We have been talking about some of the stronger characters in the Gaelic alphabet, this week we are going to look a weaker character; the letter F. 
F only makes one sound regardless of whether it is broad or slender and that is the F sound we are used to in English. 
When it is lenited is looses all its sound, it just gives up and makes no sound at all. 
And, it will lenite at the drop of a had. Really f will lenite when no other letter will. 
Any word that has a lenited F in the front of it should be treated as if it begins with the letter that follows the lenited F. 
For feminine nouns that begin with F the definite article would like to be a' +lenition but when F lenites and the sound goes away that doesn't work anymore because you end up with two vowel sounds together, so the article changes to an + lenition. 

As we mentioned last week D is the best friend of T. D is quite a complex character. He hangs out with T when broad but ventures off on his own to make a "J" sound when slender. Like T he is resistant to lenition but when he does he has a different best friend, G. In fact dh and gh make the same sounds both when broad and slender. When broad they make a sound that English it is as if a 'g' were made in the very back of the throat. When slender they act like an English 'y', like the 'y' in yellow  at the beginning of a word, like the 'y' in monkey at the end. "idh' as a word ending is more common than 'igh' and is used for borrow words that end in the 'ee' sound and as the ending of independent (positive statement) verbs in the future tense.  

Whether you have just begun to learn Gaelic or have been learning for a while, you will have noticed that the Gaelic alphabet works quite differently to the English (or  almost any other) alphabet. 
I like to think of the letters as people with their own personalities. Once you get to know them you can predict how they are going to behave in different situations.
​So with that in mind let me introduce you to a few interesting people:

The letter T has a strong personality, you might even say stubborn. It wants its voice heard so it will resist lenition where possible. When it does lenite it makes an 'H' sound.
 It likes to hang out with its best friend D. They are good friends and make sounds that are closer to each other than the English sounds.
When it gets around the slender vowels it makes a 'ch' sound. 

Vous êtes francophones et l’apprentissage du gaélique vous donne parfois du fil à retordre?
Voici un petit article pour vous remonter le moral !
Il est bon parfois de se rappeler ce qui joue en notre faveur plutôt que le contraire. Et vous verrez que sur certains points, votre langue maternelle vous simplifiera la vie !

     1. La forme polie
Le gaélique utilise également une forme polie. Comme en français, elle correspond à la 2e personne du pluriel.

• thu = tu (informel)
• sibh = vous (pluriel et forme polie)

En tant que locuteur du français, vous avez déjà le réflexe d’utiliser la forme de politesse dans les situations requises. Ce qui représente une gymnastique mentale laborieuse pour une personne anglophone vous viendra naturellement et vous évitera bien des faux-pas !     2. Le verbe « faire »
Pour ceux qui peinaient à comprendre la différence entre les deux verbes faire de l’anglais « make » et « do », rassurez-vous, la question ne se posera pas en gaélique puisque, comme en français, on n’utilise qu’un seul verbe dans toutes les situations. (Ouf !)

• Dèan !, a’ dèanamh = faire​
  

​    3. Le pronom relatif
En anglais, le pronom relatif « that » peut être utilisé ou omis :

• The language that I am using / the language I am using.

En gaélique, comme en français, la particule qui introduit la phrase relative ne peut pas être omise :

• An duine a tha mi a’ faicinn = l’homme que je vois.

​  4. La place de l’adjectif
A quelques exceptions près, le gaélique place l’adjectif après le nom qu’il décrit. Voilà donc un effort de moins que vous aurez à fournir puisqu’ici encore, le gaélique est semblable au français.

• an cù geal = le chien blanc

​  5. Le genre des noms
Et pour finir, les noms communs gaéliques ont un genre grammatical. Ils peuvent être soit masculins, soit féminins. Une particularité de plus à laquelle vous êtes habitués !

• an t-aran (masc.) = le pain
• a’ ghrian (fém.) = le soleil

1. Talking photo frames and other talking things


Talking photo frames are easy to come by and not too expensive ( around $10-$20 USD. Use them to help you learn vocabulary. You can print or draw a picture of the thing or activity you are learning and then record the word or phrase to the frame. Put the frame some place you will see it often and listen to the sound whenever you go by. 
Also look for other 'talking' things that you can use in the same way. Educational companies that make products for children with additional needs are also a good place to find recordable products 

2. Having trouble remembering colors?
All you need is a box of crayons, a pen, sticky notes and a coloring book.

Write the Gaelic color names on the sticky end of the sticky note. Cut the sticky note to the right width and wrap it around your crayons. Use your Gaelic crayons to draw or color or leave the by the phone for taking messages.
You may want to stick to the smaller packs of crayons as it could be difficult to translate and remember 120 different colors.