Hi all.

Could anyone help to compile a list of interrogatives used in each dialect and possibly an example phrase/sentence? I find this particularly challenging myself (learning Connemara Irish).

In Nuarleargais, I have read how 'conas' is used mainly in Munster and can be used as an Infinitive construction (engl. "how to"): Conas tosú? = How to start?, Conas gearán a dhéanamh = How to make a complaint.

I'm not quite sure how this would be translated into the different dialects.

How are you getting on?

I can make a list of the ones used in the Déise (Waterford+South Tipperary), a sub-dialect of Munster, with similarities to the now extinct Ossory and Leinster dialects:

Cad - what
This is in all dialects.

'Dé - what
This is a shortening of cad é/god é (d can be broad or slender), both of which are also found in the Déise. 'Dé/god é is also found in Cork (common in east, rare in west), Ossory, Ulster and in Scottish Gaelic dé/gu dé in the traditional spelling/pronunciation or dè/gu dè in the reformed orthography. I don't think that god é/'dé is found in Kerry nor Connaght.

'Dén - what, which
Contraction of god é an. Aside from the dialects I mentionned above, cén, a contraction of cé and an, would be found in other dialects.

Conas(t) - how
This is common in all of Munster, I don't think that it's traditionally said in other dialects aside from the now extinct Ossory and Leinster dialects. In Connaught you'd normally have cén chaoi and in Ulster goidé mar/'dé mar. 'Dé mar was also in use as far south as Kilkenny (where the Ossory dialect was spoken in south Leinster and far north east Munster).

'Dé chúis - why
This should actually be 'dén (god é an) chúis, what's the reason/cause, or 'dé a chúis, what's his/its reason/cause. 'Dé chiall can also be used for that meaning. Other dialects would have cén fáth.

Cad 'na thaobh/ca 'na thaobh - why, how come
I know that in the rest of Munster, ca 'na thaobh (without the d sounded) is common, I dont know about the form with d, however in the Déise both are heard. I don't think that this form is used in any dialect outside of Munster.

Cé - who
This is in all dialects.

Ciocu - which
I don't know if this is Munster specifically or not.

Cá, ca - where
Usually we find cá with long a, however simetimes ca with short a is heard, cá bhfuil is commonly said as both cá'il and ca'il. Cá with long a is in all dialects, I don't know about ca. Depending on the phrase it can have other interrogative meanings ex: cá/ca bhfios = who knows, how does one know... I belive that in Connaght cén áit and in Ulster cá háit are preferred over cá.

Cathain - when
This is common in all of Munster, I belive that in Connaght cén uair and in Ulster cá huair are preferred.

'Dé mhéid - how much, how many
Compare 'dé mhéad - what size.
The rest of Munster would have cé mhéid, Connaght cé mhéad and in Ulster cá mhéad.

'Déard - what
Other dialects would have céard.


If someone has additional information I'd also be interested in knowing, and if I made any mistake please correct me.

Anyways, that's all I can think of right now, I'll post again if there are more. Hope this was useful.

I'm not great on interrogatives yet but I'll add what I can. First I'd say avoid Nuarleargais (seems it's showing a 404 rn anyway) and stick to https://www.braesicke.de/gramadac.htm - this is the original source of Nuarleargais. It's updated regularly whereas Nuarleargais probably hasn't been updated in 4+ years - so there's gonna be looooots more information on interrogatives there. The only downside is that it's in German, but you can translate the pages directly through your browser. The translation can be a little funky, but you'll get the hang of it.


Some extra info on Munster, you'll hear tosnaigh is place of tosaigh so you'd get 'conas tosnú?' instead.


I think this is a Munster thing, afair ciocu is cé+acu smooshed together. So while you get stuff like 'ciocu ceann is fearr leat?' you also get a double up (i.e. cé acu acu) 'ciocu acu a bhí ann?'.


I've also seen 'canad', another Munster one. Although I'm not sure how commonly used it is.

My article on Interrogatives, published in Éigse, is at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1If6 ... ue&sd=true Does this link work?
That is a file on Google Drive. If I have done it right, then it is available to anyone with the link.

'Dé méid (with unlenited m) is also common*