Irish Language Prepositions

Before we look at Irish language prepositions, we need to know what prepositions are. A preposition can be a word or group of words used before a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase that shows direction, time, place, location, or spatial relationships, or introduces an object. Some examples of prepositions in English are words like “in,” “at,” “on,” and “to.”

The most common simple prepositions in Irish:

Prepositional pronouns can be found in the following questions: Céard ba mhaith leat? What would you like? Cé mhéad atá air? How much is it?

The first example featuring ‘leat’, is made up of the preposition ‘le’ + ‘tú’ (second person singular). When combined, these two forms become ‘leat’.

The second example, ‘air’, comprises the preposition ‘ar’ + ‘sé’ (third-person singular [masc]). When combined, these two forms become ‘air’.

Here are ag, ar, and le in all their prepositional pronoun forms.

Simple Prepositions without the Definite Article

It is important to know the different changes we make to nouns depending on the prepositions we use before them.

Ar (On), De (Of/Off), Faoi (Under / About), Ó (From)

When the above prepositions come before a noun we apply a séimhiú to the initial letter of that noun, where possible. e.g. Ar chlé, ó Mháire, de chóta

N.B. In certain phrases which convey a general state of time or location, no séimhiú is added after ar for example, ar maidin (In the morning), ar bord (on board).

When de comes before a noun beginning with a vowel it becomes d’ e.g. Tá sé taobh thiar d’uillinn Sheáin. Below is the prepositional pronoun forms of de:

Faoi (Under / About)

As mentioned above, the word that follows faoi is lenited where possible. Below is the prepositional pronoun forms of faoi:

Le (With)

When we place le before nouns beginning with consonants no change occurs e.g. Tá Máire anseo le Seán. However, when le comes before nouns beginning with a vowel a ‘h’ is prefixed to the noun as le ends in ‘e’. This is for ease of pronunciation when two vowels are alongside each other in a sentence e.g. Ní maith le hEoghan é sin.

When le is used with an before a noun in the singular, it becomes leis. Leis eclipses or lenites (depending on the dialect) a noun beginning with a consonant, where possible (except d, t, or s). No change is made to nouns beginning with a vowel.

When le is used with na before a noun in the plural, it also changes form to leis. Leis na makes no change to nouns beginning with a consonant but does prefix a ‘h’ to nouns beginning with a vowel.

I (In)

When i comes before a noun beginning with a consonant, an urú is applied to any of the seven consonants to which an urú can be applied, i.e. b, c, d, f, g, p and t e.g. Tá siad ina gcónaí i nGaillimh. Tá sí ag obair i mbialann áitiúil.

When i comes before a noun beginning with a vowel it becomes in e.g. Bhí sé ina chónaí in Éirinn.

Below is the prepositional pronoun forms of i:

Roimh (Before)

Roimh lenites a directly following noun: roimh Cholm (before Colm)

Other ways we use ‘roimh’

• Temporal: Roimh mhaidin – Before morning
• Spatial: Tá sí ina seasamh romham – She is standing before me 
• Fear: Tá eagla orm roimh an múinteoir – I’m afraid of the teacher
• Welcome: Tá fáilte romhat – You’re welcome

N.B. “Before” with verbs

Roimh does not mean before all the time and we must use a different word or grammatical form to introduce a clause when expressing “before” in the sense of time. So for example, we can use roimh to express before one’s arrival”, but not to express before one comes.

Instead, for the latter we use the conjunction sula (which is sular in the past). The word sula eclipses the following verb and sular lenites). Examples:

Idir (between/both)

Instead of rewriting it here, I have an in-depth article on ‘idir’ and how it is used here.

Prepositions and the Definite Article

Ar (On), Le (With), Chuig (To), Faoi (Under), Ó (From)

When the definite article ‘an’ is combined with the prepositions above in a sentence an urú is applied to the initial consonant of the noun, where possible. (We do not add an urú to ‘d’ or ‘t’ in this instance.)

In the case of the Ulster dialect, a séimhiú is applied to the initial letter of words in this instance, except those which begin with d, n, t, l, or s.

Connacht / Munster: Tá sé ar an mbord.
Ulster: Tá sé ar an bhord.

The t- before a masculine noun beginning with a vowel is dropped: an t-éan, but leis an éan).

The usual rules apply when these prepositions are followed by ‘na’. No change occurs to nouns beginning with a consonant but a ‘h’ is prefixed to nouns beginning with a vowel.

It’s also worth pointing out that in standard Irish, the initial lenitable s- (s + vowel etc.) behaves in the same way as if there was no preposition. So for example, if the noun is masculine, it is not affected (ar an saol), but if it is feminine, the s- is prefixed by a t- (ar an tsráid).

In Ulster, no difference between genders is observed here i.e. ar an tsaol, ar an tsráid.

De (Of/Off)

This preposition is slightly different as it is followed by a séimhiú and becomes ‘den’ when combined with an, the definite article.

In Kerry Irish, ‘don’ is used for both ‘den’ and ‘don’ and it eclipses after.

I (In the)

i + an takes the form of sa preceding a consonant, and san preceding a vowel.

Sa lenites the initial consonant of the word that follows it, where possible. You do not add lenite a word beginning with d, t, n, l, or s and you add a ‘t’ to feminine nouns that begin with ‘s’. For example:

When sa comes before a noun beginning with a vowel it becomes san. This also happens before nouns beginning with ‘f’ in which the letter immediately after ‘f’ is a vowel.

I + the plural definite article na becomes sna. No change occurs with a consonant, however, a ‘h’ is prefixed to nouns beginning with a vowel.

Let’s dive a bit deeper! If you’re a fan of older texts you may have come across ins an / ins na / ins a for ‘in the’ For example:

And examples from older texts:

From Wiktionary: “From Middle Irish (i)sind, (i)sin, from Old Irish isin(d/t) (“in the m or f or n sg dative”), isin (“into the m or f sg accusative”), isa (“into the n sg accusative”), from Proto-Celtic in sindū/sindai (“in the m sg/f sg dative”),in sindom/sindam (“into the m sg/f sg accusative”).

“Often understood to be a contraction of ins an, but the forms san, sa were in common use by the 12th century and accepted in Classical Gaelic poetry while ins is a later innovation with the -n- reintroduced by analogy”.

That link offers further reading about etymology, usage notes, and references worth looking into if you’re curious.

Roimh (Before)

When roimh is used with the singular definite article, an, it eclipsis the initial consonant of the noun that follows it where possible e.g. roimh an mbus (before the bus). In Ulster, the initial consonant of the noun is lenited when following roimh an.

Compound Prepositions

Compound prepositions usually govern the genitive case. However, if the compound preposition ends in a simple preposition e.g. in éineacht le (with) then it doesn’t. In éineacht le would behave as if it was le.

If the noun is masculine, then ‘an’ is used and the initial consonant of the following noun is lenited, where possible. Whereas, if the noun is feminine, then ‘na’ is used and a ‘h’ is prefixed to nouns that begin with a vowel. You can read more about Irish noun genders here. Examples:

There are many compound prepositions in Irish. Here is a selection that you probably will come across.

References

• My own notes gathered from various sources that I can’t recall all of!
• Learning Irish by Mícheal Ó Siadhail
• Teach Yourself Irish (1961) by Myles Dillon and Donncha Ó Cróinín
• Úrchúrsa Gaeilge Eagrán Leasaithe by Dónall P. Ó Baoill and Éamonn Ó Tuathail
• Irish Grammar Book by Nollaig Mac Congail

Image by Steven Weirather from Pixabay