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Anns an or ann?

Anns no ann an?

ann an

Use ann an for place names without the definite article.

ann an Dùn Dè

in Dundee

ann an Inbhir Nis

in Inverness

ann an Dùn Èideann

in Edinburgh

ann an Alba

in Scotland

Cò ris a bha an aimsir coltach ann an Inbhir Nis?

What was the weather like in Inverness?

ann am - in

Use ann am for place names without the definite article which begin with B,M , F or P.

ann am Peairt

in Perth

ann am Port Rìgh

in Portree

ann am Baile a' Mhanaich

in Balivanich

Cò ris a bha an aimsir coltach ann am Baile a' Mhanaich?

What was the weather like in Balivanich?

anns an

in the

anns a’

in the

We’ve learnt lots of countries which take the definite article An | A’.

They take anns instead of ann an.

anns an Spàinn

in Spain

anns an Ostair

in Austria

anns a’ Chuimrigh

in Wales

anns a’ Phòlainn

in Poland

Cò ris a bha an aimsir coltach anns an Ostair?

What was the weather like in Austria?

Remember that Gaelic nouns take a gender, and this is true of places too. Countries are generally feminine, but we will look at a couple of masculine place names which take the definite article.

We’ve already met some changes in masculine place names when we learnt how to say where we are from. With place names that start with a vowel, we lose the t- .

An t-Òban

Oban

anns an Òban

in Oban

Cò ris a bha an aimsir coltach anns an Òban?

What was the weather like in Oban?

With place names that start with a consonant, we lenite the consonant, and the An (the) becomes A’ .

An Gearasdan

Fort William

anns a’ Ghearasdan

in Fort William

Cò ris a bha an aimsir coltach anns a’ Ghearasdan?

What was the weather like in Fort William?

The an changes to a’ and the word lenites (or takes an h after the first letter).

The fancy title for when a noun follows a preposition is the dative case (or the prepositional case).

Here is a summary table:

Feminine place names start with	With an article	Example / eisimpleir	In the dative	Example / eisimpleir
b, c, g, m, p	A + lenition	A’ Ghearmailt	anns	anns a’ Ghearmailt
a, e, i, o, u	An	An Eadailt	anns	anns an Eadailt
d, l, n,r , sg, sm, sp and st, t	An	An Spàinn	anns	anns an Spàinn
S+vowel	An t-	An t-Suain	anns	anns an t-Suain
F	An Fh	An Fhraing	anns	anns an Fhraing
Masculine place names start with
b, c, g, m, p	Am / An	An Gearasdan	anns an + lenition	anns a’ Ghearasdan
a, e, i, o, u	An t-	An t-Eilean	anns (lose t-)	anns an eilean
d, l, n, r, sg, sm, sp and st, t	An	An taigh	anns	anns an taigh
S+vowel	An t-	An Sruthan	anns an t-	anns an t-Sruthan
F	Am F	Am Fàsach	Anns an + lenition	anns an Fhàsach

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