An Bhlaoighne: Difference between revisions

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* Monosyllabic open-syllable nouns are more irregular: ''dó'' 'city', construct state ''dá''.

==== Placing the article in a construct chain ====

Prescriptively, a construct chain ~~usually has~~ the article placed before the whole chain: ''an Chló Fhábh'' 'Clofabin River', ~~but~~ when a suffix is added the article is placed right before the last word: ''Cló an Fhábhaí'' Clofabian (person), ~~and~~ the article forces the last word to ~~decline~~ the same way as the ''first'' noun in the chain.

Prescriptively, there are two possible ways to do this:

# A construct chain can have the article placed before the whole chain: ''an Chló Fhábh'' 'Clofabin River' (which mutates the first noun according to its declension), and lenition triggered by preceding construct state nouns is applied as usual.

# Especially when a suffix is added, the article is placed right before the last word: ''Cló an Fhábhaí'' 'the Clofabian (person)'. The article's number depends on whether the last noun is singular or plural in the case of no suffix, or on the number of the whole noun phrase in the case when there is suffix. The article forces the last word to mutate the same way as the ''first'' noun in the chain.

Descriptively, only the first construction is used in daily speech, and the choice of ''an'' / ''na'' is determined by whether the whole construct phrase is singular or plural.

Descriptively, the article is always placed before the whole chain (which mutates the first noun according to its declension), and lenition triggered by preceding construct state nouns is applied as usual.

==== Possessive suffixes ====

Noun possession suffixes are similar to preposition inflection (as in Hebrew):

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 * Monosyllabic open-syllable nouns are more irregular: ''dó'' 'city', construct state ''dá''.
 ==== Placing the article in a construct chain ====
-Prescriptively, a construct chain usually has the article placed before the whole chain: ''an Chló Fhábh'' 'Clofabin River', but when a suffix is added the article is placed right before the last word: ''Cló an Fhábhaí'' Clofabian (person), and the article forces the last word to decline the same way as the ''first'' noun in the chain.
+Prescriptively, there are two possible ways to do this:
+# A construct chain can have the article placed before the whole chain: ''an Chló Fhábh'' 'Clofabin River' (which mutates the first noun according to its declension), and lenition triggered by preceding construct state nouns is applied as usual.
+# Especially when a suffix is added, the article is placed right before the last word: ''Cló an Fhábhaí'' 'the Clofabian (person)'. The article's number depends on whether the last noun is singular or plural in the case of no suffix, or on the number of the whole noun phrase in the case when there is suffix. The article forces the last word to mutate the same way as the ''first'' noun in the chain.
+Descriptively, only the first construction is used in daily speech, and the choice of ''an'' / ''na'' is determined by whether the whole construct phrase is singular or plural.
-Descriptively, the article is always placed before the whole chain (which mutates the first noun according to its declension), and lenition triggered by preceding construct state nouns is applied as usual.
 ==== Possessive suffixes ====
 Noun possession suffixes are similar to preposition inflection (as in Hebrew):