Gender

Irish nouns are either masculine or feminine. Gender matters because it affects articles, initial mutations, adjective agreement, pronouns, and some declension patterns. You will meet it whenever you use a noun with an, na, an adjective, or a pronoun such as sé or sí.

Gender and Biological Sex

Irish distinguishes between the natural, biological sex of living beings, called sex (gnéas), and the grammatical gender of nouns, called gender (inscne).

Irish has two grammatical genders: masculine (firinscneach) and feminine (baininscneach). Male living beings are usually named by masculine nouns, and female living beings are usually named by feminine nouns.

Not every noun follows biological sex. For example, stail means “stallion” but is grammatically feminine, while cailín means “girl” but is grammatically masculine.

For inanimate things, gender is usually arbitrary from a learner’s point of view, although it can often be connected with the noun’s origin or ending. Irish is therefore similar to German in having grammatical gender, but present-day Irish no longer has a neuter gender.

Where Gender Matters

Gender affects several parts of Irish grammar.

• The declension of the noun and of following adjectives
• The use of the definite article in the nominative and genitive
• The initial mutation after the article: an or na, lenition or no lenition, and t-prefix before s or a vowel
• The lenition of following adjectives and genitive attributes
• The choice of personal pronoun: sé for “he” or sí for “she”
• The choice of possessive pronoun: a with lenition for “his”, and a without lenition for “her”
• The choice of prepositional pronoun, for example aige “at him”, aici “at her”, as “out of him”, and aisti “out of her”

Recognising Masculine Nouns

Some patterns are useful clues that a noun is masculine.

Declension Clues

The following nouns are usually masculine:

• All nouns of the 1st declension
• Most nouns of the 4th declension
• No nouns of the 2nd declension, except the three masculine nouns im, sliabh, and teach
• Only a few nouns of the 5th declension
• Most occupational nouns

Masculine Endings

Nouns with the following endings are masculine:

• -adh
• -amh
• -aí
• -án
• -ar
• -as
• -éad
• -éal
• -éara
• -aeir
• -éir
• -úir
• -ú
• -ún
• -ire

Nouns ending in -éar are almost all masculine.

Nouns ending in -ín are normally masculine because they belong to the 4th declension.

mala “bag” and muga “mug” show the common masculine pattern for disyllabic nouns ending in -a.

Monosyllabic nouns ending in -cht are masculine, for example lucht “load, people”, reacht “law, right”, and bocht “poor person”. The exception is léacht “lecture”. Polysyllabic nouns ending in -cht are masculine only in compounds such as bunreacht “constitution” and comhlacht “company”.

Derivations in -ach are masculine when they are formed from other nouns.

• Éire “Ireland” > Éireannach “Irishman, Irishwoman”
• Gearmánach “German”
• Sasanach “English person”
• Caitliceach “Catholic”

Recognising Feminine Nouns

Some patterns are useful clues that a noun is feminine.

Declension Clues

The following nouns are usually feminine:

• All nouns of the 2nd declension, except im, sliabh, and teach
• Most nouns of the 5th declension
• No nouns of the 1st declension
• Only a few nouns of the 4th declension

Name Clues

The following types of names are usually feminine:

• Country names, except Sasana “England”, Ceannada “Canada”, and Meiricea “America”
• Language names, except Béarla “English”
• River names, except An Feabhal “Foyle”

Feminine Endings

Nouns with the following endings are feminine:

• -ailt
• -áil
• -aíl
• -eog
• -óg
• -seach
• -lann
• -íocht
• -úil
• -áint
• -úint
• -int, except sáirsint “sergeant”
• -irt
• -is
• ís

Polysyllabic nouns ending in -acht are feminine, for example Gaeltacht.

Nouns ending in -ach are feminine when they are not derivations from other nouns.

báisteach “rain” is feminine.

Gender-Specific Personal Nouns

Irish less often marks personal nouns, including occupational nouns, by natural sex. A múinteoir can be a male teacher or a female teacher, depending on context, although the noun is always grammatically masculine.

When Irish does need to mark sex explicitly, it can do so in several ways.

The Prefix ban-

The prefix ban- marks women and is followed by lenition except before t and d.

• bantiarna “lady”
• banrinceoir “female dancer”
• banphríosúnach “a female prisoner”
• bandia “a goddess”

The prefix fear- for men is rare.

Genitive Apposition

The genitive appositions mná and fir can also mark sex. Both forms are always unlenited.

• baintreach fir “widower”
• dochtúir mná “female doctor”

Compare dochtúir ban, which means “gynaecologist”.

Adjectives

Adjectives can mark sex directly.

• fireann “male”
• baineann “female”

Endings

Irish only rarely uses gender-specific endings. This differs from German, where such endings are common.

• banríon “queen”, with an ending in addition to the prefix ban-; compare rí “king”
• máistreás “mistress”; compare máistir “lord, master”

Remnants of the Neuter Gender

The neuter gender, an neodar, has disappeared completely from present-day Irish. Nouns that were neuter in Old Irish were reassigned to masculine or feminine gender. They often belong to the 3rd declension, so 3rd declension nouns today may be either masculine or feminine without their form showing which one they are.

Some vague remnants of the neuter remain.

• Eclipsis and n-prefix appear in older geographical proper names after formerly neuter elements, for example Loch nEathach “Loch Neagh” and Muir nIocht “English Channel”, although loch “lake” is now masculine and muir “sea” is now feminine.
• Some formerly neuter nouns vary dialectally between masculine and feminine.
• The neuter pronoun ea survives, but its use is now very limited.
• trian “third” was originally neuter, so dhá “two” often causes eclipsis instead of the usual lenition: dhá dtrian “two thirds”.

The Diminutive Ending -ín

A diminutive is a small or affectionate form. The Irish ending -ín corresponds roughly to German diminutive endings such as “-chen” or “-lein”.

The ending is usually added after palatalisation.

• fear “man” > firín “little man”

There is no palatalisation after -ch or -cht.

• luch “mouse” > luchín “little mouse”
• teach “house” > teachín “little house”
• dréacht “literary or musical work, piece” > dréachtín “little work, stanza”

Words ending in -ín belong to the 4th declension and are in principle masculine, though not always.

Masculine Diminutives with New Meanings

Words are generally masculine when speakers no longer understand them as diminutives of a base word, or when they have developed a new meaning.

cailín “girl” is no longer understood as a diminutive of the obsolete caile, just as German “Mädchen” is no longer understood as a diminutive of “Maid, Magd”. For that reason, cailín is masculine.

Genuine Diminutives

With a masculine base word, the diminutive is naturally also masculine.

• an firín “the little man”
• an leabhairín “the little book”

With a feminine base word, the gender depends on case.

In the nominative singular, the diminutive is treated as feminine.

• an pháirc bheag “the small park” > an pháircín bheag “the little park”

In the genitive singular, the diminutive is treated as masculine.

• cranna na páirce bige “the trees of the small park” > cranna an pháircín bhig “the trees of the little park”

In the plural, gender is not visible.

• na páirceanna beaga “the small parks” > na páircíní beaga “the little parks”

With female personal names, the diminutive is always feminine.

• Brídín
• Nóirín

Other Diminutive Suffixes

Today, only -ín is still productive for forming diminutives. Earlier Irish also used other suffixes, especially -óg for feminine nouns and -án for masculine nouns. These survive in many nouns.

• cnocán “a little hill”
• eitleog “kite”, literally “little wing”
• ordóg “thumb”, literally “little hammer”

Diminutives Beyond Nouns

Unlike in German, the Irish diminutive ending -ín is not restricted to nouns. It can sometimes attach to adjectives or to adverbs derived from nouns.

• ar baillín “in or after a little while”
• go fóillín “still a little”
• álainnín “pretty-ish”
• bídeachaín “tiny-ish”