An Aidiacht Shealbhach (The Possessive Adjective) (Junior Cert Irish): Revision Notes

An Aidiacht Shealbhach

Possessive adjectives show ownership and are used before nouns. They change the form of the noun that follows them — sometimes by adding a séimhiú ("h" after the first consonant), or an urú (prefixing a different letter). Here's a breakdown of how they work:

Adjective	Change to Noun
mo	+ h
do	+ h
a (his)	+ h
a (her)	none
ár	+ urú
bhur	+ urú
a (their)	+ urú

Here are some examples:

An aidiacht shealbhach roimh chonsan	Possessive adjective before a consonant
mo charr	my car
do charr	your car
a charr	his car
a carr	her car
ár gcarr	our car
bhur gcarr	your car (plural)
a gcarr	their car

For words beginning with a vowel, mo, do, and a (his) drop a letter and use an apostrophe (e.g. m'aisteoir), a (her) adds an h (e.g. a haisteoir), and ár, bhur, a (their) add n- before the noun (e.g. ár n-aisteoir).

An aidiacht shealbhach roimh ghuta	Possessive adjective before a vowel
m'aintín	my aunt
d'aintín	your aunt
a aintín	his aunt
a haintín	her aunt
ár n-aintín	our aunt
bhur n-aintín	your aunt (plural)
a n-aintín	their aunt