The Definite Articles in the Prepositional Case
The prepositional case is the case a noun goes into when it is indicating origin, possession or character.
The definite articles is as its name suggests. It is the case a noun goes into when preceded by a preposition. When a preposition is placed before the definite article, masculine nouns can have changes at the beginning of the word and feminine nouns can have changes at the beginning and inside the word.
The definite articles in the prepositional case are as follows:
| Masculine Singular Nominative Case | Nominative form of the article | Prepositional form of the article | Meaning |
| an | an rathad | anns an rathad | in the road |
| an | An | anns an òran | in the song |
| a’ | am bàta anns | anns a’ bhàta | in the boat |
| an t- | an sluagh | leis an t-sluagh | with the people |
| Feminine Singular Nominative Case | Nominative form of the article | Prepositional form of the article | Meaning |
| a’ | a’ chaileag | ris a’chaileig | to the girl |
| an | an uiseag | air an uiseig | on the lark |
| an t- | an t-slat | leis an t-slait | with the (fishing) rod |
| Masculine and Feminine Plural Nominative Case | Nominative form of the article | Prepositional form of the article | Meaning |
| na | na caileagan | ris na caileagan | to the girls |
| na | na càraichean | anns na càraichean | in the cars |
| na h- | na h-òrain | anns na h-òrain | in the songs |
| na h- | na h-uiseagan | air na h-uiseagan | on the larks |
Remember that the only time you use a’ in Gaelic is when it means the or when it is part of the verbal noun as in a’ coiseachd, a’ bruidhinn, a’ smaoineachadh and so on. The verbal noun is the form of the verb that allows us to say the equivalent of English walking, speaking, thinking. Therefore, you could say that a’ is going to be either ‘the’ or ‘the –ing thing’.
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