Appendix:Irish fourth-declension nouns

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The Irish fourth declension is made up primarily of masculine nouns; however, abstract nouns ending in a vowel are nearly always feminine (eagla, aigne). The nominative singular can end in: a vowel; the diminutive suffix ‑ín (cailín); a few that end in a consonant (bus, ainm).

There is no special form for the genitive singular. The dative and vocative singular are likewise identical to the nominative singular.

The fourth declension plurals are strong plurals with very few exceptions.

The vocative forms, both singular and plural, are the same as the nominative.

Weak plurals

A weak plural is characterised by the genitive plural having the same form as the nominative singular. There are only a couple[1] of exceptional nouns classed as such in the fourth declension.

  • bó f (“cow”), gs. bó, npl. ba, gpl. bó
  • grásta f (“grace”), grásta, grásta, grást
  • neach m (“person”), neach, neacha, neach
bó (“cow”) Singular Plural
Nominative bó ba
Vocative a bhó a bha
Genitive bó bó
Dative bó ba

Strong plurals

A strong plural is characterised by the genitive plural maintaining the same form as the nominative plural. Strong plural forms found in the fourth declension are (singular: plural):

  • -a, -e: -aí, -í
  • -ín: -íní
  • -le, -ne: -lte, -nte
  • -í, -aoi, -é: -the
  • also:
    • -nna
    • -(n)(e)acha

The first two are the most common.

file (“poet”) Singular Plural
Nominative file filí
Vocative a fhile a fhilí
Genitive file filí
Dative file filí

Feminine nouns

As a general rule, nouns of the fourth declension are masculine.

The feminine nouns are:

  • Most abstract nouns ending in a vowel:
    • aigne f (“mind”)
    • eagla f (“fear”)
    • teanga f (“language, tongue”)
    • etc.
    • exceptions:
      • bua m (“victory, talent”)
      • dlí m (“law”)
      • gleo m (“battle”)
      • rince m (“dance”)
      • taighde m (“research”)
  • Female personal names ending in -ín
    • Máirín, Nóirín.
  • Concrete nouns that are nonetheless feminine

Nouns which refer to females, but are grammatically masculine

For nouns referring to females but which are grammatically of masculine gender, the referential pronoun is feminine: is cailín í.

Nouns ending in consonants other than -ín

Most nouns of the fourth declension end in vowels or -ín. Nouns with other, consonant endings (with their plural form) include:

  • ainm m (“name”), ainmneacha
  • béarlagair m (“jargon”)
  • bus m (“bus”), busanna
  • cailif m (“cailif”), cailifí
  • cic m (“kick”), ciceanna
  • cleas m (“gang”), cleasanna (as 1st, trick)
  • cliamhain m (“son-in-law”), cliamhaineacha
  • cruicéad m (“cricket”) (teanglann: 1st)
  • dabht m (“doubt”), dabhtanna
  • dosaen m (“dozen”), dosaenacha
  • Eanáir m (“January”), Eanáirí
  • éimír m (“emir”), éimírí
  • fabht m (“fault”), fabhtanna
  • gild m (“guild”), gildeanna
  • Iúil m (“July”), Iúilí
  • laghad m (“smallness”) (teanglann: 1st, but unchanged genitive)
  • Máirt f (“Tuesday”), Máirteanna
  • máistir m (“master”), máistirí
  • méid m (“amount”) (as 2nd f, size)
  • mosc m (“mosque”), moscanna
  • saibhir m (“richness”), saibhirre
  • sáirsint m (“sergeant”), sáirsintí
  • seilf m (“shelf”), seilfeanna
  • seoch m (“dyke”), seochanna
  • stad m (“stop”), stadanna
  • téacs m (“text”), téacsanna
  • tiubh m (“throng”)
  • tobac m (“tobacco”)
  • uncail m (“uncle”), uncailí
  • veain m (“van”), veaineanna
  • veist m (“vest”), veisteanna
  • -eas,-iam (modern technical term from Latin -us, -ium)
    • e.g. víreas, úráiniam
  • -blast, -clast (modern technical term from Greek βλαστός (blastós) κλαστός (klastós))

Nouns in other declensions ending in vowels

Verbal nouns

Verbal nouns in short or long vowels (i.e., first verbal declension) form their verbal genitive using the verbal adjective e.g. -(a)ithe. Therefore, they are not classed as fourth declension nouns.

However, their substantive genitive is in the fourth declension.

The substantive genitive of second declension verbal nouns ending in vowels have the form of the verbal adjective.

Exception:

  • éirigh, vn. éirí, gs s. and vn. éirí

Fifth declension

The fifth declension is the only other declension with nouns ending in a vowel, albeit relatively few.

Multiple declensions

For a list of nouns having fourth and other declension forms, see the multiple declension table in the Irish nouns appendix.

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Notes

  1. ^ In the Hiberno-English sense of "two or three or so"

See also

Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia