Personal Pronouns

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Basic Grade

The basic personal pronouns of Gaelic are used in neutral contexts (without emphasis) to indicate pronouns such as I, you, he, she, we, they. There is no distinction between nominative and accusative pronouns. (i.e. there is no difference between I and me, he and 'him, she and her, we and us and they and them in Gaelic.

person Singular Plural
1st mi sinn
2nd thu/tu sibh
3rd masc e iad
3rd fem i

Notes:

  • There are two forms for the 2nd person singular form (thu and 'tu), tu is used after verbs in the relative future tense and conditional mood.
  • The sibh is used both for plural you and as a polite form of the singular
  • There is no neuter pronoun (it) in Gaelic. Instead either e or i is used depending upon the gender of the noun being used.
  • In the plural there is no gender distinction, one form (iad) is used for both genders.


Emphatic Grade

There is a special form of the pronoun used in Gaelic to indicate special emphasis on the pronoun. There is no equivalent in English except stress. For example, if we wanted to say he saw ME, the Gaelic would use the special form mise: Chunnaic e mise. The emphatic forms are also obligatory when used with identificational uses of copula (e.g. I am John = Is mise Iain).

person Singular Plural
1st mise sinne
2nd thusa/tusa sibhse
3rd masc esan iadsan
3rd fem ise

Notes:

  • There are two forms for the 2nd person singular form (thusa and 'tusa), tusa is used after verbs in the relative future tense and conditional mood.
  • The sibhse is used both for plural you and as a polite form of the singular
  • There is no neuter pronoun (it) in Gaelic. Instead either esan or ise is used depending upon the gender of the noun being used.
  • In the plural there is no gender distinction, one form (iadsan) is used for both genders.

Note that sometimes reflexive forms (see below) are also used to mark emphasis.


Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns (in English forms like myself, yourself, himself, herself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves) are used obligatorily when referring back to another noun that has been named in the same clause, e.g., John loves himself (himself refers back to John). In other words they are used as anaphors.

In Gaelic, unlike English (but used this way in Irish English and Hebredean English), reflexive pronouns can also be used as Emphasis. In such uses, they are not anaphoric (i.e. they don't refer back to a previous noun). For example, they can be used in subject position: Tha è fhèin a' tighinn (Literally "himself is coming", but colloquially HE is coming.)

In Gaelic the reflexive is formed by attaching fhèin (sometimes fhìn in the first person) to either basic grade or emphatic grade pronouns. This is usually written as a separate word.


person Singular Plural
1st mi fhìn or mi fhèin sinn fhèin
2nd thu fhèin sibh fhèin
3rd masc e fhèin iad fhèin
3rd fem i fhèin

Note:

  • The choice of fhìn or fhèin with the 1st person singular is a matter of dialect. In Skye the form fhìn is more frequently used than fhèin
  • Also: mise fhìn, thusa fhèin, esan fhèin, ise fhèin, sinne fhèin, sibhse fhèin, and iadsan fhèin.


Possessive Pronouns

Person Singular Plural
1 my moL our àrN
2 your doL your ùrN
3 masc his aL their an/am
3 feminine her aH

Notes:

  • L stands for lenition trigger, N stands for Eclipsis/nasalization trigger, H indicates the word prefixes an <h> in front of the following word. These letters are not written but are provided here as guides.
  • am is used instead of an in front of words beginning with any labial consonant (i.e. <b, m, f, p>), eg. their table am bòrd
  • before words beginning with vowels "mo" is reduced to mo', do is reduced to d', and aL his is deleted.


Prepositional Pronouns

In Gaelic prepositions take special forms when they take a pronoun as an object. These are Prepositional Pronouns.

Inflected Prepositions with object pronouns

    singular plural
definite 1 2 3 masc 3 fem 1 2 3
aig aig an agam agad aige aice againn agaibh aca
air air an orm ort air oirre oirnn oirbh orra
ann anns an annam annad ann innte annainn annaibh annta
à às an asam asad às aisde asainn asaibh asda
bho bhon bhuam bhuat bhuaithe bhuaipe bhuainn bhuaibh bhuapa
de (dhe) dhen dhiom dhiot dheth dhith dhinn dhibh dhiubh
do don dhomh dhut dha dhi dhuinn dhuibh dhiabh
fo fon fodham fodhad fodha foidhpe fodhainn fodhaibh fodhpa
eadar eadar an -- -- -- -- eadarainn eadaraibh eatorra
gu (thun) (th)ugam (th)ugad (th)uige (th)uice (th)ugainn (th)ugaibh (th)uca
chun chugam chugad chuige chuice chugainn chugaibh chuca
gun no special inflected forms
le leis an leam leat leis leatha leinn leibh leotha/leò
mar no special inflected forms
mu mun umam umad uime uimpe umainn umaibh umpa
o on uam uat uaithe uaipe uainn uaibh uapa
no special inflected forms
ri ris an rium ruit ris rithe ruinn ruibh riutha
ro (roimh) ron romham romhad roimh(e) roimhpe romhainn romhaibh romhpa
thar thar an tharam tharad thairis thairte tharainn <tharaibh tharta
trìd no special inflected forms
tro (troimh) tron tromham tromhad troimhe troimhpe tromhainn tromhaibh tromhpa
†Note the chugam, chugad etc. forms are rarely used anymore, nor is the definite form thun


Inflected Prepositions with possessive pronouns

The 1st person singular, 2nd person singular and 3rd person singular masculine forms here trigger lenition (indicated with a superscript L). 1st and 2nd person plurals trigger the prefixation of n- onto words beginning with vowels (nasalization), This is indicated with a superscript N. the pronunciation of the a consonant following these and the 3rd person plural is also frequently voiced or nasalized. Finally the 3rd person feminine forms prefix an <h> onto words beginning with a vowel. This is indicated with H. The superscript N, H, and L are not usually written out in the orthography of Gaelic and are presented here merely to remind you what Initial Consonant Mutation is being triggered.

Note: of the following only the possessive inflected forms of aig, ann, do and ri are in regular use. All the others quite rare or considered prescriptively inferior.

singular plural
1 2 3 masc 3 fem 1 2 3
aig 'gamL 'gadL 'gaL 'gaH 'garN 'gurN 'gan
ann 'namL 'nadL 'naL 'naH 'narN 'nurN 'nan
bho bhomL bhodL bho aL bho aH bhorN bhuN bhon
de (dhe) dhemL dhedL dhe aL dhe aH dhe arN dhe urN dhen
do domL/dhamL dodL/dhadL dhaL dhaH dor/dharN dhurN don/dhan
fo fomL fodL fo aL fo aH forN furN fon
gu gumL gudL gu aL gu aH garN gurN gun
le lemL led'L le aL le aH lerN lurN len
mu 'mumL 'mudL mu aL mu aH marN murN man
o omL odL o aL o aH orN urN on
ri rimL ridL ri aL ri aH ri arN ri urN rin
ro (roimh) romL rodL ro aL ro aH rorN rurN ron
tro (troimh) tromL trodL tro aL tro aH trorN trurN tron
  • Note that the /n/ ending on the 3rd person plural will change to an <m> when the word precedes word beginning with <m, b, f, p>.
  • Any preposition not in the list above simply combines the normal preposition with the normal possessive pronoun (e.g. "air mo")