Overview

In Irish, adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They are generally invariable, meaning they do not change their form for case or number. However, adverbs that are derived from adjectives can be graded or compared, similar to the adjectives themselves.

Word Order in the Sentence

The position of an adverb in an Irish sentence depends on what it is modifying.

Modifying Adjectives and Adverbs

Adverbs that modify an adjective or another adverb are placed immediately before the word they are modifying.

• réasúnta dona - quite bad
• pas beag rómhór - a little too big

Modifying Verbs and Sentences

Adverbs that modify a verb or the entire sentence usually come at the end of the sentence. If there are several adverbs, they typically appear in the order: place, manner, then time.

However, there are several important exceptions to this rule:

• Before simple pronoun objects: An adverb comes before a simple personal or prepositional pronoun that functions as the object.

  • Bhí mo mhac inné agam. - My son was with me yesterday.

• After stressed pronouns: An adverb comes after an emphatic or demonstrative pronoun.

  • Bhí mo mhac agamsa inné. - My son was with me yesterday.

• At the beginning of the sentence (Clefting): Any part of a sentence, including an adverb, can be moved to the front for emphasis using a cleft sentence structure.

  • (Is) inné a bhí mo mhac agamsa. - It was yesterday that my son was with me.
  • Inné (is ea) a bhí mo mhac agamsa. - It was yesterday that my son was with me.

Adverbs After the Subject

Some common adverbs can be placed directly after the subject, regardless of what follows. These include:

• anois (now)
• riamh (ever, before)
• i gcónaí, choíche (always)
• go fóill, fós (still, yet)
• go minic (often)

• An raibh tú riamh i mBéal Feirste? - Have you ever been to Belfast?

Adverbs with bí … ann

When using the construction bí ... ann (to be, to exist), these adverbs can stand between the verb and an indefinite subject.

• Bíonn i gcónaí drochaimsir ann Lá Fhéile Pádraig. - There is always bad weather on St. Patrick’s Day.

Interjections

Adverbial interjections like cinnte (certainly) and ar ndóigh (of course) can come between the verb and the subject, as long as the subject is not a pronoun.

• Tá cinnte Gardaí ar an sráid. - There are certainly police officers on the street.
• Tá ar ndóigh daoine a chreideann… - There are of course people who believe…

Sentence-Initial Adverbs

Some adverbs, particularly those referring to the entire sentence or to time and place, can stand at the beginning of a sentence without changing its structure.

• Ar aon chuma, bhí sé ag obair go cúramach. - In any case, he worked carefully.
• Amárach, beidh muid ag labhairt faoin ábhar sin. - Tomorrow, we will talk about that topic.

When such a sentence becomes a subordinate clause with go or nach, the adverbial phrase comes before the conjunction.

• An chéad Nollaig eile tiocfaidh sé aníos. - Next Christmas he will come up.
• Deiridís an chéad Nollaig eile go dtiocfadh sé aníos. - They said that he would come up next Christmas.

Fronting Adverbs with Cleft Sentences

Some adverbs can only be moved to the front of a sentence using a cleft structure. For some, this is the most common or required way to front them. These include minic (often), annamh (rarely), fada (for a long time), ar éigean (hardly), and fánach (rarely).

• Is minic a bhí sé ag obair go cúramach. - Often he worked carefully.
• (Is) ar éigean a chreid sé mé. - He hardly believed me.

In these structures, the relative forms of bí are often omitted, creating a “small clause”.

• B’annamh é ag gearán. - He rarely complained. (from B’annamh a bhí sé ag gearán.)
• B’annamh gan é ag gearán. - He rarely did not complain. (from B’annamh nach raibh sé ag gearán.)

Adverbs with Copula and go/nach Clauses

Some adverbs require a copula sentence followed by a go/nach clause instead of a relative clause.

• Is gearr go mbeimid abhaile. - We will soon be home.
• B’fhéidir go bhfuil sé anseo. - Perhaps he is here.
• Is dócha go dtiocfadh sí ar ais am éicínt. - She would probably come back sometime.
• Is léir nach bhfuil a fhios agat. - Clearly you don’t know.
• Is cosúil go raibh sé sásta. - Apparently he was satisfied.

The adverb minic uses a cleft sentence with regular verbs, but a go/nach clause with copula sentences.

• Is minic gur fearr an toil ná an t-eolas. - Often the will is better than the knowledge.

Adverbs of Place and Direction

Irish makes a very strict distinction between adverbs of place (location) and direction (movement). This system distinguishes between a state of rest, movement towards the speaker, and movement away from the speaker.

There is often a four-way distinction based on prefixes:

• th-: Indicates a state of rest at a location.
• an-: Indicates movement towards the speaker.
• s-: Indicates movement away from the speaker.
• las-: Indicates a position relative to a reference point.

Movement: Towards and Away (an- vs s-)

The distinction between an- and s- marks whether the movement is towards the speaker (an-) or away from the speaker (s-). The reference point is always the location distant from the speaker.

• aníos: up (towards the speaker, literally “from below hither”)
• suas: up (away from the speaker, literally “to above thither”)
• anuas: down (towards the speaker, literally “from above hither”)
• síos: down (away from the speaker, literally “to below thither”)

Position: Defined and Undefined (th- vs s-)

The th- prefix marks a defined point where something is located. If the location is undefined and only in a general direction, forms with s- are used instead.

• Tá sé thuas ansin. - He is up there. (at a specific point)
• Tá sé suas ansin. - He is up there. (somewhere up in that direction)

Relative Position (las- and taobh)

To indicate a position relative to another object, adverbs can begin with las-/lais-. The reference point is introduced with the preposition de.

• lastuas den staighre - above the stairs
• laistigh de na ballaí - inside the walls

Alternatively, the noun taobh (side) can be used with a positional adverb, also followed by de.

• taobh thiar de (or laistiar de) - behind, west of
• taobh istigh de (or laistigh de) - inside of

Change of Perspective

The choice of directional adverb is based on the speaker’s perspective. However, in narratives where the speaker is not present, the perspective often shifts to the subject or agent of the sentence.

Usage with Verbs of Motion

Certain verbs of motion pair logically with specific directional adverbs.

• tar (come) describes movement towards the speaker, so it pairs with an- adverbs, not s- adverbs.
  • Tar aníos! - Come up!
  • An exception is when moving together with the speaker: Tar suas liom. - Come up with me!
• téigh (go) describes movement away from the speaker, so it pairs with s- adverbs.
  • Téigh suas! - Go up!

These combinations can also form phrasal verbs with idiomatic meanings.

• éirigh amach - to get out; to rebel, revolt
• cuir síos ar - to lay something down
• cuir anuas ar - to spread something out over a surface (e.g., a sheet on a bed)

Other Grammatical Roles

• As Prepositions: Adverbs with s- and an- can function like prepositions when followed directly by a noun.
  • anuas an staighre - down the stairs
  • síos an bóthar - down the road
• As Adjectives: Adverbs with th- and an- can be used as attributes to modify nouns.
  • an teach thuaidh - the northern house
  • an ghaoth aniar - the west wind
• Nominalisation: The phrase an taobh (the side) can be used to turn these adverbs into nouns.
  • an taobh istigh - the inside
  • an taobh thuas - the upper part

The Cardinal Directions

The system of directional adverbs is used to express the cardinal directions.

The terms for east and west are used frequently in everyday descriptions of movement.

• Tá mé ag dul siar an bóthar. - I am going along the road (westwards).
• Tháinig láir bhán ar cosa in airde anoir an trá. - A white mare came galloping along the beach (from the east).

Intermediate Cardinal Directions

Intermediate directions are formed by combining the main directions. Note that East/West comes before North/South.

• North-East: thoir thuaidh (in the NE), anoir aduaidh (from the NE), soir ó thuaidh (to the NE)
• South-West: thiar theas (in the SW), aniar aneas (from the SW), siar ó dheas (to the SW)

Nominal Forms and Abbreviations

The noun forms for the cardinal directions are different from the adverbs.

• an tuaisceart (the North)
• an deisceart (the South)
• an t-oirthear (the East)
• an t-iarthar (the West)
• an t-oirdheisceart (the South-East)
• an t-iardheisceart (the South-West)
• an t-oirthuaisceart (the North-East)
• an t-iarthuaisceart (the North-West)

These noun forms provide the standard abbreviations: T (tuaisceart), D (deisceart), O (oirthear), I (iarthar).

Up and Down

Front and Back

In the traditional Irish orientation, a person faces east (towards the rising sun), meaning west is behind them.

• thiar / laistiar de - behind, in the west
• thoir - in front, in the east (less common, ar aghaidh is usually preferred)

Left and Right

Following the same east-facing orientation, south is to the right.

• deas - right; southern; nice
• clé - left

Deas and clé are adjectives. The adverbial forms are typically ar dheis (on the right) and ar chlé (on the left).

Clockwise and Anti-clockwise

The roots for south (deas) and north (tuath) also appear in words for circular motion.

• deiseal - clockwise (in the direction of the sun)
• tuathal - anti-clockwise (against the sun’s direction)

Beyond and This Side

In and Out

Adverbs of Time

Adverbs from Adjectives

Adverbs of manner are typically formed from adjectives using the particle go.

Formation with go

The particle go is placed before the base form of the adjective. It prefixes h to adjectives beginning with a vowel.

The particle go is omitted in several situations:

• When the adverb itself is modified by another adverb: D’oibrigh sé réasúnta dona. (He worked quite badly.)
• With a series of adverbs not joined by agus: Roinn siad go fial fairsing linn. (They shared generously and amply with us.)
• When the adverb modifies an attributive adjective: an teach measartha mór (the fairly large house).
• Often before ró- (too): D’oibrigh sé ródhona. (He worked too badly.)
• Often when the adverb is fronted in a cleft sentence: Ní dona a d’oibrigh sé. (It was not badly that he worked.)

Adverbial Use of the Comparative

To compare how an action is done, the comparative form of the adjective is used as an adverb.

• Comparative: Use níos + the comparative form of the adjective.
  • D’oibrigh sé níos measa ná Pól. - He worked worse than Paul.
• Superlative: Use is + the comparative form. This forms a relative clause.
  • Is é Seán is luaithe a ritheann. - Seán runs the fastest. (Literally: “It is Seán who is fastest who runs.”)

Adverbial Pronouns

Adverbial pronouns (e.g., “therein”, “thereupon”, “hereby”) are formed using prepositions.

From Conjugated Prepositions

For simple prepositions, the adverbial pronoun is usually the 3rd person singular masculine form of the prepositional pronoun.

• aige (at him) -> thereby
• air (on him) -> thereupon
• ann (in him) -> therein
• dó (to him) -> thereto

To make the meaning more specific (like “herein” vs “therein”), the demonstrative pronouns seo (this/here), sin (that/there), or siúd (that/yonder) are added.

From Compound Prepositions

• Two-part prepositions (e.g., ar son) form adverbs using the 3rd person masculine possessive pronoun a.
  • ar son (for the sake of) -> ar a shon sin (for that reason)
  • de bharr (as a result of) -> dá bharr sin (as a result of that)
• Three-part prepositions (e.g., in aice le) form adverbs using the 3rd person masculine prepositional pronoun of the final preposition.
  • in aice le (beside) -> in aice leis (beside it)
  • mar gheall ar (because of) -> mar gheall air (because of it)

Adverbs from Nouns

Many adverbs in Irish originated as nouns, often combined with the preposition i (in). The original noun is often no longer obvious.

• amuigh (outside) < i maigh (in a plain)
• amach (out) < i mach (into a plain)
• istigh (inside) < sa tigh (in the house)
• isteach (in) < sa teach (into the house)

Some nouns can also be used as adverbs without a preposition, often to indicate a quantity.

• beagán fuar - a little cold
• Ísligh beagán é! - Lower it a bit!

Adverbs from Weekdays

To use a day of the week as a time adverb (e.g., “on Monday”), the word Dé is placed before the genitive form of the day’s name.

Compare the usage:

• an Luan - Monday (the noun)
• Dé Luain - on Monday
• gach Luan - every Monday

Adverbs from Numerals

Adverbs indicating frequency (“how many times”) are formed using uair (time/occasion) or the preposition faoi.