Chapter 2 of 17 · Explore the Irish path
The script · Chapter 2 of 17
Why a word has more vowels than sounds
An Irish word often has more vowels than sounds. Learn which vowels are only labels telling you how to say the consonant beside them, and what the stroke over a vowel changes.
≈ 3 min of reading · Practise at your own pace
What’s in this chapter
- Irish uses eighteen letters: no j, k, q, v, w, x, y or z in a native word.
- Every consonant comes in two flavours, broad and slender; swapping them changes the word.
- The vowels beside a consonant label its flavour: a, o, u broad — e, i slender. Some vowels are labels, not sounds.
- The stroke over a vowel — a fada, “long” — is a different sound and part of the spelling.
Every consonant comes in two flavours — broad, tongue flat and back; slender, tongue pushed up and forward. Swapping them changes the word. Irish has no letters for the second set, so it uses the vowels next to a consonant as a label.
Which vowels make a consonant broad or slender
Read across each row to see which flavour each vowel marks.
| These vowels | label the consonant beside them as |
|---|---|
| a, o, u, á, ó, ú | broad — tongue flat and back |
| e, i, é, í | slender — tongue up and forward |
If a word has more vowels than sounds, the spare ones are labels — do not say them.
Vowels that are only labels
Read the Irish word, then the respelling, and find the vowel that is never said.
What the stroke over a vowel does
A fada marks a different, longer sound. Compare each short vowel with its long partner.
| Short | Long |
|---|---|
| a — between cat and cot | á — aw as in law |
| e — as in bed | é — ay as in day |
| i — as in sit | í — ee as in see |
| o — often closer to the u in but | ó — oh as in go |
| u — as in put | ú — oo as in moon |
The fada is part of the spelling, not decoration: sean
Find the letter that is only a label
Say which vowel is doing no work of its own. Reveal after one attempt.
- bean
One of the two vowels is a sign on the b, not a sound.
Show answer +Hide answer −
The e is the label; only the a is heard. beanban “woman”. - Are sean and Seán the same word?
Show answer +Hide answer −
No. One fada apart: “old”, and a man’s name.