When looking at cases where one person is being emphasised in relation to another, it is indicated by the use of an emphatic suffix. This is unlike English where you can hear the emphasis by vocally stressing the relevant word. Emphatic suffices are added to nouns and adjectives (when preceded by the possessive adjective), synthetic forms of the verb and prespositional pronouns.
Another way to think about what an emphatic suffix is, is say you’re writing using italics e.g. my bag is heavier than hers, that’s not my pen, that’s your pen.
Examples of the where emphatic suffixes are primarily added to:
- nouns with the possessive adjective (e.g. mo theachsa, do chathaoir-se, a chuidsean, bhur scoilse)
- prepositional pronouns (e.g. liomsa, uirthise, orthusan)
- verb forms where the personal pronoun is included (e.g. ithimse, déanaigíse, fanfaimidne)
The emphatic suffix can be added to the final word in any noun phrase, be they nouns (mo ghuthán pócasa, a spéaclaí gréinese), adjectives (mo mhála deargsa) or adverbs (a leagan amachsan).
Each emphatic suffix has two forms:
- The broad suffixes are -sa / -san / -na and are used with then preceding consonant or vowel is broad
- The slender suffixes are -se / -sean / -ne / -ne and are used with then preceding consonant or vowel is slender
More examples:
| Mo cheannsa | Agamsa |
| Do cheannsa | Agatsa |
| A cheannsan | Aigesean |
| A ceannsa | Aicise |
| ár gcinn-ne | Againne |
| bhur gcinnse | Agaibhse |
| a gcinnsean | Acusan |
Note: When an emphatic form beginning with s is added to a word ending in -s, a hyphen is inserted between the two s, i.e. mo chos-sa, a iris-sean, thagaidís-sean.
Similarly, when an emphatic form beginning with n is added to a word ending in -n, a hyphen is inserted between the two n, i.e. ár gclann-na, ár gcumainn-ne.
The word Féin (héin) is also used for emphasis by itself e.g. mo mhála féin, with the emphatic particles (mise féin), and also to convey reflexivity (mé féin). More on féin vs héin vs péin here.