There are two words for “before” in the Irish language, but how do you know which one to use? Sula and roimh both mean “before”, and thankfully, it’s not too difficult to figure out which one to use.
Simply put: you use sula / sular before verbs and use roimh before nouns. Yes, it’s that straightforward.
That being said, if you’d like to learn a bit more as well as learn about some dialectal differences, keep on reading.
Table of Contents
Roimh
Roimh adds a séimhiú (lenites) to the word that follows it where possible. A dialectal variation, ‘roimis’ is used in West Munster Irish, you wouldn’t hear it in Waterford (at least not traditionally). Below are examples of roimh + noun.
| roimh dhinnéar | before dinner |
| cén uimhir a thagann roimh bhilliún? | what number comes before billion? |
| roimh thobchliseadh an gheilleagair | before the economic crash |
Roimh + an
For figuring out which mutations to use with the preposition roimh and the singular article an, the official standard (Caighdeán Oifigiúil) contains two different systems.
You can pick whichever one you’d prefer, but you should stay consistent and choose one. It’s better to stick with one but understand that the other exists.
- The Córas Lárnach would be closer to the dialects in Connacht and Munster. This means that words mostly eclipse but also lenite for some prepositions.
- The Córas an tSéimhithe would be mostly connected to the dialects in Ulster, which only lenite and never eclipse.
So, for example, the table below is using the Córas Lárnach. Within that system, if you’re using roimh + an, the noun that follows it takes an urú where possible. Words beginning with “d” or “t” are not mutated:
| roimh an gcluiche | before the game |
| roimh an mbéile | before the meal |
| roimh an dáta | before the date |
| roimh an toghchán* | before the election |
| roimh an tseachtain* | before the week |
| roimh an sagart | before the priest |
*in West Munster, you actually get eclipsis of t, d (for example: roimh an dtoghchán)
**Seachtain is a feminine noun; masculine nouns stay unmutated in the above system.
Roimh and Córas an tséimhithe (Ulster Irish)
Next, let’s take a look at córas an tséimhithe as mentioned above. This means that the noun that follows roimh + an only lenites, never eclipses. This is particularly prevalent in Ulster Irish.
| roimh an chluiche | before the game |
| roimh an bhéile | before the meal |
| roimh an dáta | before the date |
| roimh an toghchán | before the election |
| roimh an tseachtain* | before the week |
In córas an tséimhithe, there’s no distinction between feminine and masculine nouns in the dative; both get lenited.
For words beginning with ‘s’, they are lenited (see above examples). ts– is a representation of something that happens as a result of lenition, lost to modern Irish.
ts- always appears in the context where you get lenition of other consonants, e.g., genitive: an bháid ‘of the boat’, an tsagairt ‘of the priest’; nominative feminine: an mháthair ‘the mother’, an tsráid ‘the street’, and never in any context requiring eclipsis (except for that one weird rule in an Córas Lárnach with prepositions and feminine nouns beginning with s).
Roimh as Prepositional pronouns
| roimh + mé | romham | tá lá fada romham | i’ve a long day ahead of me |
| roimh + tú | romhat | tá fáilte romhat | you’re welcome |
| roimh + sé | roimhe | tá sé ag déanamh mar a rinne a athair roimhe | he’s following in his father’s footsteps |
| roimh + sí | roimpi | tá a saol ar fad roimpi | she has her whole life ahead of her |
| roimh + sinn/muid | romhainn | na daoine a mhair romhainn | the people who went/lived before us |
| roimh + sibh | romhaibh | fáilte romhaibh abhaile, a chairde | welcome home, folks |
| roimh + siad | rompu | cuireadh gártha molta rompu | they got a round of applause |
Roimh (Verbal Nouns)
Other ways that you may come across roimh are as verbal nouns, so you may see things like: roimh imeacht dom (before I leave, before my leaving).
Sula
Sula is a conjunction and adds an urú to the following verb, whether it starts with a consonant or a vowel (n- is just the eclipsis of a vowel). Some consonants cannot be eclipsed, so they see no change. A few examples using sula:
| Éirigh as an amaidí sin sula dtéann tú thar fóir | stop that nonsense before you go too far |
| croch an léine faoin aer sula gcuirfidh tú ort í | give the shirt an airing before you wear it |
| is minic a fhanann daoine tamall fada sula dtéann siad chuig dochtúir | people often wait a long time before they see a doctor |
| chuir mé gach rud i bhfearas sula ndeachaigh mé ar saoire | I cleared the decks before my holiday |
| caithfidh mé na sonraí a fheiceáil sula n-aontóidh mé leis | I need to see the details before I agree |
| Déanaim m’obair bhaile sula n-ithim mo dhinnéar | I do my homework before I eat my dinner |
Note: In parts of Mayo, you will find that people use roimh instead of sula as a conjunction. Roimh is also often used as a conjugation in Inis Oírr.
Sular (Past Tense)
Sular lenites the verbs that follow it if they begin with a consonant (where possible). It does not add an eclipses to vowels.
| bhí sos acu sular lean siad orthu ag siúl | they had a break before continuing to walk |
| bhí sé tamall fada sular tháinig sé ar ais | it was a long time before he came back |
| bhí mé múscailte sular bhuail an t-aláram | I awoke before the alarm went off |
| D’ól sé cupán tae sular ghlan sé an chistin | He drank a cup of tea before he cleaned the kitchen |
| sular imigh sé | before he left |
| sular rugadh a mac | before the birth of their son |
Exceptions (Past Tense)
| Root verb | |
| Chuaigh | Sula ndeachaigh |
| Bhí | Sula raibh |
| Fuair | Sula bhfuair |
| Chonaic | Sula bhfaca |
| Dúirt | Sula ndúirt |
| Rinne | Sula ndearna |
Roimh is also often used as a conjugation in Inis Oírr
Go raibh maith agat. I will add this.