User:Marcas.oduinn/Published/NounsFourth/180128

The Irish fourth declension is made up primarily of masculine nouns; however, abstract nouns ending in a vowel tend to be feminine (eagla, aigne). The nominative singular can end in: a vowel; the diminutive suffix -ín (cailín); a few that end in a consonant (bus, ainm).

There is no special form for the genitive singular. The dative and vocative singular are likewise identical to the nominative singular.

The fourth declension plurals are strong plurals with very few exceptions.

Strong plurals

A strong plural is characterised by the genitive plural maintaining the same form as the nominative plural.

Strong plural forms found in the fourth declension are:

• -a/-e: - aí/-í
• -ín: -iní
• -le/-ne: -lte/-nte
• -í, -aoi, -é: -the
• also:
  • -nna
  • -(n)(e)acha

The first two are the most common.

file (“poet”)	Singular	Plural
Nominative	file	filí
Vocative	a fhile	a fhilí
Genitive	file	filí
Dative	file	filí

Weak plurals

A weak plural is characterised by the genitive plural having the same form as the nominative singular. There are only a couple of exceptional nouns classed as such in the fourth declension.

bó (“cow”)	Singular	Plural
Nominative	bó	ba
Vocative	a bhó	a bha
Genitive	ba	bó
Dative	bó	ba

Similarly:

• grásta, gen. sg. grásta, nom. pl. grásta, gen. pl. grást – grace

Feminine nouns

As a general rule, nouns of the fourth declension are masculine.

The feminine nouns are:

• Most abstract nouns ending in a vowel:
  • aigne, eagla, teanga, etc.
  • exceptions:
    • dlí
    • rince
• Female personal names ending in -ín
  • Máirín, Nóirín.
• Concrete nouns that are nonetheless feminine
  • bé (lit.)
  • bó
  • cneá
  • gé
  • léine

Female nouns

For female nouns of masculine gender, the referential pronoun is feminine: is cailín í.

Nouns ending in consonants other than -ín

Most nouns of the fourth declension end in vowels or -ín. Nouns with other, consonant endings (with their plural form) include:

• ainm, ainmneacha
• béarlagair, -
• bruach, bruacha
• bus, busanna
• cailif, cailifí
• cic, ciceanna
• cleas (gang), cleasanna
• cliamhain, cliamhaineacha
• cruicéad, -
• dabht, danhtanna
• dosaen, dosaenacha
• Eanáir, Eanáirí
• éimír, éimírí
• fabht, fabhtanna
• gild, gildeanna
• Iúil, Iúilí
• laghad, -
• Máirt, Máirteanna
• máistir, máistrí
• méid (amount), -
• mosc, moscanna
• saibhir, saibhre
• sáirsint, sáirsintí
• seilf, seilfeanna
• seoch, seochanna
• stad, stadanna
• téacs, téacsanna
• tiubh, -
• tobac, -
• uncail, uncailí
• veain, veaineanna
• veist, veisteanna
• -eas,-iam (modern technical jargon via Latin -us, -ium)
  • e.g. úráinium, víreas
• -blast, -clast (modern technical jargon via Greek βλαστός (blastós) κλαστός (klastós))

Nouns in other declensions ending in vowels

Nouns listed in italics have forms in both the fourth and other declensions.

Fifth Declension

• Alba
• araí
• cara
• beatha
• caora
• comharsa
• cónra
• cré
• dearna
• Éire
• eo (lit.)
• eorna
• faocha
• fiche
• gabha
• ionga
• lacha
• leaba
• leite
• meanma
• monarcha
• nócha
• ochtó
• pearsa
• seachtó
• seasca

See also

• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_declension
• https://en.m.wikibooks.org/wiki/Irish/Nouns
• Appendix:Irish first-declension nouns
• Appendix:Irish second-declension nouns
• Appendix:Irish third-declension nouns
• Category:Irish fourth-declension nouns
• Appendix:Irish fifth-declension nouns