dhá

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word dhá. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word dhá, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say dhá in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word dhá you have here. The definition of the word dhá will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofdhá, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
See also: dha, DHA, and dhà

Irish

Etymology 1

Irish numbers (edit)
 ←  1 2
    Cardinal:
    Ordinal: dara, dóú
    Personal: beirt, dís
    Attributive: dhá

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

Pronunciation

Numeral

dhá (triggers lenition)

  1. two
    dhá charr aige
    He has two cars
    dhá dóibhtwo 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; 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 chapallhis two horses (lenition)
  • a dhá húllher two apples (h-prothesis)
  • a dhá dteachtheir 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 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 leabhar
    the two books
  • teangacha an dá thír
    the two countries' languages
  • aon áit
    any two places
  • an chéad bhliain
    the first two years
  • When referring to human beings, the personal form beirt is used.

Etymology 2

Lenited form of .

Pronunciation

Conjunction

dhá

  1. Alternative form of

Contraction

dhá

  1. Alternative form of

Derived terms

References

  1. ^ Sjoestedt, M. L. (1931) Phonétique d’un parler irlandais de Kerry (in French), Paris: Librairie Ernest Leroux, § 215, page 110
  2. ^ Finck, F. N. (1899) Die araner mundart (in German), volume II, Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 136
  3. ^ Quiggin, E. C. (1906) A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, § 285, page 101

Further reading