Alienable vs. Inalienable Distinction in Nominals
From Scottish Gaelic Grammar Wiki
SG marks a distinction between possession of something thought of as close to a person, and in a way inalienable. Examples of inalienable entities are body parts, relatives, and pets. Alienable objects on the other hand, include most all everyday objects.
Inalienable Possession
Inalienable possession is marked my a possessive pronoun which precedes the possessee, and he pronoun differs depending on the onset of the following word.
Inalienable pronouns before a Consonant:
| Person/Gender | Singular | Plural |
| 1 | 'moL' | 'ar' |
| 2 | 'doL' | 'ur' |
| 3M | 'aL' | 'an/am' |
| 3F | 'a' | 'an/am' |
Inalienable pronouns before a Vowel:
| Person/Gender | Singular | Plural |
| 1 | 'm | 'ar n-' |
| 2 | 'd | 'ur n-' |
| 3M | 'a' | 'an' |
| 3F | 'a h-' | 'an' |
Alienable Possession
Instead of using a possessive pronoun as above, SG uses a locative construction (with aig, 'at') to express ownership of an alienable object.
Definite Article + Possessee + aig + Possessor
| an | gille | aig | Mairi | |||
| the | boy | at | Mary | |||
| 'Mary's boyfriend' | ||||||
