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[kittydesade]

Plural adjectives are usually formed with the suffix -a following a broad consonant and -e following a slender consonant. Adjectives ending in a vowel do not change in the plural (lá fada, laethanta fada). Adjectives ending in úil broaden the l and add -a: leisciúil, leisciúla. In the plural, gender is not marked by mutation. Instead, plural adjectives are lenited if the noun they modify ends in a consonant, regardless of gender. In fact, most nouns with plurals ending in a consonant are masculine.

fir mhaithe, good men
tithe móra, a big house
daoine deasa, nice people
mná maithe, good women
cairde móra, great friends
oifigí deasa, nice offices

The rules above apply in the common case, used with subjects, objects, and after preposition (common here used to mean nominative). In the genitive case, a noun may change form, and so may the adjective in similar ways.

When modifying a masculine noun, adjectives ending in broad consonants slenderize them (except ll, nn, rr, and m) and a vowel may change, e.g. from ea to i, as in the case of beag. Adjectives ending in slender consonants or vowels do not change form, but all are lenited.

an teach bán, doras an tí bháin: the white house, the door of the white house
an fear beag, ainm an fhir bhig: the small man, the small man's name
an fear glic, ainm an fhir ghlic: the sly man, the sly man's name
an teach buí, doras an tí bhuí: the yellow house, the door of the yellow house

Adjectives ending in -ach change to -(a)igh in the genitive masculine: an bóthar díreach, fad an bhóthair dhírigh, the straight road and the length of the straight road. There are other minor variants because of course there are. The full range of forms can be found in reference grammars.

In the genitive plural, adjectives are formed like the nouns they modify. If the genitive noun has the same form as the common singular, so does the adjective; if the noun has the plural ending of the common plural, so does the adjective. There is no mutation of a genitive plural adjective. Thank god.

ainmneacha na bhfear beag, the names of the small men
ainmneacha na mbuachaillí beaga, the names of the small boys

Adjectives modifying feminine nouns in the genitive add the suffix -e. A broad consonant becomes slender, and the vowel ea may change. Adjectives ending in -uil become -úla. Vowel final adjectives do not change. Many speakers avoid using genitive feminine adjectives, or they just use the common case form, so phrases like this are becoming rarer, but they are still found, especially in written Irish.

an bhean bheag, the small woman
ainm na mná bige, the small woman's name
an oifig mhór, the big office
doras na hoifige móire, the door of the big office
an tine the, the hot fire
teas na tine te, the heat of the hot fire
an bhean leisciúil, the lazy woman
ainm na mná leisciúla, the lazy woman's name

After feminine plural nouns in the genitive,a djectives have a plural suffix if the noun does, and not if it doesn't.

ainmneacha na mban beag, the names of the small women
doirse na n-oifigí mora, the doors of the big offices


... I take it back. Irish is the most complicated, annoying language ever. Worse than any other language I've studied. Worse than English.

My lavender is coming up with pretty pretty flowers! My morning glories are not, but I planted them... what, a week ago? Less than? I should really just calm down. Especially since I've definitely established that I can grow things from seed. So calm down, self. They'll grow when they grow. It's only towards the end of May, you have the entire summer and into fall for some growing seasons. Calm down and stop worrying about your plants.

(I will not calm down. I will in fact calm up. I will also attempt to collect more plants.)

Thingy thing thing. I'm making myself finish at least one of the friendship bracelet projects I've started before I even attempt to do a cabinet cover for my courtesan cabinet, but that may be the next knitting/braiding/thread project I start on. Which has not stopped me from picking out a pattern, but at least I have some degree of willpower. Maybe? There's at least a couple other knitting projects I need to finish too, while I'm at it. Le sigh. Maybe I can remember to get going on that. And repair my wheel. And everything else.

And no, none of this has distracted me from writing, it's just that thinking of one craft project I want to do reminds me of all the unfinished ones I have yet to do. One project at a time I guess? Plus the writing one project at a time, which is its own sort of chaos and aaaugh. No, I'm allowing local chaos to infect me. One project at a time. Today's project: finishing this bracelet and working on the dime novel I was working on. Once that's done, the next projects. And so on and so forth. I can totally do this. Really.