I was on a site where people were asking if others preferred one thing or another. One person replied "is maith liom an beirt acu!" Can personal numbers be used in that way? I must admit that "beirt" was my first thought as well, but then I stopped myself.

Redwolf

FGB says that it can be used "of things, without a dependent noun". It gives as an example: "beirt de chaoraigh bána" (I guess the "de" keeps the noun there from being dependent). It also says that beirt can be the answer to a question such as "Cá mhéad ceann ann?"

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

In Donegal, you can use the personal numbers to refer to things or animals, but only as pronouns.

Ie. you can say "cheannaigh mé beirt" (I bought two -- talking about books or anything), but "cheannaigh mé dheá leabhar", not *cheannaigh mé beirt leabharthach.



correct except that the lenition is missing: an bHeirt acu

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

Like Lughaidh said "beirt" is used differently in Donegal. In Conamara we use it for people only, not animals or intimate objects. We'd say "chaon cheann acub".

A Bhríd,
So you would say (ga)ch aon cheann acu about people? Is it possible/normal to say (ga)ch aon duine acu or (ga)ch éinne acu

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ЯГОН ТОҶИК НЕСТ ИНҶО???

(ga)ch aon cheann = we say - chaon cheann (both of them)
(ga)ch éinne acu = correct, but we prefer - chuile dhuine (everybody)

We also say "péire" for two objects.