Mamun -university roman -german philology english department

stress on the 2nd syllable if

• 
  the 2nd syllable contains a long vowel or a dipthong.
  e.g.: cailín, fuinneog
  
• 
  the 2nd syllable is -ach(t) and no long vowel is in the 1st and 3rd syllable.
  e.g. salach, donacht
  

stress on the 3rd syllable if

• 
  the 3rd syllable contains a long vowel or dipthong and the other syllables are short
  e.g. tuismitheoir
  

cadencing

constantly unstressed words
The following parts of speech are always unstressed (because they are proclitic or enclitic):

• 
  personal and possessive pronouns (as opposed to English or German!)
  If the attention of the listener should be drawn to these words, it is not the stress but (also unstressed) emphatic suffixes are used:
  e.g.: mise = me(!), mo leabharsa = my(!) book , eisean = him(!).
  An additional possibility is the shift in the word order in the clause:
  e.g.: is mise a rinne é = I(!) did it
  
• 
  prepositions
  
• 
  verbal particles and conjunctions
  
• 
  the article
  
• 
  the adverbial particle go
  
• 
  the copula
  

graduation of the stress within a sentence

• 
  subjects (except the pronoun) are emphasized stronger than the verb.
  e.g.: Itheann an fear = The man eats.
  
• 
  in copular clauses, the predicate is emphasized stronger than the subject.
  e.g.: Is é an múinteoir an fear sin. = That man is the teacher.
  
• 
  objects are emphasized stronger than the subject
  e.g.: Itheann an fear an leite = The man eats the porridge.
  This is not the case, if the subject is a noun, but the object is only a pronoun.
  e.g.: Itheann an fear é = The man eats it.
  
• 
  Genitive attributes, attributive and predicate adjectives and appositions are emphasized stronger than the word they modify.
  e.g.: an cailín deas Éirennach = the nice Irish girl
  
• 
  Numbers are stressed the same as the word they modify (e.g. dhá chapall = 2 horses), in the case of two part numbers at least the 2nd part is stronger (e.g. dhá chapall déag = 12 horses)
  
• 
  adverbs and adverbial phrases are emphasized stronger than the verb.
  e.g.: Tá mé i mo chónaí i nGaillimh = I live in Galway.