Numerals

=0. Contents=


 * 1) Case and gender
 * 2) Complements
 * 3) Complements - gender
 * 4) Complements -lenition
 * 5) //dà//
 * 6) //aon//
 * 7) Example paradigms

This page is about the (basic) numerals in Gaelic, of which there are ten - ** //aon// ** (one), //**dà**// (two), //**trì**// (three), //**ceithir**// (four), //**cóig**// (five), //**sia**// (six), //**seachd**// (seven), //**ochd**// (eight), //**naoi**// (nine), //**deich**// (ten).

**This page is permanently under construction. Feel free to add stuff, or to comment.**

=1. Case and gender=

a. Numerals are a subtype of (grammatical) noun, and thus inherit the defining properties of that class.

b. For example, numerals carry **case** - every numeral is either **nominative**, **dative** or **genitive**, depending on the role the numeral plays in a sentence.

For example:
 * ** //Tha trì brògan air a' bhòrd.// ** (There are three shoes on the table) - the numeral //trì// (three) is in the //nominative// case, since it is the subject of the verb //tha// (is/are).
 * ** //Tha brògan air trì bùird.// ** (There are shoes on three tables) - //trì// is in the //dative// case, since it is the complement of the preposition //air// (on).
 * ** //sùilean trì breac móra// ** (three big trouts' eyes, eyes of three big trouts) - //trì// is in the //genitive// case, since it is a modifier of the noun //sùilean// (eyes).

c. Although numerals can be said to carry case, this is never reflected in the form of the numeral itself, which remains constant throughout the paradigm. In other words, numerals in Gaelic are **indeclinable**. This is clear from the examples above, where **//trì//** can be nominative, dative or genitive, depending on the sentence.

d. In addition, numerals carry **gender** - every numeral is either **masculine**, **feminine** or **plural**.

e. The numeral //**dà**// (two) is always **masculine**.

For example:
 * ** //sùilean an dà chaileige// ** (the two girls' eyes) - the fact that the genitive definite article here takes the masculine form //an//, rather than the feminine form //na// , even though the noun //caileige// (girl - genitive) following //dà// is feminine, shows that //dà// is intrinsically masculine, cf. //*sùilean na dà chaileige//.

The fact that **//dà//** is masculine in modern Gaelic is a historical quirk. Old Gaelic used to have a distinct "dual" number, and the feminine genitive dual article ( **//in//** ) was identical to the masculine genitive singular/dual article, but distinct from the feminine genitive singular article ( //**inna**// ).

f. The numerals //**trì**// (three), //**ceithir**// (four), //**cóig**// (five), //**sia**// (six), //**seachd**// (seven), //**ochd**// (eight), //**naoi**// (nine), //**deich**// (ten) are always **plural**.

For example:
 * //**na ceithir bliadhna an dèidh a' chogaidh**// (the four years after the war) - the definite article here takes the plural form //na//, rather than the feminine form //a'// , even though the noun //bliadhna// (year) following //ceithir// (four) is feminine singular, cf. //*a' cheithir bhliadhna an dèidh a' chogaidh// . Thus, //ceithir// is intrinsically plural.

See below for more details about the use of plural numerals with singular nouns.

g. However, the gender of the numeral ** //aon// ** (one) is "inherited" from the following noun, either masculine or feminine.

For example:
 * ** //Thàinig aon bhalach.// ** (One boy came) - the numeral //aon// (one) is masculine here, since its complement //balach// (boy) is masculine; this is clear from the fact that adding a definite article gives //Thàinig an t-aon bhalach// (The one boy came) rather than //*Thàinig an aon bhalach// or even //*Thàinig na h-aon bhalach// . Similarly, in the genitive we get //sùilean an aon bhalaich// (the one boy's eyes) rather than //*sùilean na h-aon bhalaich//.
 * ** //Thàinig aon chaileag.// ** (One girl came) - the numeral //aon// (one) is feminine here, since its complement //caileag// (girl) is feminine; this is clear from the fact that adding a definite article gives //Thàinig an aon chaileag// (The one girl came) rather than //*Thàinig an t-aon chaileag// or even //*Thàinig na h-aon chaileag// . In the genitive we get //sùilean na h-aon chaileige// (the one girl's eyes) rather than //*sùilean an aon chaileige//.

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=2. Complements=

a. A numeral must have exactly one **complement**, which should immediately follow it.

b. The complement of a numeral must be a common noun.

For example:
 * //**Nochd sia eich bhàna.**// (Six white horses appeared) - the numeral //sia// (six) has one complement, the common noun //eich// (horses).
 * //***Nochd sia.**// (Six appeared) - this is ungrammatical because the numeral //sia// has no complement.
 * //***Nochd sia dhe na h-eich.**// (Six of the horses appeared) - this is ungrammatical because the assumed complement of //sia// is not a common noun, but rather is the preposition //dhe// (of).

c. The complement of a numeral should have the same case as the numeral itself.

For example:
 * //***Chunnaic mi aon bhròige.**// (I saw one shoe) - this is ungrammatical, because although the numeral //aon// (one) is in the nominative case (as the object of the verb), its assumed complement //bròige// (shoe) is in the genitive case. The grammatical alternative would be: //**Chunnaic mi aon bhròg**//, where both the numeral and its complement are nominative.

d. One notable exception to this is as follows - the complement of the numeral **//dà//** (two) should not (in formal Gaelic) be a nominative singular feminine noun. Rather, the **dative singular** form of a feminine noun is used instead as the complement of ** //dà// ** in the nominative case.

For example:
 * //***Tha dà chaileag anns an seòmar.**// (There are two girls in the room) - the correct grammatical form of this sentence is //Tha dà chaileig anns an seòmar//, where the dative singular form //caileig// is used in place of the nominative singular //caileag//.
 * //***Thàinig dà bhean.**// (Two women came) - the correct form is //Thàinig dà mhnaoi//, where the (irregular) dative singular form //mnaoi// is used instead of the nominative singular //bean//.

e. However, even though it is the dative singular form of a feminine noun which appears as the complement of a nominative //**dà**//, any adjectives which modify the noun remain in the nominative feminine form (i.e. they are lenited but not slenderised).

For example:
 * //**Tha dà chaileig mhór anns an seòmar.**// (There are two bog girls in the room) - but not //*Tha dà chaileig mhóir anns an seòmar//.
 * //**Thàinig dà mhnaoi bhàn.**// (Two fair-haired women came) - but not //*Thàinig dà mhnaoi bhàin//.

But in the true dative itself (i.e. after a preposition), we still get slenderised adjectives as normal:
 * //**le dà chaileig mhóir**// (with two big girls)
 * //**do dhà mhnaoi bhàin**// (for two fair-haired women).

The use of the dative case of a feminine noun after nominative **//dà//** is a historical quirk left over from the time when Old Gaelic had a dual number - in the feminine noun paradigm, the nominative dual form was identical to the dative singular, and distinct from the nominative singular.

f. Note though that in informal Gaelic, there is a growing tendency to just use the nominative singular after nominative //**dà**// across the board, even with a feminine noun. In other words, a sentence like //Thàinig dà bhean// (Two women came) is a feature of informal, spoken Gaelic. This is related to the tendency to avoid the dative forms of feminine nouns altogether, even after prepositions.

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=3. Complements - gender=

a. The complement of the plural numerals //**trì**// (three), //**ceithir**// (four), //**cóig**// (five), //**sia**// (six), //**seachd**// (seven), //**ochd**// (eight), //**naoi**// (nine), //**deich**// (ten) should be **plural**.

For example:
 * //***Bha ochd ubhal air a' bhòrd.**// (There were eight apples on the table) - this is ungrammatical, because the assumed complement of the numeral //ochd// (eight), i.e. //ubhal// (apple), is a masculine (and hence singular) noun. The grammatical alternative would be: //**Bha ochd ùbhlan air a' bhòrd**//, where both the complement of //ochd// is a plural noun.

b. However, there is a small group of nouns which appear in the singular after the plural numerals. Typically these are nouns which denote units of measurement, currency and time -
 * //**tròigh**// (a foot), //**mìle**// (a mile), //**punnd**// (a pound), //**clach**// (a stone)
 * //**sgillinn**// (a penny) [but **not** //not// (a pound) - //deich notaichean// (ten pounds)]
 * //**latha**// (a day), //**bliadhna**// (a year) [but **not** //mionaid// (a minute), //uair// (an hour), //seachdain// (a week)]
 * //**duine**// (a person)

For example:
 * //**cóig bliadhna**// (five years), rather than //*cóig bliadhnaichean//.
 * //**deich mìle**// (ten miles), rather than //*deich mìltean//.

[MM: What about adjectives? cóig bliadhna mhath or cóig bliadhna matha? or cóig bliadhnaichean matha? What about the article? na còig bliadhna or a' chóig bliadhna? What about in the genitive or dative?]

c. The complement of the non-plural numerals //**aon**// (one) and //**dà**// (two) can be either **masculine** or **feminine**, but not plural.

For example:
 * **//Thàinig aon chaileag.//** (One girl came) - but not //*Thàinig aon caileagan//, where //caileag// is the nominative singular and //caileagan// is the nominative plural.
 * //**le dà bhalach**// (with two boys) but not //*le dà bhalaich//, where //balach// is the dative singular and //balaich// is the dative plural.

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=4. Complements - lenition=

a. The complement of the numerals //**trì**// (three), //**ceithir**// (four), //**cóig**// (five), //**sia**// (six), //**seachd**// (seven), //**ochd**// (eight), //**naoi**// (nine), //**deich**// (ten) should not be lenited.

For example:
 * //**còig seann fhaclan**// (five old words) rather than //***còig sheann fhaclan**//.
 * //**naoi caileagan**// (nine girls) rather than //***naoi chaileagan**//.

b. However, when the noun //**ceud**// (hundred) occurs as the complement of either //**trì**// or //**ceithir**//, then it should be lenited.

In other words:
 * //**trì cheud**// (three hundred) rather than //***trì ceud**//.
 * //**ceithir cheud**// (four hundred) rather than //***ceithir ceud**//.

[MM: Akerbeltz says 5 and 6 do this too. It is systematic in Irish (i.e. not just with ceud) - 2-6 lenite and 7-10 nasalise.]

c. On the other hand, the complement of the numeral //**aon**// (one) should generally be lenited, unless it begins with a dental consonant (i.e. //**t-**//, //**d-**// , //**s-**// , //**l-**// , //**n-**// , //**r-**// ).

For example:
 * //**aon fhacal**// (one word), //**aon bhalach**// (one boy), //**aon chaileag**// (one girl) rather than //***aon facal**//, //***aon balach**// , //***aon caileag**//.
 * //**aon tunnag**// (one duck), //**aon seann fhacal**// (one old word) rather than //***aon thunnag**//, //***aon sheann fhacal**//.

d. Similarly, the complement of the numeral //**dà**// (two) must always be lenited.

For example:
 * //**dà chaileig**// (two girls) rather than //***dà caileig**//.
 * //**dà sheann fhacal**// (two old words) rather than //***dà seann fhacal**//.

e. In fact, //**dà**// causes "jumping" lenition - adjectives which modify the complement noun should all be lenited as well.

For example:
 * //**dà fhear mhòr bhàn**// (two big fair-haired men), rather than //*dà fhear mòr bàn//.
 * //**sùilean dà chaileige bhige dhuibhe**// (two little dark-haired girls' eyes), rather than //*sùilean dà chaileige bige duibhe//.

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=5. //dà//=

[MM: use of "dà" to mean "both"?]

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=6. //aon//=

[MM: use of "aon" to mean "same"?]

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=7. Example paradigms=

Without the definite article:


 * ~  ||||~ nominative ||||~ dative ||||~ genitive ||
 * ~  ||~ masculine ||~ feminine ||~ masculine ||~ feminine ||~ masculine ||~ feminine ||
 * ~ - || balach beag || caileag bheag || le balach beag || le caileig bhig || sùilean balaich bhig || sùilean caileige bige ||
 * ~ aon || aon b**h**alach beag || aon c**h**aileig bheag || le aon b**h**alach beag || le aon c**h**aileig bhig || sùilean aon b**h**alaich bhig || sùilean aon c**h**aileige bige ||
 * ~ dà || dà b**h**alach b**h**eag || dà c**h**aileig bheag || le dà b**h**alach b**h**eag || le dà c**h**aileig bhig || sùilean dà b**h**alaich bhig || sùilean dà c**h**aileige b**h**ige ||
 * ~ trì || trì balaich bheaga || trì caileagan beaga || le trì balaich bheaga || le trì caileagan beaga || sùilean trì balach beaga || sùilean trì caileag beaga ||

And with the definite article:
 * ~  ||||~ nominative ||||~ dative ||||~ genitive ||
 * ~  ||~ masculine ||~ feminine ||~ masculine ||~ feminine ||~ masculine ||~ feminine ||
 * ~ - || am balach beag || a' chaileag bheag || leis a' bhalach bheag || leis a' chaileig bhig || sùilean a' bhalaich bhig || sùilean na caileige bige ||
 * ~ aon || an t-aon b**h**alach beag || an aon chaileag bheag || leis an aon bhalach bheag || leis an aon chaileig bhig || sùilean an aon bhalaich bhig || sùilean na h-aon c**h**aileige bige ||
 * ~ dà || an dà b**h**alach b**h**eag || an dà c**h**aileig bheag || leis an dà bhalach bheag || leis an dà chaileig bhig || sùilean an dà bhalaich bhig || sùilean **an** dà c**h**aileige b**h**ige ||
 * ~ trì || na trì balaich bheaga || na trì caileagan beaga || leis na trì balaich bheaga || leis na trì caileagan beaga || sùilean nan trì balach beaga || sùilean nan trì caileag beaga ||

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