a.
his, its
Meaning & usage
his, its
a athair agus a mháthair
Chaill an t-éan a chleití.
Where this word comes from
From Old Irish a, from Proto-Celtic *esyo (the final vowel triggering lenition), feminine *esyās (the final -s triggering h-prothesis), plural *ēsom (the final nasal triggering eclipsis), all from the genitive forms of Proto-Indo-European *éy. Cognate with Welsh ei.
introduces a direct relative clause, takes the independent form of an irregular verb
an fear a chuireann síol
an síol a chuireann an fear
Where this word comes from
A reduced form of older do (itself a reanalysis of do used in past tenses, and also present in early modern verbs like do-bheirim (“to give”), do-chím (“to see”)), or from the preverb a- in early modern verbs like a-tú (“to am”), a-deirim (“to say”) in relative clauses.
introduces a numeral
a haon, a dó, a trí...
Séamas a Dó
all that, whatever
Sin a bhfuil ann.
An bhfuair tú a raibh uait?
Where this word comes from
From Old Irish a (“that, which the relative particle used after prepositions”), reanalyzed as an independent indirect relative particle from forms like ar a (“on which, on whom”), dá (“to which, to whom”), or early modern le a (“with which, with whom”), agá (“at which, at whom”) when prepositional pronouns started to be repeated in such clauses (eg. don té agá mbíon cloidheamh (…) aige, daoine agá mbíonn grádh aco do Dhia). Compare the forms used in Munster instead: go (from agá (“at which”)) and na (from i n-a (“in which”), go n-a (“with which”), ria n-a (“before which”) and later lena (“with which”), tréna (“through which”)).
to (used with verbal nouns)
síol a chur
uisce a ól
Where this word comes from
Originally a reduced form of do.
introduces a vocative
A Dhia!
A dhuine uasail!
her, its
a hathair agus a máthair
Bhris an mheaig a heiteog.
Where this word comes from
From Old Irish a, from Proto-Celtic *esyo (the final vowel triggering lenition), feminine *esyās (the final -s triggering h-prothesis), plural *ēsom (the final nasal triggering eclipsis), all from the genitive forms of Proto-Indo-European *éy. Cognate with Welsh ei.
how (used with an abstract noun)
A ghéire a labhair sí!
A fheabhas atá sé!
Where this word comes from
From Old Irish a, from Proto-Celtic *esyo (the final vowel triggering lenition), feminine *esyās (the final -s triggering h-prothesis), plural *ēsom (the final nasal triggering eclipsis), all from the genitive forms of Proto-Indo-European *éy. Cognate with Welsh ei.
their
a n-athair agus a máthair
a dtithe
our
your (plural)
Where this word comes from
From Old Irish a, from Proto-Celtic *esyo (the final vowel triggering lenition), feminine *esyās (the final -s triggering h-prothesis), plural *ēsom (the final nasal triggering eclipsis), all from the genitive forms of Proto-Indo-European *éy. Cognate with Welsh ei.
introduces an indirect relative clause
an bord a raibh leabhar air
an fear a bhfuil a mhac ag imeacht
Where this word comes from
From Old Irish a (“that, which the relative particle used after prepositions”), reanalyzed as an independent indirect relative particle from forms like ar a (“on which, on whom”), dá (“to which, to whom”), or early modern le a (“with which, with whom”), agá (“at which, at whom”) when prepositional pronouns started to be repeated in such clauses (eg. don té agá mbíon cloidheamh (…) aige, daoine agá mbíonn grádh aco do Dhia). Compare the forms used in Munster instead: go (from agá (“at which”)) and na (from i n-a (“in which”), go n-a (“with which”), ria n-a (“before which”) and later lena (“with which”), tréna (“through which”)).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.