Prepositional Inflection

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

For a list of Gaelic prepositions see the page Prepositions

One rare property of Gaelic prepositions is that they inflect for [[person (definition)|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

		singular				plural
	definite	1	2	3 masc	3 fem	1	2	3
aig	aig an	agam	agad	aige	aice	againn	agaibh	aca
air	air an	orm	ort	air	oirre	oirnn	oirbh	orra
ann	anns an	annam	annad	ann	innte	annainn	annaibh	annta
à	às an	asam	asad	às	aisde	asainn	asaibh	asda
bho	bhon	bhuam	bhuat	bhuaithe	bhuaipe	bhuainn	bhuaibh	bhuapa
de (dhe)	dhen	dhiom	dhiot	dheth	dhith	dhinn	dhibh	dhiubh
do	don	dhomh	dhut	dha	dhi	dhuinn	dhuibh	dhiabh
fo	fon	fodham	fodhad	fodha	foidhpe	fodhainn	fodhaibh	fodhpa
eadar	eadar an	--	--	--	--	eadarainn	eadaraibh	eatorra
gu	(thun^†)	(th)ugam	(th)ugad	(th)uige	(th)uice	(th)ugainn	(th)ugaibh	(th)uca
gu	chun	chugam^†	chugad	chuige	chuice	chugainn	chugaibh	chuca
gun	no special inflected forms
le	leis an	leam	leat	leis	leatha	leinn	leibh	leotha/leò
mar	no special inflected forms
mu	mun	umam	umad	uime	uimpe	umainn	umaibh	umpa
o	on	uam	uat	uaithe	uaipe	uainn	uaibh	uapa
rè	no special inflected forms
ri	ris an	rium	ruit	ris	rithe	ruinn	ruibh	riutha
ro (roimh)	ron	romham	romhad	roimh(e)	roimhpe	romhainn	romhaibh	romhpa
thar	thar an	tharam	tharad	thairis	thairte	tharainn	<tharaibh	tharta
trìd	no special inflected forms
tro (troimh)	tron	tromham	tromhad	troimhe	troimhpe	tromhainn	tromhaibh	tromhpa
†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 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.

	singular				plural
	1	2	3 masc	3 fem	1	2	3
aig	'gam^L	'gad^L	'ga^L	'ga^H	'gar^N	'gur^N	'gan
ann	'nam^L	'nad^L	'na^L	'na^H	'nar^N	'nur^N	'nan
bho	bhom^L	bhod^L	bho a^L	bho a^H	bhor^N	bhu^N	bhon
de (dhe)	dhem^L	dhed^L	dhe a^L	dhe a^H	dhe ar^N	dhe ur^N	dhen
do	dom^L/dham^L	dod^L/dhad^L	dha^L	dha^H	dor/dhar^N	dhur^N	don/dhan
fo	fom^L	fod^L	fo a^L	fo a^H	for^N	fur^N	fon
gu	gum^L	gud^L	gu a^L	gu a^H	gar^N	gur^N	gun
le	lem^L	led'^L	le a^L	le a^H	ler^N	lur^N	len
mu	'mum^L	'mud^L	mu a^L	mu a^H	mar^N	mur^N	man
o	om^L	od^L	o a^L	o a^H	or^N	ur^N	on
ri	rim^L	rid^L	ri a^L	ri a^H	ri ar^N	ri ur^N	rin
ro (roimh)	rom^L	rod^L	ro a^L	ro a^H	ror^N	rur^N	ron
tro (troimh)	trom^L	trod^L	tro a^L	tro a^H	tror^N	trur^N	tron

Note that the /n/ ending on the 3rd person plural will change to an <m> when the word precedes word beginning with <m, b, f, p>.
Any preposition not in the list above simply combines the normal preposition with the normal possessive pronoun (e.g. "air mo")

The Inflection of Complex Gaelic Prepositions

Complex Prepositions that end in a simple preposition such as còmhla ri are inflected just like the simple preposition. Complex prepositions that end in a noun (and govern the genitive case) such as air muin are inflected differently. They are inflected uses in the Possessive pronouns, so "on top of him" would be air a mheasg.

References

Mark, Colin (2004) The Gaelic-English Dictionary/Am faclair Gàidhlig-Beurla. London: Routledge
Lamb, William (2003) Scottish Gaelic. 2nd edition. Munich: Lingcom Europa
Deiseal Earranta tta (2006) Reference Cards: Sealbhairean Roimhearach/Riochdairean Roimhearach.

Prepositional Inflection

Contents

Inflected Prepositions with object pronouns

Inflected Prepositions with possessive pronouns

The Inflection of Complex Gaelic Prepositions

References

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