Pronunciation: I'm going to read that

Fuaimneachadh: Tha mi a' dol a leughadh sin

Dh'ionnsaich sinn glè thràth sa chùrsa nach bi sinn a' sgrìobhadh h às dèidh nan litrichean l, n, agus r .

Gu mì-fhortanach, chan eil sin a' ciallachadh nach bi iad a' sèimheachadh, oir bithidh!

Bheir sinn sùil air sèimheachadh le l, n , agus r an seo.

Leathann no Caol - Broad or slender

As we know, consonants in Gaelic can either be leathann (broad) or caol (slender), depending on their adjacent vowels

Most consonants can also be unlenited or lenited.

That means that most consonants have four potential sounds; broad unlenited or lenited, and slender unlenited or lenited.

We should all be aware of this with d for example:

dòchasach → ro dhòchasach

dìorrasach → ro dhìorrasach

We do not write a h after the letters l, n and r to show lenition in writing, but lenition does occur, changing the sound of these letters in speech.

There are only three potential sounds with l , n , and r in most dialects of modern Gaelic.

Slender l becomes a weak l when lenited, the same as a normal English l.

Broad and slender n become weak n when lenited, the same as a normal English n:

At the start of a word, both broad and slender r are pronounced the same and both become weak broad r when lenited:

As we know by now, a slender r at the end of a word can sound like English th in the word 'breathe'.

• air • thachair • athair • màthair

Remember that the LearnGaelic dictionary includes pronunciation. You'll never be lost again!