Irish noun genders fall into two genders: masculine (firinscneach) or feminine (baininscneach). Irish has no neuter gender, so everything is either “he” or “she”. While there are few strict rules for identifying a noun’s gender, there are often helpful hints that can guide us.
Does Irish have gendered nouns?
Firstly, please note that grammatical gender does not have to do with natural gender and it is best to disconnect the two straightaway. For example, “Fear” (man) is masculine, “bean” (woman) is feminine, but “cailín” (girl) is masculine, “stail” (stallion) is feminine too.
You need to know the gender, to name a few reasons:
- What will happen to the noun after the definite article ‘an’ (the equivalent in English to ‘the’)
- How the gender will affect any adjectives used to describe it
It’s unrealistic to expect you’ll remember the gender of every noun you encounter, but simply being aware that gender exists is an important step in mastering the language.
Below are some tips for identifying masculine and feminine nouns but remember, there are always exceptions and there are always dictionaries available to help out if you’re stuck. To be honest, the gender of a noun becomes easier to decipher as you become more familiar the more you use the language.
Note: We will be talking about declensions below, if you don’t know what they are, here is our article on what declensions in the Irish language mean.
Masculine nouns
Masculine nouns do not change (do not lenite) following the article ‘an’ e.g an mála, an fear, an sneachta. Masculine nouns that start with a vowel add a prefix t- to the beginning of a word e.g. an t-éan, an t-arán, an t-iasc.
Masculine nouns are the following:
1. All of the 1st declension
2. None of the 2nd declension
3. Some of the 3rd declension
4. Most of the 4th declension, except the words im, sliabh (which are in the 2nd declension) and teach
5. They are only a few of the 5th declension.
6. Most professions
7. Words with the following endings:
| -adh, -amh, -aí, -án, -ar, -aire, -as, -éara, -aeir, -éir, -eoir, -óir, -úir, -éad, -ste, -ú, -ún, -úr |
| words ending in -ín (diminutive) |
| bisyllabic words ending in -a (e.g. mála (bag), muga (mug)) |
| monosyllabic words ending in -cht (e.g. lucht (group) smacht (control), bocht (poor person) |
| derivatives using -ach (e.g. Éire > Éireannach (Irish person), Sasanach (Englishperson), Caitliceach (Catholic) |
In addition, words are typically masculine if they are loan words. For example, “vóta”.
Feminine nouns
Feminine nouns lenite after the article ‘an’. Learners typically know it as a séimhiú. For example an bhean, an fhadhb, an ghrian. Feminine nouns that begin with a vowel don’t change e.g., an aiste, an eitpheil, an iris.
Note: Regardless of gender, some consonants can’t be lenited like L, N, R and V (when it occurs). Neither can the combinations “Sc,” Sm,” Sp,” and “St.” be lenited.
Feminine nouns are the following:
1. None of the 1st declension
2. All of the 2nd declension (except: im,sliabh,teach)
3. Some of the 3rd declension
4. Only a few of the 4th declension
5. Most of the 5th declension
6. All country names (except: Sasana, Ceanada, Meiriceá), languages (except Béarla) and rivers
7. Words with the following endings:
| all ending in -áil, -aíl, -eog, -óg, -seach, -lann, -íocht |
| polysyllabic words ending in -acht (e.g. Gaeltacht) |
| all ending in -ach, except derivatives (e.g. báisteach (rain)) |
However, there are other things we need to note when it comes to feminine nouns and that’s words that begin with s, sl, sr, sn. Words that begin with the ones listed and are feminine nouns receive an extra t in front of them. So for example an tsúil, an tsochaí, an tsráid.
Compound Nouns
Compound nouns (comhfhocail in Irish) can be words made by combining two nouns. They always take the gender of the 2nd noun. For example, the Irish word for village is ‘sráidbaile’ which is made up of two nouns, Sráid and Baile.
The first part of the new word is feminine (sráid) and would be an tsráid on its own with the article. The second part of the word is masculine (baile) which would be an baile when on its own with the article. However, as mentioned, the compound noun always takes the gender of the second word.
So the new compound word is masculine and with the article it is an sráidbhaile.
Some other things to think about
Say for example you are referring to a dog. The word “madra” is a masculine noun. But let’s suppose the sex of the dog is female. What would you say here? The answer is sí. With animals, it’s typical to use the gender of the noun unless – like this case – you’re specifically in a way ‘anthropomorphising’ it.
Another thing, Irish also has a few terms that are applied only to one sex or the other.
For example:
Amadán: a fool when speaking of or to a man
Óinseach: a fool when speaking of or to a woman
But as I said, these are things you will pick up the more you use the language. Typically there are more masculine words than feminine so you can make a pretty good guess even without studying all of the above.
If you just would like a quick check on whether something is masculine or feminine, simply use teanglann.ie or foclóir.ie and they will have it noted there.
References
- An Caighdean Oifigiúil
- NuaLéargais