Page:Graimear na Gaedhilge.djvu/72

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56

CHAPTER III.

The Adjective.

I. DECLENSION OF ADJECTIVES.

133. In Irish the adjective agrees with the noun which it qualifies in gender, number, and case.

There are four declensions of adjectives. Adjectives are declined very much like nouns; the great difference is that they never[1] take the termination iḃ in the dative plural (though formerly they did). The dative plural is invariably like the nominative plural.

Adjectives, in forming their genitive singular, undergo the same vowel-changes as nouns, as—

gorm, blue, gen. masc. guirm
geal, bright gil, &c.

FIRST DECLENSION.

134. All adjectives ending in a broad consonant, as mór, bán, fionn, &c., belong to the 1st declension.

135. When an adjective of the 1st declension agrees with a masculine noun, it is declined like a noun of the 1st declension (see maor, &c,. pars. 55, 57), except that the nom., acc., dat., and voc. plural are always alike, and are formed by adding a to the nominative singular.

  1. When used as nouns they take the termination.