"Tu phoithe dúichir u gcabhall all oc, seidh si tu fhaiche ill eannáir so'll dors, tu aibhe u gcuas bhon."
Aideicht proisceamh: 22 Giúil 2004
Last update: 22 July 2004
Geoff's homepage -> Artificial Languages -> Breathanach
Many words in Breathanach come from a form of Latin closer to Classical Latin rather than to Vulgar Latin, for example the word for "white" is albh from the Latin albus, rather than something like *blag which is cognate with modern-day Romance. (This is another way of saying that it's easier for me to work out Breathanach words by looking in my Latin dictionary than by consulting four separate dictionaries for French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. It also allows Breathanach to have a phonology closer to that of the Gaelic it is supposed to resemble.)
Like modern Welsh, Breathanach is used in two distinct registers: the normal everyday spoken language (liong fholgáir "common tongue", henceforth abbreviated to LF), and the more formal elevated language of public speeches and religious ceremonies (liong nóibhil "noble tongue", abbreviated to LN). LF is characterised by the loss of many grammatical endings and their replacement by more analytical constructions, while LN is terser and more synthetic. The following description covers both registers, since the learner is likely to encounter both. LN words are preferred in the text; LF equivalents, where different, are given in [square brackets]
The variety of Breathanach presented here is the de facto standard, which is a hybrid of the two main dialect groupings. The main division in Breathanach dialects is between the more conservative dialects of Ibhirn to the west of the North Channel and the more innovative dialects to the east, in Caileadhóin. The most salient differences in pronunciation and spelling between the dialects are mentioned where appropriate. Here's a highly provisional map showing the parts of Caileadhóin where Breathanach is spoken; it's about 1200 pixels square.
Q-Celtic speakers may, rightly, protest at some unintentional and improbable resemblances to Proto-Liotan; the two languages should have nothing in common except their Q-Celticity, but some crossover is, I suppose, inevitable.
Syncope is the loss of a medial syllable containing a short unstressed vowel when an additional syllable is added to a word of two or more syllables; it is much more common in LF than in LN. The first example in this file is the adjective féilisc "happy"; its plural would normally be féilisce, but the second syllable was pronounced so weakly that it eventually dropped out, leaving behind féilsce. If consonants of opposite qualities combine as a result of syncope, the quality of the resulting group is dictated by the final consonant; thus castain "chestnut" becomes caistne in the feminine plural from castaine.
The approximate pronunciations of the basic consonants are given by the letter in uppercase in the words shown below.
| Broad | Slender | Broad | Slender | ||
| P | Pat | Pure | B | Bat | Beauty |
| T | Tap | Tune (1) | D | Dot | Dune (2) |
| C | Cat | Cure | G | Got | arGue |
| F | Fat | Few | L(L) | aLL (3) | Let (3) |
| S | Sat | Sheet | N(N) | oN | Net (4) |
| M | Mat | Mew | R(R) | aRe | Real (4) |
Note the following:
Certain clusters are spelled differently in Caileadhóin: SB SD SG are found for SP ST SC, while CHT becomes CHD and is pronounced CHC.
The most common mutation is lenition, which can occur anywhere in a word. In all consonants except L N R, lenition is indicated by a following H; L N R are actually the lenited forms, the unlenited forms being written LL NN RR (except at the beginning of a word, when you just have to know). The approximate sounds of the lenited consonants are indicated below.
| Broad | Slender | Broad | Slender | ||
| PH | Fat | Few | BH | Vat (3) | View |
| TH | Hat | Hat (1) | DH | (4) | Yet |
| CH | aCH (2) | iCH (2) | GH | (4) | Yet |
| FH | silent | silent | L | (6) | Lure (9) |
| SH | Hat | Hew | N | (7) | oNion (10) |
| MH | (5) | (5) | R | (8) | (8) |
Again, note the following:
Lenition appears in numerous situations right through the language; most usually it is caused by the lenited consonant having been between two vowels.
Another mutation is eclipsis (also known as nasalisation), which only occurs at the beginnings of words. By eclipsis, P T C F become B D G BH and are writted BP DT GC BHF; similarly, B D G become M N NG and are writted MB ND NG. Eclipsis prefixes N- to vowels; one instance of its occurrence is after the article "a, an, one", as in u-gcain "a dog, one dog". It is much less common than lenition; it occurs after some words which originally ended in a nasal consonant.
Nasalisation does not operate in many Caileadhóin dialects. Instead, the nasal is assimilated to the following consonant so that before P B F it becomes M and before C G it is pronounced "ng"; thus un cain "a dog", um páin "a loaf of bread".
The third mutation is non-mutation, in which H- is prefixed to an initial vowel which does not undergo mutation in an environment where mutation might occur, such as in eall h-acla "the eagles", by contrast with eall acal "the eagle". Non-mutation is the rarest of the three mutations; it is often due to an original word-final S.
Words which lenite are written "-h" after them. Words which nasalise are similarly indicated with following "-n", and non-mutation is signalled by "-*". Words undergoing non-mutation which begin with a consonant are written here with "*" before the consonant to show when non-mutation is taking place. (Or should that be "not taking place"? Suggestions welcome.)
The clusters SP ST SC never undergo any mutation.
The long vowels are transcribed with the acute accent, viz. Á É Í Ó Ú; note that Caileadhóin uses grave accents, i.e. À È Ì Ò Ù. Their qualities are respectively like the vowels in English "far", "say", "see", "so" and "sue", but pure - i.e. as a Scot would say them. Before broad consonants, É and Ó are opener, more like the vowels in "set"and "saw". In stressed syllables they are pronounced about twice as long as short vowels; in unstressed syllables long vowels are shortened, but keep their quality.
The short vowels are transcribed A E I O U, and have the same qualities as the corresponding long vowels. In unstressed syllables all short vowels are reduced to a "schwa" - the indistinct vowel sound in the second syllables of "village" or "butter". Before a slender consonant, the schwa is more like the vowel in "it".
The diphthongs, which are not found in unstressed syllables, are IA and UA, which are combinations of short I U followed by a schwa.
The only short vowel which appears at the ends of words of more than one syllable is schwa, which is written A or E according as the preceding consonant is broad or slender. A schwa is inserted in speech (but not spelling) in combinations of L N R and B BH C CH G GH P PH F M MH when preceded by a short stressed vowel; thus parbh "small" is pronounced as though it is written parabh.
Extra "glide" vowels are used in writing to indicate the qualities of neighbouring consonants. In all cases, E I (slender vowels) are written next to slender consonants, while A O U (broad vowels) are written next to broad consonants. This means in practice that there are up to four ways of spelling each vowel sound, using up to three letters; consequently, what may appear to be a diphthong is probably a single vowel sound between consonants of different qualities.
Genrally speaking, if no vowel in a group is accented, the last vowel is probably a glide, except if the group is or begins with AO EO IU. The spellings of the short vowel sounds in stressed syllables are as follows, where B and S represent broad and slender consonants respectively.
| A | E | I | O | U | IA | UA | schwa | |
| B-B | A | AO | (1) | O | U | (4) | UA | A |
| B-S | AI | (2) | AOI | OI | UI | (4) | UAI | AI |
| S-B | (3) | EA | IO | EO | IU | IA | (5) | EA |
| S-S | EAI | EI | I | EOI | IUI | IAI (6) | (5) | I |
Notes:
Caileadhóin idiosyncratically uses the spelling EU for long E before a broad vowel (normally ÉA), and pronounces the vowels transcribed AO(I) further back in the mouth.
In LF, vowels before LL NN RR are often diphthongised; thus mann "big" and ceall "that" sound a bit like [maun] and [k'eul].
Here are the full declensions of the masculine nouns fior "man", gleidh "sword", and cain "dog":
| Nom | fior | gleidh | cain | |
| Acc | fior-n | gleidh-n | cain- | |
| Singular | Gen | fire | gleidhe | caine |
| Dat | fiora | gleidhe | caine | |
| Voc | fire | gleidhe | caine | |
| Nom | fire | gleidhe | caine | |
| Acc | fiora-* | gleidhe-* | caine-* | |
| Plural | Gen | fior(ra)-n | gleidh(re)-n | cain(re)-n |
| Dat | fir(eabh) | gleidh(eabh) | cain(eabh) | |
| Voc | fior | gleidh | caine |
And here are the feminine nouns paoll "girl", geil "helmet" and fidh "faith":
| Nom | paoll | geil | fidh(e) | |
| Acc | paoll-n | geil-n | fidh-n | |
| Singular | Gen | paolla | geile | fidhe |
| Dat | paolla | geile | fidhe | |
| Voc | paoll | geil | fidh | |
| Nom | paolla | geile | fidhe | |
| Acc | paolla-* | geile-* | fidhe-* | |
| Plural | Gen | paoll(ra)-n | geile(ara)-n | fidh(re)-n |
| Dat | paoill(eabh) | geil(eabh) | fidh(eabh) | |
| Voc | paoille | geile | fidhe |
The genitive and dative plural endings shown in brackets are nowadays very rarely found.
The cases are thus used more or less as follows:
In LF the case distinctions are no longer observed, with only the nominative forms surviving. The only ending still in use for masculine nouns is thus the plural -e, with the final consonant becoming slender if it is broad in the singular. For feminine nouns, -a is added in the plural if the final consonant is broad and -e if it is slender.
Thus, in LF "man" is always fior in the singular and fire in the plural - note how the spelling of the vowel I changes to indicate the change in quality of the R. Similarly, the nouns "sword", "girl" and "helmet" are gleidh, paoll, geil in the singular and gleidhe, paolla, gaele in the plural. The sentence "the man sees the girl's house" in LF is thus ill fior fidh la chas dealla phaoll. [Note that "sword" is more usually glíth in LF.]
Some nouns change vowels in the plural; thus óbh "egg", plural uabh [but both are úth in LF]. Note that -ao- (sounded E) becomes -aoi- (sounded I): caos "cheese", plural caois.
| Masc singular | Fem singular | Masc plural | Fem plural | |
| "the" | ill cain | eall phaoll | ille *caine | ealla *paolla |
| ill fior | eall ghail | ille *fire | ealla *gaile | |
| "a, some" | u-ncain | un phaoll | dill *caine | deall *paolla |
| un fior | un ghail | dill *fire | deall *gaile | |
| "this, these" | ceist chain | ceast phaoll | ciste chaine | ceasta phaolla |
| ceist fhior | ceast ghail | ciste fhire | ceasta ghaile | |
| "that, those" | ceill chain | ceall phaoll | cille chaine | cealla phaolla |
| ceill fhior | ceall ghail | cille fhire | cealla ghaile | |
| "this one" | ceistean | ceastan | cistine | ceastana |
| "that one" | ceillean | ceallan | cilline | ceallana |
Note that the words for "some" are formed with de "of, from".
| nom | fior parbh | paoll pharbh | |
| acc | fior bparbh | paoll bparbh | |
| Singular | gen | fire phairbh | paolla pharbha |
| dat | fiora parbh | paolla pharbha | |
| voc | fire pharbh | paoll pharbh | |
| nom | fire phairbhe | paolla pharbha | |
| acc | fiora *parbh | paolla *parbh | |
| Plural | gen | fior bparbh(ra) | paoll bparbh(ra) |
| dat | fior pairbh(eabh) | paoill phairbh(eabh) | |
| voc | fir phairbh | paoille phharbh |
As with nouns, only the nominatives of adjectives are used in LF. Thus it only needs to be remembered that adjectives after feminine and plural nouns lenite the initial consonant, and plurals of adjectives follow the same rules as nouns. Thus the four LF forms of parbh and the slender adjective féilisc "happy" are as follows:
| Masculine singular | fior parbh | fior féilisc |
| Masculine plural | fire phairbhe | fire fhéilsce |
| Feminine singular | paoll pharbh | paoll fhéilisc |
| Feminine plural | paolla pharbha | paolla fhéilsc |
Note the syncope in the plural of féilisc.
In LN, the vowels change in feminine singular forms of many adjectives; for example the feminine singulars of sól "alone" and dúr "hard" are sual and dór. Such changes are rare in LF, in which the masculine forms are used for the feminine.
Adjectives inflect whether they are used attributively (i.e. directly with a noun) or predicatively (i.e. with a verb in between): la phaoll pharbh "the small girl", la paolla sunn parbha "the girls are small". Note however that predicative adjectives do not mutate their initial letters.
Some adjectives may precede the noun to indicate a figurative, rather than a literal, meaning; in such instances the first letter of the noun is lenited. The stock example is póiphir "poor": note the difference between the literal fior póiphir "man with no money" and the figurative póiphir fhior "pitiable man".
Adjectives may be freely used as nouns: ille póiphre "the poor people", ille feithle "the old ones". In more archaic LN, -n was suffixed to the adjective as with demonstrative pronouns: ille póiphrine, ille feithline.
In LN, the comparitive and superlative of most adjectives may be formed with the suffixes -ear and -seamh, as with foirtear "stronger" and foirtseamh "strongest" (usually written foirseamh, since T is often lost before the S), but these forms are usually regarded as archaic. The suffixes cause the last letter of the adjective to become slender; thus alt "tall" has the archaic comparitives ailtear and ail(t)seamh.
Four common adjectives have irregular comparitives and superlatives:
| Positive | Comparitive | Superlative |
| bon "good" | meilear | oichteamh |
| mal "bad" | píor | peiseamh |
| mann "great" | méar | maisceamh |
| parbh "small" | meanar | mineamh |
Mann and grand both mean the same thing and may be used interchangeably. A corresponding alternative to parbh is póch.
| a "to" | de "from" | in "in" | so "on" | por "for" | |
| ill | aill | dill | nill | soill | poill |
| eall-h | alla-h | deall-h | neall-h | soll-h | polla-h |
| ille | aille | dille | nille | soille | poille |
| ealla-* | alla-* | dealla-* | nealla-* | solla-* | polla-* |
| u-n | a-n | de-n | i-n | so-n | por u-n |
| un-h | an-h | dean-h | in-h | son-h | por un-h |
De replaces the genitive case in LF: la chas dill fior "the man's house, the house of the man" (formal cas fire). As mentioned above, de is also used to express "some", thus dill páin means both "some bread" and "of the bread".
| person | English | nom | acc | gen |
| 1 sing | I me my | geo | me-h | mia-h |
| 2 sing | thou thee thy | tu | te-h | tua-h |
| 3 sing | he him his | is | ill | sua-h |
| she her her | sa | eall-h | sa-h | |
| 1 plur | we us our | nua-* | nua-* | noist |
| 2 plur | you you your | fua-* | fua-* | foist |
| 3 plur | they them their | ise | ille | saoi-h |
| they them their | saoi | ealla | saoi-h | |
| refl | -self | - | se-h | sia-h |
The vowels of me, te and tu are usually short in normal conversation, but are lengthened when the pronoun is being emphasised.
The third person pronouns are used when referring to things (corresponding to "it") as well as people; is refers to a masculine noun and sa to a feminine noun. Saoi is used only when referring to groups of entirely feminine nouns; ise is used in all other cases. The same, of course, applies to the corresponding object (accusative) pronouns.
The third person genitive pronouns depend on the gender and number of the noun possessed, not the possessor: sua chain "his/her/their dog", sa gheil "his/her/their helmet", saoi ghleidhe "his/her/their swords".
Of the second person pronouns, fua is also used in the singular, except when speaking to a person with whom the speaker is familiar or intimate; in such situations tu is used instead.
The object pronouns always precede the verb: geo te fhidhe "I see you". The special third person reflexive pronoun is sia-h, which corresponds more or less to "himself", "herself", "oneself", "itself" and "themselves": eall cain sia labh "the dog washes itself".
The possessive pronouns "mine", "yours" and so on are formed with the genitive of the pronoun and un "one":
| person | English | masc sing | fem sing | masc plur | fem plur |
| 1 sing | "mine" | mean | mean | meine | meana |
| 2 sing | "thine" | tean | tean | teine | teana |
| 3 sing | "his, hers" | sean | sean | seine | seana |
| 1 plur | "ours" | noistean | noistean | noistine | noisteana |
| 2 plur | "yours" | foistean | foistean | foistine | foisteana |
| 3 plur | "theirs" | sean | sean | seine | seana |
All of these are preceded by the appropriate article: eall mhean "mine (fem sing)", etc.
| adjective | pronoun | ||
| some, any | aileach | someone, anyone | alchan |
| all | tóth | everyone | tóthan |
| each | caosc | each one | caoscan |
| no | null | no-one | nullan |
There are five simple tenses: present, imperfect, future, conditional, and preterite; and five corresponding compound tenses: perfect, pluperfect, future perfect, conditional perfect, and second pluperfect. There are three moods: indicative, subjunctive, and imperative. Finally, there are two participles (present and past), a gerund, and two infinitives.
| LN | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ||||
| 1 sing | a | e | e | e | a | e | í | a | e | sa |
| 2 sing | as | is | is | is | as | is | íste | a | is | is |
| 3 sing | ath | ith | ith | ith | ath | ith | íth | a | ith | ist |
| 1 plur | àmha | éamha | eamha | íomha | amha | eàmha | íomha | àmha | eàmha | sumha |
| 2 plur | àithe | éithe | ithe | íthe | aithe | eàithe | íst | àithe | eàithe | iste |
| 3 plur | ann | eann | eann | eann | ann | eann | earann | ann | eann | sunn |
| LF | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 sing | a | e | ò | í |
| 2 sing | as | is | ò | íste |
| 3 sing | ath | ith | òth | íth |
| 1 plur | amha | eamha | òmha | íomha |
| 2 plur | aiche | iche | òiche | íche |
| 3 plur | ann | eann | ònn | earann |
The -ch- in the LF second person plural is probably a borrowing from Brithenig, motivated by the similarity in sound of slender TH and CH.
One verb from each declension is conjugated below; the verbs are amháir "to love", fidhéir [fír] "to see", mitir "to send" and óidhír "to hear". The third conjugation is identical to the fourth, except that the characteristic vowel -i- is always short and thus pronounced as schwa.
The imperative, the mood of command, has only the present tense; in the familiar singular it is formed from the bare stem: amh! "love!". In the plural it is the same as the simple present without the final vowel: amhamh! "let us love!", amhaith "love!" (plural, or polite singular).
| 1 sing | amha | fidhe | mite | óidhe |
| 2 sing | amhas | fidhis | mitis | óidhis |
| 3 sing | amhath | fidhith | mitith | óidhith |
| 1 plur | amhámha | fidhéamha | miteamha | óidhíomha |
| 2 plur | amháithe | fidhéithe | mitithe | óidhíthe |
| 3 plur | amhann | fidheann | miteann | óidheann |
And in LF:
| 1 sing | geo amha | fhidhe | mhite | óidhe |
| 2 sing | tu amha | fhidhe | mhite | óidhe |
| 3 sing masc | is amh | fidh | mit | óidh |
| 3 sing fem | sa amh | fhidh | mhit | óidh |
| 1 plur | nua h-amhamha | *fidheamha | *miteamha | h-óidheamha |
| 2 plur | fua h-amhaiche | *fidhiche | *mitiche | h-óidhiche |
| 3 plur masc | ise chadann | fhidheann | mhiteann | dhoirmheann |
| 3 plur fem | saoi chadann | fhidheann | mhiteann | dhoirmheann |
Note the mutations after the pronouns in LF, in particular the non-mutation after nua and fua. The final schwa in these persons is not often pronounced.
Occasionally, in some third conjugation verbs, the final consonant of the root is broad in the first person singular and third person plural: miota, miotann for mite, miteann, but this usage is nowadays not found outside formal LN.
| LN | LF | |
| 1 sing | amhàbha | geo chadò |
| 2 sing | amhàbhas | tu chadò |
| 3 sing masc | amhàbhath | is cadòth |
| 3 sing fem | amhàbhath | sa chadòth |
| 1 plur | amhàbhàmha | nua *cadòmha |
| 2 plur | amhàbhàithe | fua *cadòiche |
| 3 plur masc | amhàbhann | ise chadònn |
| 3 plur fem | amhàbhann | saoi chadònn |
| fidhiabha | geo fhidheò | |
| miteabha | geo mhiteò | |
| óidhiabha | geo óidhreò |
Note that there is no syncope in the imperfect, i.e you don't find *amhábhmha, for example. Note too that the thematic vowels of conjugations 2 and 4 become IA in LN.
| first form | second form | LF | |
| 1 sing | amhàirbhe | aimhre | geo aimhre |
| 2 sing | amhàirbhis | aimhris | tu aimhre |
| 3 sing masc | amhàirbhith | aimhrith | is aimhre |
| 3 sing fem | amhàirbhith | aimhrith | sa aimhre |
| 1 plur | amhàirmhe | amhàirmhe | nua h-amhairmhe |
| 2 plur | amhàirthe | amhàirthe | fua h-amhairche |
| 3 plur masc | amhàirbheann | aimhreann | ise aimhreann |
| 3 plur fem | amhàirbheann | aimhreann | saoi aimhreann |
| fidhéirbhe | fidhre | fidhre | |
| mitirbhe | mitre | mitre | |
| óidhírbhe | óidhre | óidhre |
Note the shortening of the vowel in the 1 and 2 plural in LF. A schwa is sometimes inserted to break up complicated consonant clusters, as with doirmh-i-rbheann "they will sleep".
In LF, for the more immediate future the present tense of féir (LN fàidhir) "to go" is used with the infinitive: geo fhéithe amhair "I am going to sing".
| LN | LF | |
| 1 sing | aimhreabha | geo aimhreò |
| 2 sing | aimhreabhas | tu aimhreòs |
| 3 sing masc | aimhreabhath | is aimheòth |
| 3 sing fem | aimhreabhath | sa aimhreòth |
| 1 plur | aimhreabhamha | nua h-aimhreòmha |
| 2 plur | aimhreabhaithe | fua h-aimhreòiche |
| 3 plur masc | aimhreabhann | ise aimhreònn |
| 3 plur fem | aimhreabhann | saoi aimhreònn |
| fidhreabha | geo fhidhreò | |
| mitreabha | geo mhitreò | |
| óidhreabha | geo óidhreò |
The present participle can also be used with the auxiliary verb stàir "to stand" to make the progressive meaning as in English, although this is rare: eall phaoll stath óidhínte "the girl is hearing". In sentences such as "I like singing", where English has the present participle as the object of a verb, Breathanach uses the infinitive: geo amha cantàir.
The past stem of almost all first and fourth conjugations is the same as the present stem. In the first conjugation, a glide letter A is inserted before the endings, except in the third person plural where the initial glide E is not necessary. The past stems of most second and third conjugation verbs are not always predictable from the present and have to be learned separately, although the past stems of many third conjugation verbs are formed with S or T. Thus, omitting the personal pronouns in LF, the preterites of amhàir, óidhír, moinéir "to remind" and scríbhir "to write" are:
| 1 sing | amhaí | óidhí | munuí | scrisí |
| 2 sing | amhaíste | óidhíste | munuíste | scrisíste |
| 3 sing | amhaíth | óidhíth | munuíth | scrisíth |
| 1 plur | amhaíomha | óidhíomha | munuíomha | scrisíomha |
| 2 plur | amhaíst | óidhíst | munuíst | scrisíst |
| 3 plur | amharann | óidhearann | munarann | scrisearann |
Note the choice of U as the glide in munuí, and many other second conjugation verbs; this has no effect on the pronunciation and is merely used to indicate the conjugation.
The LF second person plural forms in -che (e.g. amhaíche) must be regarded as non-standard.
| 1 sing | aimhe | feidhe | meata | óidhe |
| 2 sing | aimhis | feidheas | meatas | óidheas |
| 3 sing | aimhith | feidheath | meatath | óidheath |
| 1 plur | aimhéamha | feidheámha | meatamha | óidheámha |
| 2 plur | aimhéithe | feidheáithe | meataithe | óidheáithe |
| 3 plur | aimhinn | feidheann | meatann | óidheann |
The imperfect subjunctive, which is very rare in LF, is formed by adding the thematic vowel, -(i)s-, and the set 3 endings to the preterite stem; thus the 1st person singular imperfect subjunctive of amhàir is amhàise.
| "to be" | "to have" | "to go" | |
| Infinitive | éiséir | aibhéir | fàidhir [féir] |
| 1 sing | so | aibhe | féithe [féithe] |
| 2 sing | seis | aibhis [aibhe] | fàidhis [féithe] |
| 3 sing | eist | aibhith [aibh] | fàidhith [féith] |
| 1 plur | sumha | aibheamha | fàidheamha [féamha] |
| 2 plur | seist [seiche] | aibhithe [-che] | fàidhithe [féiche] |
| 3 plur | sunn | aibheann | fàidheann [féann] |
| imperfect | earr-a | aibheabha- | éabha- [itheò, féitheò] |
| future | seirbh-e | aibhr-e | ir-bhe |
| perfect | faí | obhuí [úthuí] | ibhí |
| past part | stàth | óth/uath | íoth/éath |
| 1 sing | amhàsa | óidhíosa | scriochtsa |
| 2 sing | amhàis | óidhís | scriochtais |
| 3 sing | amhàst | óidhíst | scriochtaist |
| 1 plur | amhàsumha | óidhíosumha | scriochtsumha |
| 2 plur | amhàiste | óidhíste | scriochtaiste |
| 3 plur | amhàsunn | óidhíosunn | scriochsunn |
And here are the first person passive forms of the other tenses of amhàir:
| Tense | Form | Endings |
| Imperfect ind | amhàrra | set 2 |
| Future | amhàisirbha | set 3 |
| Conditional | amhàistreabha | set 2 |
| Preterite | amhàbhuí | set 4 |
| Present subj | amhàise | set 5 |
| Imperfect subj | amhàibhise | set 3 |
| Infinitive | amhàisir |
Past participles of transitive verbs also fused with éiséir in this way to form a synthetic perfect tense: íosa "I have gone".
The relative subject pronoun "who, which" is caoi-*: eall phaoll caoi *me fhídhíth eist beall "the girl who saw me is beautiful". In older forms of the language this caused lenition.
"And" and "or" are eith and oth in LN, but commonly e and o in LF.
The interrogative pronoun "who?" is the same as the corresponding relatives: caoi fídhíth me? "who saw me?". Its accusative, corresponding to English "whom", is the same with eclipsis: caoi bhfídhí "whom did I see?"
Other common question words are:
| coil | what kind of |
| conn | how much |
| coth | which one |
| comhodh | how |
| uibh | where |
| 1 | ú-n (masc), ún-h (fem) | 11 | úinde |
| 2 | dua-h | 12 | doide, duaide |
| 3 | tria-* | 13 | treide |
| 4 | cotar | 14 | cotairde |
| 5 | caonc [caog] | 15 | caínde |
| 6 | seisc | 16 | séide, deich-seisc |
| 7 | seicht-n | 17 | deich-seicht-n |
| 8 | oicht-n | 18 | deich-oicht-n |
| 9 | noibh-n | 19 | deich-noibh-n |
| 10 | deich-n | 20 | fíghinn [fínn] |
For example: seicht gcaine "seven dogs", dua phaolla "two girls", deich-oicht gcasa "eighteen houses". The noun being counted is often also found in the singular, for example seicht gcain. ún is accented when it means specifically "one", by contrast with un which merely means "a". The higher numbers are formed in two ways: with the old Celtic system using twenties, or the Latinate system with tens. Thus:
| Celtic | Latinate | |
| 21 | fíghinn e ún | (same) |
| 22 | fíghinn dhua | (same) |
| 23 | fíghinn thria | (same) |
| 30 | fíghinn dheich | tríghinn [trínn] |
| 31 | fíghinn úinde | tríghinn e ún |
| 32 | fíghinn dhoide | tríghinn dhua |
| 40 | dua fhíghinn | codhraíghinn [codhraínn] |
| 41 | dua fhíghinn e ún | codhraíghinn e ún |
| 50 | dua fhíghinn | dheich cioncaíghinn [ciogaínn] |
| 60 | tria fhíghinn | seascaíghinn [seascaínn] |
| 70 | tria fhíghinn | dheich seachtaíghinn [seachtaínn] |
| 80 | cotar fhíghinn | ochtaíghinn [ochtaínn] |
| 90 | cotar fhíghinn | dheich nónaíghinn [nónaínn] |
| 100 | ceann | (same) |
| 1000 | mill | (same) |
Note that fíghinn, tríghinn and so on lenite the first letter of the following word only if it is a number.
"First", "second" and "third" are príomh, seacúnn [scunn], tirt. The higher ordinals are formed by adding -eamh: coitreamh, caoinceamh [caogeamh], and so on.
| January | Geonàir | July | Giúil | Monday | Lóindé |
| February | Féabhràir | August | Óghast | Tuesday | Mairdé |
| March | Mairt | September | Seichtir | Wednesday | Mearchraídé |
| April | Aiphríl | October | Oichteóir | Thursday | Geoibhdé [Geoidé] |
| May | Màith | November | Noibhir | Friday | Feinirdé |
| June | Giúin | December | Deichir | Saturday | Sàthairdé [Sàirdé] |
| Sunday | Doimhneach [Doinneach] |
The names of the letters are all plant-names, most of them trees, Here is the complete Breathanach alphabet.
| A | aichir | "maple" | L | lairich | "larch" |
| B | béathal [béal] | "birch" | M | mór | "mulberry" |
| C | castain | "chestnut" | N | nusc | "nut-tree" |
| D | dúmh | "bramble" | O | oistír | "hop-hornbeam" |
| E | eibh | "fir" | P | píon | "pine" |
| F | fàigh [féith] | "beech" | R | róbh | "oak" |
| G | geineast | "broom" | S | sailich | "willow" |
| H | shorbh | "rowan" | T | til | "lime" |
| I | ílich | "holly" | U | ulmh | "elm" |