dhá

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See also: dha, DHA, and dhà

Irish

Etymology 1

From Old Irish dá, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁.

Pronunciation

Numeral

dhá (triggers lenition)

  1. two
    Tá dhá charr aige
    He has two cars
    dhá dóibh ― two of them (non-personal)
    Bheadh sé níos fearr dá bhféadfadh dhá de na rudaí ag deighilt
    It would be better if two of the things could be separated
Usage notes
  • Used before nouns; dó is used when free-standing (counting, telling a row of numerals, etc). The following noun is in the singular nominative (or, in the few cases where distinct duals have survived, the dual nominative (e.g. dhá bhróig – "two shoes")) and is almost always lenited; the sole exception is with the third-person possessive determiner a, which triggers mutation as if the dhá simply was not there:
  • a dhá chapall ― his two horses (lenition)
  • a dhá húll ― her two apples (h-prothesis)
  • a dhá dteach ― their two houses (eclipsis)
  • When used with adjectives, the adjective is always in the nominative plural and is lenited by default:
  • dhá bhád mhóra
    two big boats
  • dhá mhadra dhubha
    two black dogs
  • dhá amhrán ghearra
    two short songs
  • The alternative form dá is used after the definite article (which is always in the singular and is always an, even with feminine nouns in the genitive), aon ("any"), and céad ("first"):
  • an dá leabhar
    the two books
  • teangacha an dá thír
    the two countries' languages
  • aon dá áit
    any two places
  • an chéad dá bhliain
    the first two years
  • When referring to human beings, the personal form beirt is used.

Etymology 2

Lenited form of dá.

Pronunciation

Conjunction

dhá

  1. Alternative form of dá

Contraction

dhá

  1. Alternative form of dá

Derived terms

References

  1. ^ Quiggin, E. C. (1906) A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, page 101

Further reading

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