Sounds & Spelling of Irish/Fuaimeanna agus Litri na Gaeilge

Vowels (guta) : a, e, i, o, u

Consonants (consain) : all the other letters

Broad vowels (guta leathana) : a, o, u

// is considered a broad vowel sound.

Slender vowels (guta caola) : i, e

Consonants are classified as broad and slender, too; they take on the flavor of the nearest vowel, e.g.
tae (t is broad), te (t is slender), taistil (the first t is broad; s, the second t and l are all slender).
You may need some time before you can hear the difference between some broad and slender
consonants, or pronounce them yourself. Here are the most important ones to master first.
slender s
slender t
slender d
slender l
slender n

//
/t/
/d/
/l/
/n/

Sle, mise, anois

te, leite, Cait
Dia, cuidi, leid
Liam, bileog, cil
nl, sloinne

shoe, fish
(similar to: chin, rich)
Joe, vigil, ledge
million, will you
sinew, minion (rare at start of words in US Eng.)

Spelling rule: Caol le caol; leathan le leathan. The vowels on either side of a consonant, or group of
consonants, must both be slender or both be broad, e.g. danfaidh, rithfidh, leabharlann, pirceanna,
cupn, cipn, madra, maidrn, etc. (A couple notable exceptions: anseo, ansin )
Vowel combinations.
ae
/e/
ao
/i/
aoi
/i/
ea
//
ei
//
-eadh
// or /u/ depending on dialect
eo
/o/
-faidh
/i/
-fidh
/i/
ia
/i/
ua
/u/
io, oi, ui
// (usually)

tae, laethanta
Aodh, caol
aoi, saoirse
eala, deas
eisean, ceimic
deireadh, cuireadh
Eoin, ceol, beo
tiocfaidh
feicfidh
bia, pian
fuath
gliondar, gloine, duine

tay
see
me
apple
meh
meh, moo
no
see
see
deal
moo
fit

Fadas (snt fada) change pronunciation of vowels and add length and stress, too.
a
/a/
e
//
i
//
o
//
u
//

hata, mac
father, spa
ceist, de
tell, get
ith, duine, i
in, hit
olc, deoch
tug, wonder
dubh, fliuch
good, pull

/:/

/e:/

/i:/

/o:/

/u:/

Adapted from Ray Mac Mnais by Karen Reshkin. Updated November 2014

t, bd
call, far
c, ist
bait, pay
Sle, tr, seal
tree, mean, he
l, bthar
roll, toe, road
t, cpla
too, rude

Page 1

Sounds & Spelling of Irish/Fuaimeanna agus Litri na Gaeilge

Simhi. Putting h after a consonant is a device to show that the sound of the consonant is softened.
Its called a simhi (simh = soft) and used to be indicated by a dot above the letter: ch = , gh = , th =

broad / leathan
a, o, u
/w/
bhain, abhaile, dabht, gabh
wow, tower

When you add simhi

to this consonant,
you get

slender / caol
e, i
/v/
a bheith, leibhal, sibh
village, eve

(/v/ in Munster dialect)

/x/
chomh, ncha, nach

//
dhn

loch (Scottish), Nacht (German)

hue (pronounced strongly)

no equivalent

silent
an fhuaim, mfhoireann
:^
//
ghasr, ghlr

f
g

no equivalent

no simhi possible
no simhi possible
/w/
gan mhoill, amhin, domhan
wow, tower

//
an cheist, fiche, deich

h
l
m

/j/
ar dheireadh, a Dhia
yell
silent
an fhile, an fhiacail
:^
/j/
mo ghile, oighear
yell
no simhi possible
no simhi possible
/v/
mo mhar, simhi, nimh
village, eve

(/v/ in Munster dialect)

no simhi possible
/f/
sa pholl, phs siad
follow
no simhi possible
/h/
Nollaig shona, mo shaol
honey
/h/
mo thin, tharla
honey

n
p
r
s
t

Adapted from Ray Mac Mnais by Karen Reshkin. Updated November 2014

no simhi possible
/f/
an pheil
fell
no simhi possible
/h/
dh shiocair, ar sheift
hello
/h/
tr thine, an-the
hello

Page 2

Sounds & Spelling of Irish/Fuaimeanna agus Litri na Gaeilge

Ur inserts a letter at the beginning of a word. The new letter suppresses the first letter of the word;
you only pronounce the new letter.

If the word
begins with:

ur adds this
letter at the
beginning of
the word

it looks like
this:

mb

gc

nd

bh

bhf

and sounds like this:

/m/ moo
ar an mbord, i mBal Feirste
/g/ goo
i gCorcaigh, bhur gcistin
broad
slender
/n/ not
/n/ sinew
i nDoire
i ndiaidh
broad
slender
/w/ woo
/v/ vein
an bhfuair t
i bhFear Manach
(always /v/ in Munster
dialect)

ng

h, l, m, n

no ur possible

---

bp

no ur possible

---

dt

//
wing
i nGaillimh, i ngeimhreadh
--/b/
boy
i bPras, r bpictir
--broad
slender
/d/ do
/d/ jet
i dTr L
r dteach

A video to accompany this handout is available at http://youtu.be/oIokUII7LX0

Adapted from Ray Mac Mnais by Karen Reshkin. Updated November 2014

Page 3