Appendix:Irish first-declension nouns

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The Irish first declension is made up of masculine nouns. The nominative singular ends in a broad (velarized) consonant, which is made slender (palatalized) in the genitive singular. The vocative singular is identical to the genitive singular, and the dative singular is identical to the nominative singular.

The plural can be formed in any of a variety of ways, which can be grouped into two basic types: the weak plural forms and the strong plural forms.

Weak plurals

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A weak plural in Irish is a plural formation in which the genitive plural is distinct from the nominative plural. In the first conjugation, the weak genitive plural is always identical to the nominative singular. The weak nominative plural can be formed either by making the final consonant slender (for example, bád (boat) has nominative plural báid) or by adding -a to the broad consonant (for example, úll (apple) has nominative plural úlla). In both cases, the vocative plural is formed by adding -a to the broad consonant (e.g. báda, úlla), and the dative plural is identical to the nominative plural (however, in archaic language and some dialects the dative plural is formed by adding -aibh to the broad consonant, e.g. bádaibh, úllaibh).

Weak plurals in a slender consonant

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bád (boat) Singular Plural
Nominative bád báid
Vocative a bháid a bháda
Genitive báid bád
Dative bád báid
(archaic) bádaibh

When ch in the genitive singular and nominative plural of a polysyllabic word is made slender, it also becomes gh.

marcach (a horseman) Singular Plural
Nominative marcach marcaigh
Vocative a mharcaigh a mharcacha
Genitive marcaigh marcach
Dative marcach marcaigh
(archaic) marcachaibh

Some nouns undergo a vowel change before the slender consonant of the genitive singular/nominative plural:

Weak plurals in -a

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úll (apple) Singular Plural
Nominative úll úlla
Vocative a úill a úlla
Genitive úill úll
Dative úll úlla
(archaic) úllaibh

Other examples:

Strong plurals

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A strong plural in Irish is a plural formation in which the all cases of the plural are identical (except for the archaic and dialectal dative plural in -(a)ibh). Many words of the first declension form a strong plural with one of the endings -(a)í, -ta, -tha, -anna.

rós (rose) Singular Plural
Nominative rós rósanna
Vocative a róis a rósanna
Genitive róis rósanna
Dative rós rósanna
(archaic) rósannaibh

Other examples:

Other strong plural formations are found in:

See also

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