Editing Irish declension (section)

{{Short description|Aspect of the Irish language}}
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In [[Irish grammar]], [[declension]] happens to [[noun]]s, the definite [[article (grammar)|article]], and the [[adjective]]s.

Irish mostly has five noun declensions {{See below|[[#Declension|below]]}}, each with four cases (nominative,{{NoteTag|The accusative has the same form as the nominative, and together they are sometimes called "common"}} vocative, genitive, dative), and singular and plural forms.{{NoteTag|Traces of [[Proto-Indo-European nominals|Proto-Indo-European dual forms]] still exist, especially after {{lang|ga|dhá}}, and with the second declension nouns {{lang|ga|bos}}, {{lang|ga|bróg}}, {{lang|ga|cluas}}, {{lang|ga|cos}} and [[wikt:lámh|{{lang|ga|lámh|nocat=yes}}]]}} There are four classes of declension of adjectives in Irish, which correspond to the first four declensions of nouns. There are two genders in Irish, masculine and feminine. The gender of nouns in each declension is somewhat mixed, but there are clear patterns.

The [[definite article]] has two forms in Irish: {{lang|ga|an}} and {{lang|ga|na}}. There is no indefinite article in Irish, so depending on context {{lang|ga|cat}} can mean "cat" or "a cat". Their distribution depends on number, case, and gender, and they trigger mutation partly on the basis of the initial sound of the following word.