CONJUNCTIONS.

34.-The conjunctions agur and, and no or, couple the same cases of nouns.

35.-agur is often contracted into ar and r, so also is the auxiliary verb Ir often written r; when ar and Ir meet together they are contracted into 'rar, as 'rar mór an obair and great is the work; and, when the vocative case follows 'r, the vocative sign is added to it, thus-'ra Oja and oh God!

36.-When two or more adjectives come together, which are relatives to the same substantives, agus is often omitted; as ta sí óg majseċ she is young (and) beautiful.

37.-The negative generally precedes the disjunctive.

INTERJECTIONS.

38. None of the interjections govern a case, except only maing, which requires a dative.

F

ASPIRATION, &c.

I have thought that it would afford considerable assistance to the learner, were the several cases brought together, in which the aspiration and eclipsing of initial consonants occur: for his information, therefore, I shall present them in two tables; and, as in some degree connected with the same subject, shall superadd lists of the instances in which the letters d, h, m, n, and t, are prefixed to original words. The student must be well acquainted with the last six tables, or he will not be able to consult the Irish-English Dictionary; they are all of them indispensably necessary towards the knowledge of the language.

I.-Cases in which the aspiration of the initial consonant takes place, if it be capable of undergoing that change.

1.-Nouns after the article, in the 3d and 4th declensions, as already stated.

2. All vocative cases, except in nouns beginning with a t, followed by a consonant.

3.-Nouns substantive, when they follow an adjective in a compound word; unless they commence with d, s, or t, preceded by an adjective ending with n.

4.-Adjectives following substantives, (except their initials be d, s, or t, after one ending in n,) in the nom. dat. and voc. sing. of the fem. gender; and in the gen. dat. and voc. sing. masc. gender; also in the gen. fem. plural.

5. Where one substantive governs another in the genitive plural, the latter may be aspirated, though the article be not used, as fujl jabar the blood of goats. (Neilson.)

6.- Masculine adjectives, after the auxiliary verbs ba and buò, unless they begin with d or c.

7. All adjectives in the superlative degree of comparison.

8.-Nouns following the numbers aon and do, except the initial letter be a d or after aon.

9.-Nouns following the possessive pronouns in the

singular number, excepting the third person in the feminine gender, and also excepting nouns beginning with s.

10.-Compound possessive pronouns have the same influence as their primitives on the initials of nouns following them.

11. The datives of personal pronouns are aspirated or not, according as may sound best; but they are never so after d, n, or τ, thus-feam dust, or dust, it is better for you; and is miañ daṁ I desire.

12. The relative pronouns aspirate the initial consonant in the active voice.

13. The past tense of verbs,

14.-The infinitive mood and the past participle, unless this latter can be eclipsed, and

15. The potential mood, have their initials aspirated. 16. The interrogative participle CIA causes aspira

tion.

17. Interrogative participles cause aspiration in the past tense of the active voice.

18. The negative participles aspirate the initial in both voices. (O'Reilly.)

19. The intensitive* adverbs an, gle, ro and sar aspirate, unless the following initial bed, r, or t; also, the adverbial participles naċ, nj not, ó since, mar as, and jona than, cause aspiration.

20. The prepositions a, de, do, fa, faol, fvid, idir, mar, o, rojṁ, tar, and tre, produce aspiration; de and so aspirate the following noun, even though an article intervene, except in the case of an r; a1r sometimes aspirates, and sometimes not; gan will indifferently require an aspirate, or the primary form, in the following noun.

* There is much difference of opinion between grammarians respecting the influence of particles on aspiration; and indeed, as Neilson observes, there is some difference between the several inhabitants of distinct provinces-I chiefly follow O'Brien and O'Reilly.

21. The conjunctions gur, mà, mvna create aspiration; ma if, and the adverb ó since, cause it in the initial of verbs, excepting ca.

22. The interjection a, as a sign of the vocative case, causes aspiration.

II.-Eclipsis of initial consonants takes place in the following cases.

1.-In nouns of the 3d and 4th declensions, after the article, as before specified.

2. If two nouns follow each other, and the article be omitted, the second is eclipsed, thus-air żráð nDé for the love of God. Neilson says that it must be aspirated in the genitive plural.

3.-The genitive singular of adjectives following substantives in the feminine gender, except they begin with d, s, or t, and the substantive end with n. They are also often eclipsed, instead of aspirated, in such instances, in the dat. sing. and gen. plural, in the feminine gender. (Neilson.)

4. After the numerals 7, 8, 9, and 10.

5.-Nouns in the plural, after the possessive pronoun, unless they begin with an s.

6.-Verbs, in the conditional mood;

7. And after interrogatives in the present and future tenses.

8. The participle past.

9. The prepositions a out of, air, añ, go, jar, and ra cause eclipsis.

10. When the article comes between one of the prepositions, ag, air, as, fa, fo, fvid, gvs, is, leir, mar, ó, ris, rojṁ, seaċ, tar, or tre, and a noun in the singular number, the noun is eclipsed, as as an dtír out of the country-de and do generally cause aspiration in such a case; but if the noun begin with r, it will be eclipsed.

11. The conjunction da if, causes eclipsis in active verbs.

III - The letter is frequently used as a prefix to words, as in the following cases, besides those in which it eclipses t.

1.-do before a vowel, or an † commencing a verb, in the past tense of the active voice, drops the o, and unites with the verb.

2.-do thy, before a noun beginning with F, loses the o, and joins with the noun, eclipsing the initial, thus-oreang thy anger, but this should be properly written, thus d'fearg.

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IV. The letter h is added as a prefix to the following words, beginning with vowels.

1. To nouns after the article, in the genitive singular of the first declension; and in all the cases of the plural, except the genitive, of the first and second declensions.

2. To nouns, after the feminine possessive pronoun, in the third person singular.

3.-Nouns after the possessive pronoun thy, in which case do is frequently exchanged for h.

4.-Verbs, after the adverbial particles 1, jar, not ; and nar, naċar? not?

5.-Nouns, after the prepositions a out of, 50, le, ó, re, and сре.

V.-M. when mo my occurs before a noun beginning with a vowel, or an F, it drops the o, and unites with the word, thus-m'anam my soul, m'fear for mo fear my husband.

VI.-N. besides where it eclipses d or g, is prefixed to words commencing with vowels

1. In the genitive plural of nouns-but here it may be more properly considered as being separated from the article to which it belongs.

2. To nouns after the plural possessive pronouns.