Adjectives

=1. Masculine singular nouns=

a. An adjective which modifies a **nominative** masculine singular common noun should be a **basic form**, neither lenited nor morphologically slenderised, nor altered in any other way.

For example:
 * //Tha **balach beag dubh** anns an taigh.// (There is a little dark-haired boy in the house) - //balach// (boy) is a masculine singular common noun, and is in the nominative case, since it is the subject of the verb //tha// (be); thus, the two adjectives which are modifiers of //balach//, i.e. //beag// (little) and //dubh// (black), must be basic forms, which have neither been lenited not slenderised. Compare with the following ungrammatical alternatives - //*Tha balach **bheag** anns an taigh// (lenited adjective), //*Tha balach **big** anns an taigh// (slenderised adjective), //*Tha balach **bhig** anns an taigh// (lenited, slenderised adjective).

b. An adjective which modifies a **dative** masculine singular common noun is, **by default**, also a basic form, neither lenited nor slenderised, not altered in any other way.

For example:
 * ** //le// //balach beag dubh// ** (with a little dark-haired boy) - //balach// (boy) is a masculine singular common noun, and is in the dative case, since it is the complement of the preposition //le// (with); thus, the two adjectives which are modifiers of //balach//, i.e. //beag// (little) and //dubh// (black), must be basic forms, which have neither been lenited not slenderised. Compare with the following ungrammatical alternatives - //*le balach **dhubh**// (lenited adjective), //*le balach **duibh**// (slenderised adjective), //*le balach **dhuibh**// (lenited, slenderised adjective).
 * ** //bho thaigh mór gorm// **(from a big blue house) - //taigh// (house) is a masculine singular common noun, and is in the dative case, since it is the complement of the preposition //bho// (from); the noun also appears in its lenited form //thaigh//, since //bho// always lenites an immediately following noun; however, the two adjectives which are modifiers of //thaigh// , i.e. //mór// (big) and //gorm// (blue) are not lenited, but rather are basic forms - cf. //*bho thaigh mhór ghorm//.

c. **However**, an adjective which modifies a dative masculine singular common noun which is itself **the complement+ of a definite article** (or a definite variant preposition in //-n//) is always lenited, as long as the adjective itself does not start with a dental consonant (i.e. //t-//, //d-// , //s-// , //l-// or //r-// ).

For example:
 * ** //leis a' bhalach mhór dubh bhrònach// ** (with the big sad dark-haired boy) - here the dative masculine singular common noun //balach// (boy) is the complement of the definite article a', and hence both it and the two adjectives which modify it and which do not begin with a dental consonant, i.e. //mór// (big) and //brònach// (sad), are lenited; however, the adjective //dubh// (black) is not lenited, since //d-// is a dental consonant.
 * ** //bhon t-seann duine mhór snog// ** (from the big nice old man) - the dative masculine singular common noun //duine// (man) is the complement of the prenominal adjective //seann// (old), which is itself the complement of the definite variant preposition //bhon// (from the); the effect of //bhon// is to lenite every following non-dental noun or adjective (i.e. //mhór// ), and to prefix //t-// to an immediately following word beginning with //s-// ; the adjective //snog// (nice) starts with a dental //s-// and hence is left unlenited.

Note that lenition of the adjective in this case is actually a property of the leniting //an// form of the definite article, rather than of the noun itself. The leniting nature of the former **overrides** the non-leniting nature of the latter.

d. An adjective which modifies a **genitive** masculine singular common noun should be **both lenited and slenderised** (even if the genitive form of the noun is not formed by slenderisation).

For example:
 * //ainm **balaich mhóir dhuibh**// (a big dark-haired boy's name) - the (slenderised) masculine singular common noun //balaich// (of a boy) is in the genitive case, since it is a modifier? of the common noun //ainm// (name); thus the two adjectives which modify the noun, //mór// (big) and //dubh// (black), are both lenited and slenderised.

Note that an adjective which modifies a genitive masculine singular noun is both lenited and slenderised even in cases where the genitive singular form of the noun is not formed by lenition and slenderisation.

For example:
 * //ainm **an locha bhig ghoirm**// (the little blue lake's name) - here the genitive singular form of the masculine noun //loch// (lake) is not formed by slenderisation, but rather by adding //-a// on the end; in any case, the modifying adjectives //beag// (little) and //gorm// (blue) need to be both lenited and slenderised.

e. Summary for adjectives modifying masculine singular common nouns:
 * ~  ||||~ singular ||
 * ~  ||||~ masculine ||
 * ~  ||~ indefinite ||~ definite ||
 * ~ nominative ||||= - ||
 * ~ dative ||= - ||= lenited* ||
 * ~ genitive ||||= lenited, slenderised ||

And with examples:
 * ~  ||||~ singular ||
 * ~  ||||~ masculine ||
 * ~  ||~ indefinite ||~ definite ||
 * ~ nominative ||= //balach beag dubh// ||= //am balach beag dubh// ||
 * ~ dative ||= //balach beag dubh// ||= //a' bhalach bheag dubh// ||
 * ~ genitive ||= //balaich bhig dhuibh// ||= //a' bhalaich bhig dhuibh// ||

=2. Feminine singular nouns=

a. An adjective which modifies a **nominative** feminine singular common noun should be a **lenited**, morphologically non-slenderised form.

For example:
 * //Tha **caileag mhór dhubh** anns an taigh.// (There is a big dark-haired girl in the house) - //caileag// (girl) is a feminine singular common noun, and is in the nominative case, since it is the subject of the verb //tha// (be); thus, the two adjectives which are modifiers of //caileag//, i.e. //mór// (big) and //dubh// (black), must be lenited, non-slenderised forms. Compare with the following ungrammatical alternatives - //*Tha caileag **mór** anns an taigh// (non-lenited adjective), //*Tha caileag **mhóir** anns an taigh// (slenderised adjective).

b. An adjective which modifies a **dative** feminine singular common noun should be a **lenited, slenderised** form.

For example:
 * ** //le// //caileig mhóir dhuibh// ** (with a big dark-haired girl) - //caileig// (girl) is a feminine singular common noun, and is in the dative case, since it is the complement of the preposition //le// (with) and has thus been slenderised; the two adjectives which are modifiers of //caileig//, i.e. //mór// (big) and //dubh// (black), hence must be both lenited and slenderised. Compare with the following ungrammatical alternatives - //*le caileig **dhubh**// (non-slenderised adjective), //*le caileig **duibh**// (non-lenited adjective), //*le caileig **dubh**// (non-lenited, non-slenderised adjective).

c. However, in **informal** Gaelic, where morphological slenderisation of dative feminine singular common nouns is typically relaxed, adjectives are generally also not slenderised, just like in the nominative.

For example:
 * **//le caileag mhór dhubh//** is an informal version of the formal Gaelic ** //le// //caileig mhóir dhuibh// ** (with a big dark-haired girl).

d. An adjective which modifies a **genitive** feminine singular common noun should **slenderised, with an - //e// appended on the end**, but **not lenited**.

For example:
 * ** //ainm caileige móire duibhe// **(a big dark-haired girl's name) - the (slenderised, //-e// suffixed) masculine singular common noun //caileige// (of a girl) is in the genitive case, since it is a modifier? of the common noun //ainm// (name); thus the two adjectives which modify the noun, //mór// (big) and //dubh// (black), are both slenderised and //-e// suffixed, but not lenited.

Note that an adjective which modifies a genitive feminine singular common noun is both slenderised and //-e// suffixed even in cases where the genitive singular form of the noun is not formed in this way.

For example:
 * //ainm **na sùla bige goirme**// (the little blue eye's name) - here the genitive singular form of the feminine noun //sùil// (eye) is not formed by slenderisation and //-e// suffixation, but rather by deslenderisation and //-a// suffixation; in any case, the modifying adjectives //beag// (little) and //gorm// (blue) need to be both slenderised and //-e// suffixed.

e. However, in **informal** Gaelic, adjectives which modify feminine genitive singular common nouns are generally just lenited basic forms, just like in the nominative.

For example:
 * **//ainm caileige mhór dhubh//** is an informal version of the formal Gaelic **//ainm// //caileige móire duibhe//** (a big dark-haired girl's name).

f. Summary for adjectives modifying feminine singular common nouns:
 * ~  ||~ singular ||
 * ~  ||~ feminine ||
 * ~ nominative ||= lenited ||
 * ~ dative ||= lenited, slenderised ||
 * ~ genitive ||= slenderised, //-e// ||

And with examples:
 * ~  ||||~ singular ||
 * ~  ||||~ feminine ||
 * ~  ||~ indefinite ||~ definite ||
 * ~ nominative ||= //caileag bheag dhubh// ||= //a' chaileig bheag dhubh// ||
 * ~ dative ||= //caileig bhig dhuibh// ||= //a' chaileig bhig dhuibh// ||
 * ~ genitive ||= //caileige bige duibhe// ||= //na caileige bige duibhe// ||

=3. Plural nouns=

a. A **monosyllabic** adjective which modifies a plural noun has an **unstressed vowel** added onto the end. If the adjective ends with a broad consonant, then this is //-a//. If the adjective ends with a slender consonant, then this is //-e//.

For example:
 * ** //taighean beaga gorma// ** (little blue houses).
 * ** //caileagan òga glice// ** (clever young girls).

b. **On the other hand**, an adjective whose basic form consists of **more than one syllable**, and which is a modifier of a plural noun, does not have a suffix added.

For example:
 * ** //caileagan brònach beaga// ** (sad little girls).
 * ** //taighean beaga inntinneach// ** (interesting little houses).

c. An adjective which modifies a **plural noun which has been formed by slenderisation** should be **lenited**.

For example:
 * **//balaich bheaga mhilis//** (sweet little boys) -.
 * ** //caoraich fhliucha mharbha// ** (dead wet sheep) -.

d. **On the other hand**, an adjective which modifies a plural noun which has been formed in some other way should not be lenited.

For example:
 * **//taighean beaga milis//** (sweet little houses) -.
 * ** //bà fliucha marbha// ** (dead wet cows) -.

e. Summary for adjectives modifying plural common nouns:
 * ~  ||||~ plural ||
 * ~  ||~ -an ||~ slenderised ||
 * ~ monosyllabic ||= //-a// / //-e// ||= //-a// / //-e//, lenited ||
 * ~ polysyllabic ||= - ||= lenited ||

And with examples:
 * ~  ||||~ plural ||
 * ~  ||~ -an ||~ slenderised ||
 * ~ monosyllabic ||= //caileagan beaga// ||= //balaich bheaga// ||
 * ~ polysyllabic ||= //caileagan milis// ||= //balaich mhilis// ||

[MM: What about specific genitive forms of nouns, e.g. nam balach b(h)eaga?]

=4. Summary of adjective declension=

[table]

List of monosyllabic adjectives:

Non-dental-lenitable:

àrd bàn beag blàth bochd - poor ceàrr cruaidh fliuch fuar geal gearr - short geur - sharp glan glic goirt gorm marbh math mìn mòr òg olc - bad sgìth ùr

Dental lenitable:

daor dearg deas doirbh - difficult dona - bad donn - brown-haired dubh luagh snog teann teth - hot tinn tiugh - thick trom

beairteach bòidheach - pretty brèagha - beautiful brònach buidhe - yellow dìleas - loyal domhainn - deep duilich - hard fada - long furasda - easy gaolach - loving goirid - short inntinneach - interesting ìseal - low làidir milis - sweet modhail toilichte - happy uasal - noble