An Caighdeán Oifigiúil: Chapter 8: Pronouns (pp. 131-140)

8.1 General

8.1.1 Counted with pronouns are personal pronouns, possessive adjectives (which function as adjectives and pronouns), prepositional pronouns, interrogative pronouns and demonstrative pronouns.

8.2 Personal Pronouns

8.2.1 The following are the forms of the personal pronouns.

8.2.2 The form thú (thusa) is used as the object of a verb, e.g. aithním thú; molaim thú; and when it is a subject following the predicate in a copular sentence, e.g. Mo náire thú; Is oibrí díograiseach thú.

8.2.3 The form tú (tusa) is used in all other instances.

8.2.4 In the third person singular and plural, the forms sé (seisean), sí (sise) and siad (siadsan) are used as the subject of a verb (except the copula).

8.2.5 The forms é (eisean), í (ise) and iad (iadsan) are used in all other instances.

8.2.6 The masculine singular pronoun é is used in sentences like the following despite containing feminine nouns: is é mo thuairim; is é an aidhm; is é an bhrí; is é mo bharúil. It is to the opinion, the aim, the meaning, etc. rather than the noun itself that the pronoun refers.

8.2.7 Personal pronouns are not lenited after prepositions that usually cause lenition.

8.3 Possessive Adjectives

In the table below the possessive adjectives are displayed, and the initial mutations that follow them. It is the emphatic forms, and nouns to go with them, that are laid out in the table. A hyphen is added between two s‘s or two n‘s, e.g. mo phas-sa, ár n-arán-na. If no emphasis is needed, the suffixes -sa (-se), -san (-sean), -na (-ne) are omitted.

8.3.2 It is also possible to use the emphatic forms of the personal pronouns (seisean, sise, siadsan) to convey stress, e.g. a gheansaí seisean; a cóta sise; a dteach siadsan.

8.3.3 When the cardinal number dhá comes between the possessive adjective and the noun, it is to the noun, rather than the number, that the initial mutations are made.

8.3.4 To fulfil the function of a possessive pronoun,

(a) a possessive adjective is used with ceann or cuid emphasised by a suffix, e.g. mo cheannsa; a gcuidsean; or

(b) a possessive adjective is used with cuid emphasised by a suffix and with the noun, e.g. ár gcuidne airgid; bhur gcuidse iarrachtaí.

8.3.5 To use a possessive adjective as the object of a verbal noun, the preposition do is placed before the possessive adjective in the first and second person, singular and plural, and á is placed before the third person, singular and plural, as follows:

8.3.6 If a possessive adjective follows a preposition, no compound is made from the preposition and the possessive adjective in instances such as the following.

8.3.7 In the case of the prepositions de and do, a compound is made from the preposition and the possessive adjective in the third person, singular and plural, and the first person, as follows:

8.3.8 An n is placed between the prepositions faoi, i, le, ó, trí and the possessive adjective or the particle a in the following instances:

(a) the possessive adjective;

(b) the numerical particle a;

(c) the abstract particle a;

(d) in phrases such as a lán; a leithéid; a thuilleadh;

(e) the relative particle a;

Note: No n is placed between go dtí and the possessive adjective or the particle a in any instance.

8.3.9 An n is placed between the preposition ar and the possessive adjective a to form arna. The verbal noun agrees with the gender and number of the noun that proceeds it, e.g. leabhar arna eisiúint; tuarascáil arna seoladh; doiciméid arna bhfoilsiú.

8.4 Prepositional Pronouns

Note that:

(a) in order to convey emphasis with prepositional pronouns, they are combined with the suffixes -sa (-se), -san (-sean), -ne, e.g. agamsa, agatsa, aigesean, aicise, againne, agaibhse, acusan.

(b) the combination -nn + -ne becomes -nne, e.g. againne, orainne, etc. and a hyphen is added between two s‘s, e.g. as-san, leis-sean, thairis-sean.

8.5 Interrogative Pronouns

8.5.1 The interrogative pronouns are cá, cad, cé and céard.

8.5.2 An h is placed before a word beginning with a vowel that follows cá (see 10.11.4).

8.5.3 An h is placed before the pronouns é (eisean), í (ise) and iad (iadsan) following cé (see 10.13.1).

8.5.4 The interrogative pronouns are not lenited (see 10.5.2), but compounds are made between cá, cé and the copula to form the words cár, cárb, cárbh, cér, cérb and cérbh (see 7.3.1). A compound is made between cé and the singular article an to form cén.

8.5.5 The masculine form of the prepositional pronoun or possessive adjective a is used in interrogative sentences, regardless of the gender or number of the thing(s) to which referral is made, e.g. Cé leis a raibh tú ag caint? (here leis refers to a man, a woman or a group of people); Cé ina aghaidh a raibh siad ag imirt? (here the possessive adjective a refers to a man, a woman or a group of people).

8.6 Demonstrative Pronouns

8.6.1 The demonstrative pronouns are seo, sin and siúd. The demonstrative pronouns are used in four ways:

(a) in apposition with a preceding pronoun, e.g. Is bronntanas é sin; Tabhair cabhair dóibh seo; Cá bhfuil a cóipleabhar siúd?; dá rachaidís siúd;

(b) in apposition before a personal pronoun, e.g. Sin é an bronntanas; Seo é an cóipleabhar; Siúd iad na múinteoirí; Siúd í an traein chugainn;

(c) in place of a personal pronoun, e.g. Tá sin álainn; Ith seo; An bhfuil siúd amhlaidh; D’imigh siúd leis an mbus; Sin madra; Seo an mála; Siúd an fhírinne; Cad seo?; Cé sin?; Sin sin; mar seo; go dtí sin; gan siúd a ól;

(d) with the function of an adverb, e.g. chomh híseal seo (sin, siúd); chomh mór seo (sin, siúd).

8.6.2 Following the copula, the forms eo, in and iúd are often used. Note that they are not used after is.

8.6.3 The demonstrative pronoun éard, used after the copula, is a compound of é and rud.