[From Manx Soc vol 2, Kelly's Manx Grammar]

CHAPTER IV.

The Parts of the Manks tongue are nine.

Declined: Article, Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Participle.

Undeclined: Adverb, Conjunction, Preposition, Interjection.

OF THE ARTICLES.

The Articles* are two, y and yn, the, and are declined in the following manner:--

THE ARTICLES

Y is placed before words beginning with consonants; as y dooiney, the man, y ven, the woman.

Yn is used before words beginning with vowels, whether radical or in construction; as yn oural, the sacrifice, shoh boteil yn ooill millish, this is the bottle of sweet oil. But it is often substituted in the place of the article y even before consonants, especially when a person or thing is particularised.

When the particles, ny, na, &c., and verbs substantive, ta, va, bee, and some of the irregulars, nee, hie, &c., precede in construction, though the word following begins with a consonant, yn is used; but the y is cut off by apostrophe, because of the preceding vowel; as bee 'n dooinney mie maynrey, the good man shall be happy; ta 'n drogh-ghoonniey mollaghtagh, the wicked man is cursed; ta 'n chenndeeaght ny screeney na 'n aegid. After other words ending with a vowel, and the following word beginning with a consonant, yn, not y, is always used; as ayns thie yn ree, (not thie 'n ree) in the king's house; t'eh gerjaghey yn pobble, (not gerjaghey 'n pobble), he comforts the people. In these and the like cases, to apostrophize the yn is reckoned highly barbarous.

The article yn before all nouns beginning with a vowel transfers, in pronunciation, the final n to the following vowel; as yn agh, the horse, which is pronounced as if written yn nagh: yn ollagh, the cattle, pronounced yn nollagh.

Ec is a participial article of the present tense, er of the prefer, and er-chee of the future; as, ec scrieu, writing; er scrieu having written; er-chee scrieu, about to write.

* Properly; there is but one article, y, which becomes yn before a vowel, and ny in the plural; and there are but two cases, the nominative and the genitive, the dative being a contraction of da yn, and the ablative being a simple preposition, gyn, without.--Ed.