Twenties and Beyond

Counting beyond the twenties in Gaelic is lots of fun!  If you love math!  Although a decimal system has been introduced, the traditional counting method is based on twenties: ten and twenty, two twenties, two twenties and ten.

I’m leaving out English translations today, as they are all in the previous lessons on counting.

• a deich air fhichead
• a h-aon dheug air fhichead
• dà dheug air fhichead
• a trì deug air fhichead
• a ceithir deug air fhichead
• etc

Remember that when you use the numbers with nouns, the a comes off the front.

And for forty.  From forty onward, numbers are the same with or without nouns.

• dà fhichead
• dà fhichead ’s a haon
• dà fhichead ’s a dhà
• dà fhichead ’s a trì
• dà fhichead ’s a ceithir
• etc

The fifties:

• dà fhichead ’s a deich
• dà fhichead ’s a haon dheug
• dà fhichead ’s a dhà dheug
• dà fhichead ’s a trì deug
• dà fhichead ’s a ceithir deug
• etc

Note: These numbers are taken from this site, and uses the full word, is (another word for and), while many books and sites will use the shortened form I give above, ‘s.

Today’s listening, something a little different.  This link should take you to a children’s book.  Use the arrows in the lefthand column to turn the page.

Into the Twenties….

 a h-aon, a dhà, a trì, a ceithir, a còig, a sia, a seachd, a h-ochd, a naoi, a deich, a h-aon deug, a dhà  dheug, a trì deug, a ceithir deug, a còig deug, a sia deug, a seachd deug, a h-ochd deug, a naoi deug….

• a fichead (ah FEE-chet)  twenty
• a h-aon air fhichead  (ah hoon air EE-chet)  twenty-on
• a dhà air fhichead
• a tri air fhichead
• a ceithir air fhichead
• etc…

Notice that fichead lenites after air.  Also, the counting is the same as in German: one and twenty, two and twenty, etc.

Nouns with Teens (Teens with Nouns??)

Counting in the teens:

• add deug (jook): a h-aon deug, a dhà  dheug, a trì deug, a ceithir deug, a còig deug, a sia deug, a seachd deug, a h-ochd deug, a naoi deug

When using teens with nouns, the noun goes between the number and deug.

• aon fhear deug  (oon ear jook) eleven men
• dà  fhear dheug   (dah ear jook) twelve men
• trì fir deug   (tree fear jook) thirteen men
• ceithir fir deug   (KAY-eer fear jook) fourteen men
• còig fir deug   (KOI-ik fear jook) fifteen men
• sia fir deug   (SHEE-uh fear jook) sixteen men
• seachd fir deug   (shechk fear jook) seventeen men
• ochd fir deug    (awch  fear jook) eighteen men
• naoi fir deug    (NOO-ih fear jook) twelve men

A note about pronunciation: Roderick MacKinnon gives the pronunciation for deug as JAY-ik or JEE-ik.  When I listen to CDs, it sounds like JERK with an English accent.  Like any languages, pronunciations will vary slightly with the particular accent of the speaker.

A few notes about fear/fhear/fir:

• fear is man, or ‘one’
• fhear is used with aon and dà because they both take the singular and lenite
• fir is the plural of fear, so it is used with the rest of the numbers

Today’s Listening: Speaking Our Language Episode 3 Part 2 with numbers:

Always Gotta Be One….

Or a bunch, that don’t follow any rules.  After 8 ways that nouns may form plurals, we are left with a group of irregulars which follow no pattern at all.

• cù/ coin  (koo, KOH-in) dog, dogs
• dorus/ doruis or dorsan  (DOR-us, DOR-ish or DOR-sun) door, doors
• bean/ mnathan  (BEE-in, MNAH-un) wife, wives
• caora/ caoraich  (KOOR-uh, KOOR-eech) sheep, sheep

Take time today to look through the last few lessons and review the various methods used to create plurals.

Pop Quiz!

• If you have a Gaelic dictionary, look through and find one or two examples of each.  (Some methods have very few examples.)
•  Do you remember when to use dà and when to use dhà?
• How do the numbers change in Gaelic depending whether you are counting or using them with a noun?
• Use these new plurals in sentences.

Tomorrow: particulars on using ‘teens’ with nouns, and going into the twenties.

Method 8 for Plurals: -tean for -e

The title says it all. 

• Some nouns that end in e substitute tean.

Examples:

• baile/ bailtean  (BAH-luh/ BAHL-chen) town/ towns
• coille/ coilltean  (KOH-il-uh/ KOH-il-chen) a wood/ woods
• buaile/ buailtean  (BOO-uh-luh/ BOO-ul-chen)  sheep fold/ sheep folds
• àite/ àitean  (AHCH-uh/ AHCH-en) place/ places

Multiple Methods of Plurals: Lucky 7

We’ve seen some less common methods of forming plurals, but #7 is seen much more frequently.

• When a noun ends in -ir, -air, -ar, or -a, its plural is often formed by changing the ending to -richean,  -raichen, or -aichean (all of which are pronounced REE-chen/EE-chen).

Examples:

• litir/ litrichean  (LEECH-eer/ LEECH-reech-en) letter/ letters
• cathair/ cathraichean  (KA-er/ KA-reechen) chair/ chairs
• còta/ còtaichean  (KAWT-uh/ KAWT-eechen) coat/ coats

Take a few minutes to look over yesterday’s post, count to nineteen, and listen to a previous day’s listening.  Check a post from December to see if you remember the vocabulary.  Review the rules for leniting with aon and dà/dhà and when to use dà vs. when to use dhà.

Use the words above in sentences.  Do you see, read, or want letters, chairs, or coats?  How many of each?

Plurals: eo to iui and o to ui

 We’re now up to the fifth and sixth ways that nouns become plural:

• The eo becomes iui
• The o becomes ui

Notice the similarities in these two methods. 

Examples:

• seòl, siùil (shawl, shyool)  sail, sails
• toll, tuill  (taul, TOO-il) hole, holes

Take a minute to review the previous four methods of forming plurals.  Each noun uses its own method, and the best way to know is spending time with the language.

Review of the previous methods of creating plurals:

• Substitute i for the last broad vowel (a, o, u) or for ea in the nominative singular.
• each, eich 
• fear, fir 
• coibhneas, coibhneis   
• ceann, cinn   
• place i after the last broad vowel (a, o, or u)
•  òran, òrain
• add an (or ean if the last vowel is e or i)
• torman, tormanan
• tonn, tonnan
• Change ia of the nominative singular to ei
• fiadh, fèidh 
• riadh, rèidh interest 
• riasg, rèisg  
• iasg, èisg   

Use these words in sentences with the verbs you’ve previously learned.

Counting in the teens:

• add deug (jook): a h-aon deug, a dhà  dheug, a trì deug, a ceithir deug, a còig deug, a sia deug, a seachd deug, a h-ochd deug, a naoi deug