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grammars |
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Kentel pemzek
Un daol vras, taolioù
bras
== Lesson 15 == Mutations affecting nouns
after the article and attributive adjectives
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Y1. Mutation after the article
The article sometimes causes a mutation of the
initial consonant of nouns. There are 4 distinct
cases :
- Singular masculine nouns
- Singular feminine nouns
- Plural masculine nouns referring to people??
- Other plurals
These 4 cases can in fact be split into 2
groups :
-
Masculine singular nouns and
plural nouns (other than masculine ones
referring to people), with only one
possible mutation : K /
C'H
- Kazh, ar c'hazh
- kadorioù, ar c'hadorioù
- Kelenner, ar c'helenner
- kelennerezed, ar c'helennerezed
-
Feminine singular nouns and
masculine plurals referring to
people, which undergo soft
mutations (but not completely - /D/ does
not mutate).
-
- K/G
- Kador, ar gador
- kelennerien, ar gelennerien
-
- P/B
- Paner, ar baner
- paotred, ar baotred
-
- T/D
- Taol, an daol
- tud, an dud
-
- G/C'H
- Godell, ar c'hodell
- Gallaoued, ar C'hallaoued
-
- GW/W
- Gwerenn, ar werenn
- Gwenediz, ar Wenediz
-
- B/V
- Boest, ar voest
- bugale, ar vugale
-
- M/V
- Mamm, ar vamm
- mistri, ar vistri
Y2. Irregular mutations
In the singular :
- Tra, un dra vat mutates
as if it were feminine, despite being
masculine : we say daou
dra.
- Plac'h is feminine but
does not mutate : ur
plac'h
- Dor is feminine, and
becomes an nor.
In the plural : Masculine nouns referring to people with
the ending -où do not
mutate :
- an tadoù
Y3. Mutation of attributive adjectives
As a general rule, attributive adjectives of
mutable nouns (feminine singular and
masculine plurals referring to people, except those
ending in -où) undergo mutation
by softening.
- Un daol vras
- ur baner gozh
- Tud vras
- studierien gozh
- But tadoù kozh
However, there are exceptions to this rule
( see next lesson).
( Also, take a look at the summary of
mutations.)
Y4. Collective nouns
Ordinary nouns are singular, and their plural is
generally formed by adding plural endings, such
as -où or -ed. However, there are also collective
nouns, which are plurals whose singular
is formed by adding the feminine singular
ending -enn :
- Tomatez
- tomatezenn
- and therefore we have un
domatezenn
Y5. Ma hini, da re ...
Hini replaces a singular
noun, whereas re replaces a
plural one. If preceded by a possessive
pronoun ( ma, etc.), they
correspond to possessive pronouns in English
(mine, yours, etc.) :
- Ma levr, ma hini
- Ma levrioù, ma re
Y6. Comparative
This can be indicated by adding the ending -oc'h to an adjective :
- Ker, keroc'h
- bras, brasoc'h
There are some special cases :
- kozh, koshoc'h
and irregularities :
- mat, gwelloc'h
The second part of the comparison is introduced by the
preposition eget :
- Koshoc'h eo ar brezhoneg eget ar
galleg
Y7. Eget
The preposition eget, like all
prepositions, cannot be followed by a personal
pronoun, as it has its own personal
forms. ( See kentel 25.)
Y8. Re
Re, when used as an adverb or a
pronoun, causes a soft mutation :
- Re vras out !
- Pelec'h emañ ar re vihan
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