Good day, Cáit = Dia duit, a Cháit
That must be right... it is in an memrise course made by an Irish woman....

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Is mise le meas
Zurni

Yes, a Cháit is correct, that's because Cáit, is Cáit in the nominative also.

Just clarify, when addressing a man in the vocative, the name is lenited (when possible) and the final consonant is palatalised/ slenderised (when possible), i.e. with an 'i'.

Example: Nominative, Seán .... Vocative, a Sheáin

Nom. Dónall, Voc. a Dhónaill

When addressing a women in Irish, the name is lenited (when possible), but left the same as the nominative.

e.g., nom. Siobhán, voc. a Shiobhán, not a Shiobháin.

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Go raibh míle maith agat.

There are a lot of "When" in it...
So... I can follow this rule either when we use a normal "Noun".... like bean = bhean I read once a version with mbhean...in which case is that in use?

I will try some

Caoimhe will turn into Chaoimhe?
Aoife will turn into Ahoife?
Saoirse will turn in Shaoirse?
Padraig will turn into Phadraig because there is already an i in Padraig?
Liam will turn into Lhiaim?
Niamh will turn into Nhiaimh?

That would be simple...but I guess I am totally wrong?

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Is mise le meas
Zurni

Caoimhe will turn into Chaoimhe? Yes
Aoife will turn into Ahoife? Stays the same, written and spoken
Saoirse will turn in Shaoirse? Yes
Padraig will turn into Phadraig because there is already an i in Padraig? Yes
Liam will turn into Lhiaim? Stays the same, written and end does not change AFIK. Pronunciation difference possible at start if you make the difference between [ʎi:əmˠ] or [l̪ʲiəmˠ] and [lʲi:əmˠ] [l̟'i:əmˠ] (the last is something I made to show and advanced tongue body and spread lips)
Niamh will turn into Nhiaimh? Same as above, but with 'n' instead

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__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___

OMG... I got something...

GRMMA!

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Is mise le meas
Zurni

ya, you are about to discover that even the exceptions in Irish have there own exceptions ... don't look at it as a hindrance but as a beautiful thing. Think of it as being on a road of discovery, but you are totally lost !



Yes, but don't forget the a, the vocative marker... so its a bhean, a fhir.

Example: a Sheáin, conas 'tá agat? , (Oh) Seán, how are you?



Nope, you never get eclipsion (eclipsion is the m in front of the b) and lenition at the same time on a noun; its either mbean or bhean, never mbhean. Besides you never get eclipsion with the vocative, its always lenition.

You do find eclispsion in other grammatical situations, but only worry about those when you come to it, e.g. with prepositions + definite article, e.g. ar an mbean 'on the woman'. What you probably saw was a mbean which means 'their woman'.



a Chaoimhe











Now we are getting to the exceptions, strap in, its about to get bumpy .

lenition only occurs on consonants, except for l, r, n (hence, when possible). Lenition does not occur on vowels:

a Aoife
a Niamh
a Nóra


Liam is a special case all on its own, it remains Liam in the vocative, so its a Liam.

A few words change drastically in the vocative:

Micheál becomes a Mhichíl and my own name Cian becomes a Chéin.

Cian

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So...that is only learning....no one can explain why in this cases?

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Zurni

I don't know why in the first case, but the /iə/ to /e:/ change was once more prevalent (see Niall to Ó Néill, for example), and is a pattern itself




Substitution can/did occur if you want/traditionally for N, L and R, even if it is not common now

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__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___

I didn't want to make it too complicated.

Cian = Céin

Before the end of the seventh century AD, Proto-Celtic high -é- (/e₁/) became diphthongised to -ía- when the final consonant was broad; hence fén = fían, Nél = Níall, grén = grían and Cén = Cían.

However, the old high -é- remained when the final consonant was palatal/ slenderised;* hence, fían in the dative = féin and genitive = féine, grían in the dative = gréin and genitive = gréine. Since Cian is a masculine name it gets slenderised in the same fashion as masculine nouns in the vocative, and that slenderisation causes -ía- to change back to the former high -é-; hence a Chéin.

It amazing how far back to roots of these subtle changes go.

* Reference: Stair na Gaeilge (1994, pg. 89): "taispeánann codarsnachtaí ar nós SGM (Sean-Ghaeilge Mhoch) Neel (Tíreachán; = Nél), gin. u. fédot (Cambrai) ach SG (Sean-Ghaeilge) Níal(l) 'Niall', fíadat 'tiarna' gur éirigh an sean-é leathard /ē/ ina dhéfhoghar ía roimh chonsan leathan roimh dheireadh an 7ú haois".

I'm not sure why Mícheál became Míchil though, since a Mhicheáil is possible!

Crossed with Jay Bee

Cian

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a Mhíchíl instead of a Mhícheáil is really an exception.

Cian - a Chéin is a usual change of -ia- to -éi-. (though it does not occur in every case of -ia-: Brian - a Bhriain, not a Bhréin.
Compare with iasc - éisc (fish, of fish/fishes)

Nouns differ according to their declension group. There are (at least) 5 groups.
The only declension group with a change in vocative is the 1st declension.

In first declension vocative is the same as genitive: fear - a fhir, mac - a mhic, amadán - a amadáin, iasc - a éisc (in case you talk to a fish)
All nouns here are masculine.

In every other declension group (and most irregular nouns) vocative is the same as nominative: múinteoir - a mhúinteoir, bean - a bhean, iníon - a iníon, etc.
That's why all feminine nouns and all female personal names don't change in vocative. (None of them can be in first declension)

Unfortunately most male personal names belong to first declension.
So, there are only a few male names without change in vocative, e.g.:
Liam, fourth declension (nominative = genitive = vocative, no change at all): Liam, teach Liam (Liam’s house), a Liam (Liam!)
Aonghus, third declension (genitive: Aonghusa, vocative Aonghus): Aonghus, teach Aonghusa, a Aonghus. (though sometimes it is used as a first declension noun: a Aonghuis)
Críostóir, third declension (genitive: Críostóra, vocative Críostóir): Críostóir, teach Chríostóra, a Chríostóir.

Mac is first declension, Ó is irregular with a vocative (and genitive) in Uí
So, most Irish surnames must change in vocative, too.