36973

#46200
Lughaidh
Participant

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh go léir!

gurab amhlaidh ort féin!

Nó mar atá scríofa ar phríomh leathanach an suímh seo ‘Lá Fhéile Padraig shona duit’

I’d say “Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit”, because “sona” refers to “lá”, which is masculine…

Ceist 1) Cén fáth a bhfuil séimhiú ar an bhfocal ‘Féile’? Nach focal firinscneach é ‘lá’?

it’s a suspended genitive, it’s as in “hata fhear an tí”. When there are 3 nouns together, the second one, most of the time, isn’t in the genitive case but instead it’s in its normal form with a séimhiú. (there are exceptions, it depends on how strong is the link between 2 of the 3 nouns).

Ceist 2) Cén fáth nach bhfuil séimhiú ar ‘Pádraig’ mas rud é go bhfuil séimhiú ar
an bhfocal roimhe?

This one is more complicated. I think it’s an exception because it’s an old set phrase that obeys to old grammatical rules that don’t exist anymore apart in such phrases.

Ceist 3) Cén fáth an bhfuil séimhiú ar ‘sona’ – cad faoi ‘lá breithe sona duit’?

there shouldn’t be a séimhiú there, it’s a common mistake learners make… There are even native speakers who make the mistake (they put a séimhiú in “lá breithe sona” or “breithlá sona”) too because they’ve seen the mistake so many times, they start believing it’s right… And it’s not a traditional sentence either, it’s fairly recent (they haven’t learnt it from parents and grandparents).
Grammatically there’s no reason to have a séimhiú there: “lá” is masculine.