Sounds & Spelling of Irish/Fuaimeanna agus Litriú na Gaeilge Vowels (gutaí) : a, e, i, o, u
Consonants (consain) : all the other letters
Broad vowels (gutaí leathana) : a, o, u /ᴂ/ is considered a broad vowel sound.
Slender vowels (gutaí caola) : i, e
Consonants are classified as broad and slender, too; they take on the flavor of the nearest vowel, e.g. tae (‘t’ is broad), te (‘t’ is slender), taistil (the first ‘t’ is broad; ‘s’, the second ‘t’ and ‘l’ are all slender). You may need some time before you can hear the difference between some broad and slender consonants, or pronounce them yourself. Here are the most important ones to master first. slender s slender t slender d slender l slender n
/ʃ/ /tʃ/ /dʲ/ /lʲ/ /nʲ/
Síle, mise, anois te, leite, Cait Dia, cuidiú, leid Liam, bileog, cáil níl, sloinne
shoe, fish (similar to: chin, rich) Joe, vigil, ledge million, will you sinew, minion (rare at start of words in US Eng.)
Spelling rule: Caol le caol; leathan le leathan. The vowels on either side of a consonant, or group of consonants, must both be slender or both be broad, e.g. déanfaidh, rithfidh, leabharlann, páirceanna, cupán, cipín, madra, maidrín, etc. (A couple notable exceptions: anseo, ansin ) Vowel combinations. ae /e/ ao /i/ or /e/ depending on dialect aoi /i/ ea /ᴂ/ ei /ɛ/ -eadh /ɛ/ or /u/ depending on dialect eo /o/ -faidh /i/ -fidh /i/ ia /iə/ ua /uə/ io, oi, ui /ɪ/ (usually)
tae, laethanta Aodh, caol aoi, saoirse eala, deas eisean, ceimic deireadh, cuireadh Eoin, ceol, beo tiocfaidh feicfidh bia, pian fuath gliondar, gloine, duine
tay see me apple meh meh, moo no see see deal moo fit
Fadas (síntí fada) add length and stress to vowels, and change their pronunciation, too. a /a/ e /ɛ/ i /ɪ/ o /ɔ/ u /ʌ/
hata, mac father, spa ceist, de tell, get ith, duine, i in, hit olc, deoch tug, wonder dubh, fliuch good, pull
á /ɑ:/ é /e:/ í /i:/ ó /o:/ ú /u:/
Adapted from Ray Mac Mánais by Karen Reshkin. Updated May 2015
tá, bád call, far cé, éist bait, pay Síle, trí, íseal tree, mean, he ól, bóthar roll, toe, road tú, cúpla too, rude
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Sounds & Spelling of Irish/Fuaimeanna agus Litriú na Gaeilge Séimhiú. Putting ‘h’ after a consonant is a device to show that the sound of the consonant is softened. It’s called a séimhiú (séimh = soft) and used to be indicated by a dot above the letter: ch = ċ, gh = ġ, th = ṫ
broad / leathan a, o, u /w/ bhain, abhaile, dabht, gabh wow, tower
When you add séimhiú to this consonant, ⇦ you get ⇨ b
slender / caol e, i /v/ a bheith, leibhéal, sibh village, eve
(/v/ in Munster dialect)
/x/ chomh, nócha, nach
c
/ɣ/ dhún
d
loch (Scottish), Nacht (German)
hue (pronounced strongly)
no equivalent
silent an fhuaim, m’fhoireann :^∣ /ɣ/ ghasúr, ghlór
f g
no equivalent
no séimhiú possible no séimhiú possible /w/ gan mhoill, amháin, domhan wow, tower
/ç/ an cheist, fiche, deich
h l m
/j/ ar dheireadh, a Dhia yell silent an fhéile, an fhiacail :^∣ /j/ mo ghile, oighear yell no séimhiú possible no séimhiú possible /v/ mo mhéar, séimhiú, nimh village, eve
(/v/ in Munster dialect)
no séimhiú possible /f/ sa pholl, phós siad follow no séimhiú possible /h/ Nollaig shona, mo shaol honey /h/ mo thóin, tharla honey
n p r s t
Adapted from Ray Mac Mánais by Karen Reshkin. Updated May 2015
no séimhiú possible /f/ an pheil fell no séimhiú possible /h/ dhá shiocair, ar sheift hello /h/ trí thine, an-the hello
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Sounds & Spelling of Irish/Fuaimeanna agus Litriú na Gaeilge Urú inserts a letter at the beginning of a word. The new letter suppresses the first letter of the word; you only pronounce the new letter.
If the word begins with:
urú adds this letter at the beginning of the word
it looks like this:
b
m
mb
c
g
gc
d
n
nd
f
bh
bhf
and sounds like this: /m/ moo ar an mbord, i mBéal Feirste /g/ goo i gCorcaigh, bhur gcistin broad slender /n/ not /nʲ/ sinew i nDoire i ndiaidh broad slender /w/ woo /v/ vein an bhfuair tú i bhFear Manach (always /v/ in Munster dialect)
g
n
ng
h, l, m, n
no urú possible
---
p
b
bp
r
no urú possible
---
t
d
dt
/ŋ/ wing i nGaillimh, i ngeimhreadh --/b/ boy i bPáras, ár bpictiúr --broad slender /d/ do /dʲ/ jet i dTrá Lí ár dteach
A video to accompany this handout is available at http://youtu.be/oIokUII7LX0 Some common words which don’t follow these rules and behave similarly across dialects: -
ag /ɛg/ sounds like egg ar /e:r/ sounds like air caint /kaintʃ/ rhymes with the middle of “fine child” féin /he:n/ rhymes with Spain teaghlach /tʃai lax/ rhymes with my loch
Which syllable gets the stress in a word? 1. If there is just one syllable with a fada on it, that syllable usually gets the stress. 2. Otherwise, the first syllable usually gets the stress.
Adapted from Ray Mac Mánais by Karen Reshkin. Updated May 2015
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