:

(a) Office Titles e.g. an tAire Airgeadais, an Príomh-Oifigeach Feidhmiúcháin, an Taoiseach, Ard-Rúnaí na Náisiún Aontaithe.

(b) Titles of Government Departments and State Companies e.g. an Roinn Oideachais agus Scileanna, an Oifig um Rialú Tobac, Feidhmeannacht na Seirbhíse Sláinte, an Phríomh-Oifig Staidrimh.

(c) Titles of people before a proper noun, e.g., an tAthair Peadar Ua Laoghaire, an Captaen Ó Murchú, an tUachtarán Mhic Róibín, an Teachta de Barra, an Múinteoir Ailbhe, an Pápa Eoin Pól II, an Rí Anraí VIII.

(d) Festivals e.g. an Nollaig, an Cháisc, an Carghas.

Note that the article is not used in certain adverbial situations, e.g. faoi Cháisc, um Nollaig, faoi Bhealtaine.

(e) Days of the week, e.g. an Luan, an Mháirt, an Chéadaoin.

Note that the adverb Dé is used in place of the article when referring to a particular day, e.g., Bhí mé ag caint leis Dé Céadaoin seo caite.

If a preposition is used before certain days, the article is merged with the preposition, e.g., Ní mór na hiarratais a bheith faighte foin Aoine, an 16 Bealtaine.

(f) Months of the year
The article is used for the months Márta, Bealtaine, Meitheamh, Samhain and Nollaig. The article is not used for the other months except for the fossilised form san Aibreán.

(g) Dátaí
The article should be used when referring to a date in a sentence.

When the date is by itself – in a letterhead, or as in the date on an invoice or Act etc. – the article is omitted, e.g. 26 Feabhra 2014.

(h) Names of towns, mountains and rivers

• Some cities and towns, e.g. an Aithin, na Cealla Beaga, na Gleannta, an tSnaidhm, an Spidéal
• Certain mountains and cities, e.g. na hAindéis, na hAlpa, an Bhograch an Chearc, na Comaraigh, an Earagail, na Himiléithe, an Mhucais
• Most rivers, e.g. an Bhóinn, an Danóib, an Life, an Phó, an Réin, an Róin, an tSéin, an tSionainn, an Tibir

(i) Names of countries and regions

A The article goes with the names of countries and regions if the noun is feminine and:

1. If it ends with a slender consonant, e.g., an Airgintín, an Albáin, an Bhaváir, an Chatalóin, an Eastóin, an Eoraip, an Fhrainc, an Ghearmáin, an Mhacadóin, an Namaib, an Phacastáin, an tSeineagáil, an Spáinn, an tSúdáin;
2. If it ends with -ia, e.g. an India, an Laitvia, an tSiria;
3. If it ends with –e, –é, e.g. an Chóiré, an Chrimé, an Ghuine, an tSile.

There are some names of countries and regions that end with a slender consonant but are not accompanied by the article, e.g., Bairéin, Beinin, Cuáit, Éimin, Guadalúip, Lichtinstéin, Mósaimbíc, or are in the singular case and end with -í and are not accompanied by the article, e.g. Geansaí, Geirsí, Háití, Haváí, Mailí, Taihítí. The article is only used in the genitive for Albain, Éire (see 3.1.4).

B The article does not accompany the names of countries and regions if it is the case that the noun is masculine and:

• If it ends with a broad consonant, e.g. Barbadíd, Eacuadór, Guam, Hondúras, Natal, Óman, Sead, Siam, Suranam;
• If it ends with -eo, -ó, e.g. Boirneo, Maracó, Meicsiceo, Monacó, Samó (exception: an Congó)
• If it ends with -a, -á, -iú, -ua, e.g., Alasca, Ceanada, Cúba, Gána, Meiriceá, Nicearagua, Panama, Papua, Paragua, Peiriú, Sasana.
• If it ends with -ael, e.g. Iosrael.

C The article accompanies the names of countries and regions that are nouns in the plural case, e.g. na hAsóir, na Bahámaí, na Garbhchríocha, na Scigirí.

(j) Prayers and certain battle cries, e.g., an Choróin Mhuire, an Ghlóir, an Dord Fiann.

(k) Distributive use
The article is used to express the rate when either every individual separately or in opposition is meant.

(l) The noun has an abstract or conceptual meaning

Note that the article is not used in some situations, e.g., Tá ciall cheannaith aige; or when the noun does not have a general meaning, e.g. Bhí ocras orm; Tá siad i ngrá.

(m) Certain Illnesses, e.g., an ailse, an déideadh, an titimeas, an bhruitíneach.

(n) Languages e.g., an Ghaeilge, an Ghearmáinis, an Béarla

Note that the article should be omitted if the general case e.g. Tá Fraincis aici; Cuir i nGaeilge é; rang Iodáilise.

The Cases

There are five cases in the Irish language: the nominative case, the accusative case, the dative case, the genitive case and the vocative case (see 2.1.2). In the following tables, changes applied to the article and the first letter of the noun are shown based on four items – gender, case, number and the first letter of the noun. Also see Chapter 10 for additional information about initial changes.

1.2 The Nominative Case and the Accusative Singular Case

The noun form is the same for the nominative case and the Accusative Singular case. See the table below, which shows the effect of the article on the noun in those cases.

*These are the leniting consonants: b, c, d, f, g, n, p, s and t.

Table 1A The Nominative Case and Accusative Singular Case

1.3 The Dative Singular Case

1.3.1 The ‘Dative Case’ is the case that comes after the prepositions a, ag, ar, as, chuig, dar, de, do, faoi, fara, go, i, ionsar, le, ó, roimh, trí and um. The way in which nouns are handled when following the article in the dative singular is shown in the following tables.

1.3.2 It is the nominative case that follows the words ach, amhail, gan, go dtí, idir, mar, murach, ná and seachas and the article, e.g., gan an t-uisce; idir an t-am sin agus an t-am seo; mar an t-aistriúchán. The dative case is used in the fossilised phrase ‘mar an gcéanna‘.

1.3.3 The usual rules of the dative come into effect for formations of this type: preposition + noun + a + verbal noun, e.g. leis an ngnó a dhéanamh; as an árasán a dhíol.

1.3.4 In the case of the prepositions de, do, faoi, i and ó, the preposition and the article in the singular are combined as shown below.

1.3.5 There are special forms for the prepositions in the table below when they precede the article in the singular.

1.4 The Dative Singular Case – The Central System

1.4.1 Masculine and feminine nouns that start with a consonant (except d, t and s) undergo séimhiú after den, don, sa/san and urú in all other cases, as shown in the table below.

1.4.2 No change is made to form the dative singular of masculine nouns that start with an s. Feminine nouns get a t before an initial s (apart from nouns beginning with sc-, sf-, sm-, sp-, st- or sv-, which are left as they are) as shown in the table below.

1.4.3 No change is made to masculine nor feminine nouns that start with a vowel.

1.4.4 No change is made to masculine nor feminine nouns that start with a d or t

N.B. Alongside the Central System that’s laid out in this chapter, the following choices are also allowed: a
(a) Eclipsis of the noun (instead of lenition) after den and don, e.g., den gcrann, don bhfear; nó
(b) Eclipsis of the noun (istead of lenition) after sa, e.g., sa bpáirc, sa gcarr.

1.5 The Genitive Singular Case

1.5.1 It is customary to use the genitive case in cases when the noun is qualifying a precedent that is one of the following things:

(a) another noun:

Cár fhág tú eochair an chairr?
Tá muintir na háite sásta le foireann na leabharlainne.

(b) a verbal noun:

Is maith leis na gasúir a bheith ag réiteach an dinnéir.
Is í Síle atá ag déanamh na hArdteiste i mbliana.

(c) a compound preposition, e.g., faoi chomhair, i gcás, le haghaidh:

Bíonn an cat ina shuí ansin os comhair na tine gach uile oíche.
Ba iad na hailtirí a bhí i mbun an scrúdaithe.

(d) one of the words cois, dála, fearacht, timpeall, trasna:

Chuala mé go ndeachaigh sibh ar thuras timpeall an domhain.
Shiúlamar cois na habhann.

(e) the preposition chun:

Tá an grúpa uile ag dul chun na Spáinne i mí Iúil.
Rinne siad achomharc chun na cúirte.

See 3.3 for cases that use the nominative case instead of the genitive case.

1.5.2 See the impact the article has on the noun in the genitive singular case in the table below.

*the leniting consonants are b,c,d,f,g,m,p,s and t.

1.6 The Plural

The plural form of the article is na. The form of the article is the same for both genders and all cases in the plural.

1.6.1 The Nominative Plural Case and the Accusative Plural Case

The table below shows the effect that the article has on a noun in the nominative plural and accusative plural.

1.6.2 The Dative Plural Case

The dative case follows the prepositions a, ag, ar, as, chuig, dar, de, do, faoi, fara, go, i, ionsar, le, ó, roimh, trí and um. The article and i are combined in the plural: i + na = sna. There are special forms of fara and le before the article in the plural: fara, fairis; le, leis. The table below shoes the effect of the article on the noun in the dative plural.

1.6.3 The Genitive Plural

The table below shows the effect that the article has on a noun in the genitive plural case.

*The eclipsing consonants are b, c, d, f, g, p and t.

1.7 The Dative Singular Case – The Lenition System

1.7.1 In only the dative singular case, there is another alternative called the Lenition System. It is recommended to adhere to a single system – the Central System or the Lenition System – and not to mix the systems.

1.7.2 The rules relating to the dative plural case are identical in the Central System and the Lenition System (see 1.6.2).

1.7.3 In the Lenition System, nouns beginning with a consonant (except d, t and s) are lenited, as are adjectives that accompany them. See the table below.

1.7.4 For masculine and feminine nouns beginning with s, a t is placed before the s (except for nouns beginning with sc-, sf-, sm-, sp-, st- or sv-, which are left as they are) as shown in the table below.

1.7.5 No change is made to masculine or feminine nouns that begin with a vowel. See the table below.

1.7.6 No change is made to masculine or feminine nouns beginning with d or t. See the table below.