Appendix:Irish prepositions

Historically, the Irish declined prepositions developed from the merger of the independent preposition and the possessive pronoun. There is also a set of undeclined prepositions.

Simple prepositions govern the dative case (with some exceptions), while derived prepositions govern the genitive.

Prepositions may trigger initial mutations on proceeding words.

Preposition lists and case governance

In Modern Irish, simple prepositions nearly always govern the dative, aka prepositional, with a few exceptions governing the accusative. Derived prepositions govern the genitive. In the lists below, prepositional governance is assumed unless otherwise indicated.

The declined prepositions are:

ag, ar, as, chuig, de, do, faoi, fara, i, idir,^{a, p} ionsar, le, ó/ua, roimh, thar, trí, um.

The undeclined prepositions are:

a, amhail^a, dar, gan^a, go/go dtí^a, is, mar, os, seachas^a.

One-word prepositions derived from substantives, all governing the genitive and all undeclined, include:

cois^g, fearacht^g, tigh^g, timpeall^g, trasna^g.

The preposition chun^g is ultimately derived from a verb, governs the genitive, and is declined using the personal forms of chuig.

All two-word prepositional phrases govern the genitive. Most are formed as combinations of a preposition plus a substantive, e.g., ar nós, i ndiaidh, tar éis etc.

Paradigm

Number	Person	Suffix	Notes / Exceptions
Singular	1st	broad + m	slender: ó/ua (uaim)
	2nd	broad + t	slender: do (duit), ó/ua (uait)
	3rd m	various slender forms: + e: ag, chuig, roimh, um + is: fara, le, thar + d(h): ó/ua, trí radical: as, de, faoi altered radical: ar, do, i	broad: as, do (dó), i (ann)
	3rd f	unvoiced + thi	spelling rules: subject to dntls rule: as, i(n) m(h)thi > mpi: roimh (roimpi), um (uimpi) irregular, elide th: ag (aici), chuig (chuici), le (léi) irregular, insert s: thar (thairsti) except: fara (farae)
Plural	1st	+ inn
	2nd	+ ibh
	3rd	two forms: + ibh: de, do unvoiced + thu: all others	symmetries with 3rd sg f "spelling rules" above (including fara in rule 3) except: le (leo)

Declension table

Person	ag	ar	as	chuig	de	do	fara	faoi	i/in	idir	le	ó/ua	roimh	trí	thar	um
1st sg	agam	orm	asam	chugam	díom	dom	faram	fúm	ionam	-	liom	uaim	romham	tríom	tharam	umam
2nd sg	agat	ort	asat	chugat	díot	duit	farat	fút	ionat	-	leat	uait	romhat	tríot	tharat	umat
3rd sg m	aige	air	as	chuige	de	dó	farais	faoi	ann	-	leis	uaidh	roimhe	tríd	thairis	uime
3rd sg f	aici	uirthi	aisti	chuici	di	di	farae	fúithi	inti	-	léi	uaithi	roimpi	tríthi	thairsti	uimpi
1st pl	againn	orainn	asainn	chugainn	dínn	dúinn	farainn	fúinn	ionainn	eadrainn	linn	uainn	romhainn	trínn	tharainn	umainn
2nd pl	agaibh	oraibh	asaibh	chugaibh	díbh	daoibh	faraibh	fúibh	ionaibh	eadraibh	libh	uaibh	romhaibh	tríbh	tharaibh	umaibh
3rd pl	acu	orthu	astu	chucu	díobh	dóibh	faru	fúthu	iontu	eatarthu	leo	uathu	rompu	tríothu	tharstu	umpu

• The preposition ionsar = i + ar is declined as ar.
• Three prepositions ending in vowels (le, fara, trí (sg only)) use the 3rd sgm form before the article, e.g. leis an....
• Prepositions ending in vowels (de, do, faoi, i, le, ó, trí) undergo contractions with other parts of speech, in particular the article. These forms are summarised in the Wiktionary template {{ga-preposition contractions}}.
• Some contractions with the article, especially those of i, retain the s of Proto-Celtic *sindos:
  • i + an → insan > sa(n)
  • i + na → insna > sna
  • dialectic variants:
    • de + na → desna
    • do + na → dosna.

Third person suffixes

The third person forms of Old Irish simple prepositions are case dependent (accusative or prepositional). The singular masculine forms are irregular, but the singular feminine, and the plural forms are tractable:

3rd per	acc	prep
sgf	+ e	+ i
pl	+ u	+ ib

In modern Irish, only fara has + e in the 3rd sgf, although it is not derived from an Old Irish preposition, but rather from ferr (the comparative of maith). All others have standardised to + i.

In the 3rd pl, only de and do have + ibh. All others have standardised to + u. The 3rd pl of le (leo) derives directly from an Old Irish variant.

Initial mutations

Indefinite

The simple prepositions may trigger initial mutations on proceeding words. The paradigm in Modern Irish is very similar to Old Irish (cf. Etymology below), with a few exceptions, notably:

• the "mixed mutation" prepositions: idir, ar, thar, gan
• those derived with significant changes: as, chuig, roimh
• amhail

Mutation type	Prepositions
No mutation∅	ag, amhail, as, chuig, fara, gan, idir... agus... (“both... and...”), seachas; chun, cois, fearacht, timpeall, trasna
AspirationH	go, le
LenitionL	de, do, faoi, idir (“between”), mar, ó, roimh, trí, um
No mutation for generalised, lenition for specific∅L	ar, thar
Lenition for generalised, no mutation for specificL∅	gan
EclipsisN	i

Definite

In Old Irish, the article in triggers case-dependent mutations. In the singular, the accusative triggers eclipsis, while the prepositional triggers lenition.

As prepositional grammar evolved in Modern Irish, the dialects diverged. Ulster Irish favoured the prepositional lenition, while the others, the accusative eclipsis.

In summary, for prepositions governing the dative, with the singular article:

• Ulster Irish: lenition
• Other dialects: eclipsis, except:
  • faoin, ón, sa: lenition (Munster)
  • den, don, san: lenition

Notes

• lenition is subject to the dntls rule
• lenition tends to trigger t-prothesis on s, especially for feminine nouns, e.g., sa tsráid
• eclipsis tends not to occur on d/t, e.g., ag an doras

Etymology table

Pronoun form	Middle Irish	Old Irish	Proto-Celtic	PIE
ag ∅, p		oc ∅, p	*onkus	?
ar ∅L, p		ar L, a, p	*ɸare	*pr̥h₂i
		for ∅, a, p	*uɸor	*upér
		íar N, p	?	?
as ∅, p		a H, p → ass	*exs	*h₁eǵʰs
chuig ∅, p	chuige	co H, a → cuci	?	*ḱóm
de L, p		di L, p	*tu	?
do L, p		do L, p
fara ∅, p		ferr	*werros	*wers-
faoi L, p		fo L, a, p	*uɸo	*upo
i N, p		i N, a, p	*en	*h₁én
idir ∅L, p		eter L, a	*enter	*h₁enter
ionsar	i + ar
le H, p	re	fri H, a	*writ-	*wert-
	le	la H, a	*let-	*letos
ó L, p		ó, úa L, p	*awyos	*h₂ewh₂yos
roimh L, p		re, ri N, p	*ɸr-	*per-
trí L, p		trí L, a	?	*terh₂-
thar ∅L, p		tar ∅, a
um L, p		imm L, a	*ambi	*h₂m̥bʰi
amhail ∅, a		amal L, a	?	*sem-
gan L∅, a		cen L, a	*kina	?
go H, p		co H, a	?	*ḱóm
is		?	?	?
mar		immar	*ambi	*h₂m̥bʰi
os ∅, p		úas ∅, p	*ouxsos	*h₃ewps-
seachas ∅, a		sech ∅, a	?	?
chun g		dochum g	?	?
cois		cos	*koxsā	*koḱs-
fearacht		feracht	?	?
tigh		tech	*tegos	*(s)teg-
timpeall g		timchell g	?	?
trasna g	tarsna g	tarsno g	?	?

Other prepositions:

• a < do
• dar < de/do + ar
• go dtí: re-purposed archaic present subjunctive of tar

Other Old Irish prepositions:

• fíad ^{L, p}
• ís: antonym of úas; whence síos etc.

Wiktionary templates

• {{ga-prep-infl}}
• {{ga-preposition contractions}}

External links

• The History of the Prepositions on Akerbeltz.
• Prepositions on Nualéargais.

See also

• Wiktionary:About Irish

• Category:Irish language
• Category:Irish appendices
• Category:Irish prepositions