Page:Graimear na Gaedhilge.djvu/35

Rh a u;, explain; , explanation. If we want to make the of  (the termination of 3rd singular future) broad, we must write. , he will strike;, he will deceive.

Whenever a slender consonant is preceded by an which forms part of a diphthong or a triphthong, the consonant is usually made broad by dropping the. Thus to broaden the in, or the  in , we drop the  and the we get  and. The verbal nouns of and  are  and. 

CHAPTER V.

or, Slender with slender and broad with broad.

When a single consonant, or two consonants which easily blend together, come between two vowels, both the vowels must be slender or both must be broad.

This is a general rule of Irish phonetics. It has already been stated that a consonant is broad when beside a broad vowel, and slender when beside a slender vowel; and also that the sounds of the consonants vary according as they are broad or slender: hence if we try to pronounce a word like, the , being beside the slender vowel , should get its slender sound; but being also beside the broad vowel , the should be broad. But a consonant cannot be slender and broad at the same time; hence, such spelling as, , and , does not represent the correct sounds of the words, and, 