I have tried searching for info on this but I wasn't sure how to explain it to Google in a way that I could find what I was looking for. I notice that an is sometimes pronounced as a'. Is there a rule? Are there certain letters that overshadow the n in an? Or is it more complicated than that?

I actually went to a beginners' Arabic class last year and one of the few things I remember from that class is that the l in the definite article, 'al' is sometimes overshadowed by the first letter of the following noun. This happens when it is difficult to say the 'l' followed by the first letter of the following noun (according to my teacher), and this leads to the concept of 'sun letters' and 'moon letters' (I think). One group of letters are voiced after al, and the other aren't. I can't remember which is which, but that's irrelevant. I just brought this up because I was wondering if the situation was the same in Irish. I was wondering if Irish has a similar concept of 'sun letters' and 'moon letters' which causes an to be pronounced a' in certain situations. For example, I was told that 'oifig an phoist' is pronounced 'oifig a' phoist'. Would I be right in saying that, when an is followed by ph or f, it is pronounced as a'?

Sorry if I am hard to understand. I am Irish, so English is my first language, but it is a more hand-wavy type of English that is hard to put into words.

Go raibh maith agaibh, in advance. Since I've already thanked you, you have to help me out.

I know there may already be several threads about this, but I couldn't be bothered searching for them. Partly out of laziness and partly because I didn't know what to look for, making it almost impossible to search for those threads. It's probably no use searching for a' or an because I'm not sure your wee searchthing could handle two character words.

The general rule seems to be that the n disappears when there's a consonant sound, and is pronounced when there's a vowel.

An rud = "A' rud" (the thing)
An úll = "An úll" or even just "núll" (the apple)

I don't know how strictly the rule is followed. Someone speaking very slowly and carefully will probably pronounce the n in all cases. I suspect that native speakers don't even realise that they're missing the n sound.

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Táim ag foghlaim fós. Fáilte roimh gach aon cheartúchán.

This is my experience as well.

In Scottish Gaelic an is shortened to a' (even in spelling) before bh, ch, gh, mh, ph

I think I read some older books claiming that Irish an is more likely to be reduced to a' (in pronunciation) before some consonants than before others. I don't remember exactly which consonants, perhaps the same as in Scottish Gaelic
There's a tendency to write a' in place names, e.g. Ros a' Mhíl, so I guess this indicates a strict pronunciation as /ə/

But actually today Irish an is a' /ə/ before all consonants (including prefixed t-)

But opposed to this when the word before is ending in a vowel only 'n is pronounced:
chuir sé an liathróid /... s´e:n´ l´iə.../
In this case /n/ is often pronounced different according to the next consonant:
/m/, /m´/ before b-, p-, bh-, mh-, ph-, f-,
/ŋ/, /ŋ´/ before c-, g-, ch-, gh-, dh-,
/n/, /n´/ before all others.

Go raibh maith agaibh, a everyone who helped. That is really interesting, Lughaidh. I take it that, in cases where the preceding word ends in a vowel, the pronunciation of an depends on what part the following consonant 'comes from', if that makes sense. If the lips are involved, it's m. If the 'back' of the mouth (you know what I mean) is involved, it's ng.

In Conamara at least, you don't usually pronounce the n in an unless there is a vowel at the end of the previous word or a vowel at the beginning of the next (or both before and after)". (The a in an itself doesn't count.)

To put it another way, the n is usually dropped when an is between two consonants. (Again, the a in an itself doesn't count.)

What Labhrás said regarding how it is pronounced before certain consonants is correct.

Also, the n in an is made broad or slender by the word that follows:

Tá an t-arán ... /tɑ:N tərɑ:N/
Tá an t-im ... /tɑ:n´ t´i:m´/

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

I hate to dreg up an old thread, but what happens when an is led by a consonant but followed by a vowel? Does it become something like Níl 'n úll ... or stay Níl an úll?

Úll is masculine: an t-úll...

The rule is easy to see with examples:

a' Duine
leiS a' Duine
is É 'n Duine é

an Eagla
leiS an Eagla
is Í 'n Eagla í

ie. NOTHING+ an +VOWEL or CONSONANT +an +VOWEL
VOWEL + 'n + VOWEL

NOTHING + a' + CONSONANT or CONSONANT + a' + CONSONANT
VOWEL + 'n + CONSONANT

"fh"+ vowel works as a vowel
"fh"+ consonant works as a consonant

an fhírinne, leis an fhírinne, is í 'n fhírinne í
an fhreagairt, leis a' fhreagairt, is í 'n fhreagairt í




you say "Níl a' t-úll". (Donegal: Níl a' t-úlla).

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

Dur! Can't believe I forgot that. But thank you for the examples. Add that with the assimilation of the <n> and I think I'm finally getting somewhere. SO thanks again.