Cuimhnigh! • We use adjectives (e.g. old, young, interesting) to describe nouns (e.g. tree, person, subject). Here are some examples of common adjectives:
sean beag te
grianmhar cairdiúil ard
iargúlta cineálta
old
small warm sunny
friendly high
remote kind
Before consonants (except d, s and t): add séimhiú (h)
beag mór
grianmhar gruama cairdiúil fuar
gnóthach cineálta
an-bheag an-mhór
an-ghrianmhar an-ghruama an-chairdiúil an-fhuar
an-ghnóthach an-chineálta
óg
mór fuar
gruama deas íseal
gnóthach lách
young big
cold
gloomy nice low
busy kind
• When we put the prefix an- (very) before the adjective, the following changes are made:
Before vowels or d, s and t: add a hyphen (-)
ard íseal
iargúlta óg
sean te
lách deas
an-ard an-íseal
an-iargúlta an-óg
an-sean an-te* an-lách
an-deas* * an-the and an-dheas are accepted in Munster
• When we put the prefix ró (too) before the adjective, the following changes are made: Before consonants: add a séimhiú (h) Before vowels: add a hyphen (-) beag mór
róbheag rómhór
grianmhar te
róghrianmhar róthe
Cleachtadh A Cuir ‘an-’ roimh na haidiachtaí seo. 1 ciúin 2 tirim
Cleachtadh B Cuir ‘ró’ roimh na haidiachtaí seo. 1 ciúin 2 tirim