Alphabet of the Irish Language

Irish uses a subset of the alphabet used in English:

a b c d e f g h i l m n o p r s t u

The letters j, k, q, v, w, x, y, and z can occur in loan-words.

Vowels can be either short or long. We use a mark called a síneadh fada, or fada for short, to indicate long vowels. So long vowels would be written:

á, é, í, ó, ú

Short vowels are written without a fada:

a, e, i, o, u

There are also some vowel combinations that are always pronounced long, even though they are not marked with a fada. Whether a vowel is long or short affects its pronunciation, as explained in the section on pronunciation.

Modern Irish uses the regular latin alphabet, so any normal font will work fine, as long as it has the accented vowels — which most do. Until the middle of the last century a font style called an cló Ghaelach (sometimes referred to as seanchló) was used. This style is sometimes used, mainly for decorative purposes.

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• Broad and Slender Vowels
• Caol le caol agus leathan le leathan
• Pronunciation