#urú

I’ve got them written down in a chart but am struggling to know how to pronounce the words they’d pair with - sorry I can’t be more specific, hopefully someone knows what I mean!!!

The urú is the unofficial partner of the séimhiú, seeing as they both add a letter to the beggining of a word.

When adding an urú, you add one (and with one case two) letters before the first letter.

Each letter which takes an urú takes a different letter. The letters which take an urú ar b, c, d, t, g, p, and f. After the urú, they become mb, gc, nd, dt, ng, bp, bhf.

The way I remember them is a mnemonic I was taught in secondary school which goes, My Brother, Got Caught, Not Doing, Dishes Tonight, Nobody Gets, Blueberry Pie, Before He Finishes. The initial of each words tells you what the urú is.

Thanks to @elodylie for letting me know her mnemonic is Many Boys, Go Camping, Near Ditches, BeHind Fences, No Girls, Back Packing, Down There! Each capital is the letters in the urú (note here the urú for f is one word despite being 2 letters which is why the H is also capitalised).

When pronouncing the word with an urú, you skip the original letter, and pronounce it as if the initial letter was replaced by the urú. With the exception of 'ng' which is closer to the ng sound we see in words like running, walking, etc. in English

Note there is a non-urú eclipse on vowels, when eclipsing a vowel (using all the same rules below) you prefix the eclipsed word with 'n-', e.g. ceol na n-éan, though sometimes the n is added to the end of the previous word like the phrase in éirinn

So when do you add an urú?

When talking about possession, all nouns following a plural pronoun (ár, bhur, a - our, your, their) take an urú. e.g. Cat goes to A gCat (their (pl.) cat). (note that when adding an urú to a capitalised noun, you generally keep the original capitalisation while leaving the urú lowercaseas above)

Eclipsion also happens after the preposition i.

When counting objects 7-10, seven boats are seacht mbád, nineteen boats are naoi déag mbáid.

Words following an in the interrogative tense (not when using an as in the word The) as well as words following nach, and go, as well as dá, sula, mura, and cá.

They are also added after genitive plural nouns following 'na' and dative singular nouns following 'an' though these are a little wordy and technical. The video below explains it well but essentially, if you're saying __ an __ where the first gap is a preposition (ar, ag, faoi, etc.) and the second gap is an eclipsable noun, eclipse it.

Note that adjectives are not eclipsed regardless of the rules above.

This video is also good to learn about the urú.

The Parts of Speech 

The Article (An tAlt): There is only one article in Irish = an (or na in the plural). It essential means ‘the’, e.g. an leabhar = the book.

The Conjunction (An Cónasc): Connects two sentences or two words. In Irish we have agus (and) and ach (but). 

The Verb (An Briathar) describes an action, e.g. bris (to break), glan (to clean), etc. 

The Noun (An tAinmfochal) puts a name on a person (ar dhuine), a place (ar áit) or a thing (ar rud), e.g. Liam, Éireann, scoil (Liam, Ireland, school). 

The Adverb (An Dobhriathar): In Irish it’s used to answer the question ‘Conas’ (how?), e.g. Conas atá tú? Go maith/go dona, etc. 

The Adjective (An Aidiacht) describes a noun, e.g. an carr dearg (the red car) or an múinteoir deas (the nice teacher).

The Preposition (An Réamhfhocal): It’s used to describe the relationship between two things, e.g. Tá Síle ar scoil (Síle is at school), Tá an leabhar faoin mbord (the book is under the table). 

The Pronoun (An Forainm): References a person or group of people without actually naming them, e.g. mé (me), tú (you), sé (he), sí (she), muid (we), sibh (you pl.) and siad (them)

Two Important Rules to Note:

At various points in Irish grammar you’ll have to add a séimhiú or an urú. I’ll explain these now so that you’ll understand them later.

Séimhiú: A séimhiú is a ‘h’ which you can add to words that begin with the following letters: b, c, d, f, g, m, p, s and t. The h follows the first letter of the word, e.g. bris -> bhris, cuir -> chuir, teach -> theach, etc.

The one I was taught:

My Brother

Got Caught

Not Doing

Dishes Tonight

Nobody Gets

Blueberry Pie

Before He Finishes

morbid bliss (mB)

dark times (dT)

bad people (bP)

good crimes (gC)

nightly death (nD)

nightly gall (nG)

With the Urú

The hyphen is used in Irish after t and n when these are attached to a word starting with a vowel:

An t-arán A n-iníon

However, when the vowel is capitalised, it is not used:

An tAlbanach Ár nAthair

This means we use An t-athair for the father (i.e. the parent of someone) but an tAthair for the Father (i.e. a priest).

Remember than the plural possessive (ár/bhur/a) triggers urú: The Possessive Adjective

Compound Words

The hyphen is also used in compound words

When it separates two vowels:

mí-ádh

When it separates two of the same consonant sounds:

droch-chaint sár-riail

In a three-part compound word:

buan-chomhchoiste

Between prefixes do-, fo-, so- and bha, bhla, bhra, dha, gha, ghla, ghra, mha:

do-bhlasta; fo-bhaile

In titles

An Príomh-Bhreitheamh

After the prefixes an- and dea-:

an-mhór, dea-nuacht

We know from Forming Compound Words that the second part usually takes séimhiú, with a few exceptions of not taking any mutation at all. However, there is the one prefix that actually triggers urú—the prefix éa. 

In this case, however, the letter that is being eclipsed is omitted entirely in the compound word. 

Introduction: The Eclipsis

Éa is equivalent to “un-” as a prefix:

Cothrom: level; balance Éagothrom: unevenness, imbalance

Cosúil: similar to Éagsúil: dissimilar

Cóir: justice Éagóir: injustice

Similarly, with ‘T’s:

Trom: heavy Éadrom: light