Difference between revisions of "Prepositions"

Revision as of 18:24, 18 April 2009

For a definition of preposition see the page Preposition (definition)

Gaelic has both simple prepositions and complex ones. In this article you'll find first a list of all the prepositions, then at the bottom you'll find some useful charts about how prepositions inflect for person and number.

List of Gaelic Simple Prepositions

• aig 'at' (does not lenite, takes dative case)
• air 'on' (does **not** lenite, takes dative case)
• ann an/ anns/ ann 'in' (ann an does not lenite and takes dative case)
• à/às 'out of'/'from' (as in place of national origin) (does **not** lenite, takes dative case)
• bho 'from' (as in source of movement) (lenite, takes dative case)
• chun 'to the' (in the sense of "as far as" but not "into" (can only be used with a definite noun, does not lenite, and takes genitive case)
• de (dhe^L/de^L) 'of/off' (lenite, takes dative case)
• do (do""^L) 'to/for' (lenite, takes dative case)
• fo (fo""^L) 'under' (lenite, takes dative case)
• eadar 'between' (does **not** lenite, takes accusative case)
• far 'off' (does not lenite, takes genitive case)
• gu (thun/chun) 'to' (gu does not lenite, takes dative case, gus lenite and takes XXX case)
• gun 'without' (lenite (except the dental sounds <d,t,n,l,r,s>). Depending upon the dialect it takes either dative or accusative case)
• le 'with' (does not [[[Lenition|lenite]], takes dative case)
• mar 'like'/'as'
• mu 'about' (lenite, takes dative case)
• o 'from' (lenite, takes dative case)
• rè 'during' (does not lenite (except when the object is a definite plural), and takes genitive case)
• ri 'to' (does not lenite, takes dative case)
• ro (roimh) 'before' (lenite, takes dative case)
• thar 'over'/'beyond' (does not [[[Lenition|lenite]], and takes genitive case)
• tharsainn 'across' (does not lenite, and takes genitive case)
• trìd 'through, on account of' (does not lenite, and takes genitive case)
• tro (troimh) 'through' (lenite, takes dative case)

List of Gaelic Complex and Compound Prepositions

(List taken from Mark 2004:686 and Lamb 2003:49)

• a chum 'for the purpose of' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• a dh'ionnsaigh 'towards' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• a rèir 'according to' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• a thaobh 'regarding' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitivecase)
• air cùlaibh 'behind' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• air feadh 'amongst' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• air muin 'on top of' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• air sgàth 'for the sake of' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• air son/airson 'for'/'because' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• air tòir ' in pursuit of (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• am fianais 'in the presence of' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• am measg 'among' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• an aghaidh 'against' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• an àite 'in place of' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• an ceann 'within' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• an coinneamh 'met with' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• an coimeas ri 'compared to' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the dative case)
• an dèidh 'after' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• an làthair 'in the presence of' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• an taca ri 'next to' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the dative case)
• às aonais 'without' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• às eugmhais 'without' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• às leth 'on behalf of' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• às dèidh 'after' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• barrachd air 'in addition to' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the dative case)
• ceangailte ri 'tied to' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the accusative case)
• coltach ri 'similar to' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the accusative case)
• còmhla ri 'along with' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the dative case)
• cuide ri 'along with' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the dative case)
• fa chomhair 'opposite' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• faisg air 'close to' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the dative case)
• goirid air 'close to' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the dative case)
• làmh ri 'next to', 'compared to' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the dative case)
• maille ri 'along with' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the dative case)
• mu chomhair 'opposite' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• mu dheidhinn 'concerning' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• mu thimcheall 'regarding' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• mun cuairt 'around' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitivecase)
• mun cuairt air 'around" (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the dative case)
• os cionn 'above' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive case)
• gu ruige 'as far as, up to' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the accusative case)
• seachad air 'past' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the dative case)
• suas ri 'up to' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the dative case)
• thairis air 'across' (followed by a noun or noun phrase in the dative case)

List of Gaelic Adverbial Particles (intransitive prepositions)

• a-bhàn 'down', 'downwards'
• a-nìos 'up', 'upwards'

The Inflection of Simple Gaelic Prepositions

One rare property of Gaelic prepositions is that they inflect for person, number and gender when they take a pronoun as an object. In English you use two words: the preposition and the pronoun "to me", in Gaelic this is all bundled into one word "dhomh". Inflected prepositions never take a full object pronoun. So "*dhomh mi" is not well-formed. In addition many of the prepositions take special forms when coming before an article. For example, to say "from the", we use the form "bhon" (although bhon an is also possible). Similarly the preposition le becomes leis before the article. These two kinds of inflection are summarized in the first chart below. Much rarer (but frequently used in certain aspectual constructions) are forms of the preposition that inflect for a possessive pronoun. For example, to say "at my" we don't say "aig mo", instead " 'gam " is used. The inflection of the prepositions for possessive pronouns is given in the second chart.

Inflected Prepositions with object pronouns

• Note the chugam, chugad etc. forms are rarely used anymore, nor is the definite form thun

Inflected Prepositions with possessive pronouns

The 1st person singular, 2nd person singular and 3rd person singular masculine forms here trigger lenition (indicated with a superscript ""^{L""). 1st and 2nd person plurals trigger the prefixation of n- onto words beginning with vowels (nasalization), This is indicated with a superscript ""N"". the pronunciation of the a consonant following these and the 3rd person plural is also frequently voiced or nasalized. Finally the 3rd person feminine forms prefix an <h> onto words beginning with a vowel. This is indicated with ""H"". The superscript N, H, and L are not usually written out in the orthography of Gaelic and are presented here merely to remind you what InitialConsonant Initial Consonant Mutation is being triggered.}

Note: of the following only the possessive inflected forms of aig, ann, do and ri are in regular use. All the others quite rare or considered prescriptively inferior.