Irish has 5 vowels that can have an accent on them, called a ‘fada‘.
These 5 vowels are á, é, í, ó, ú.
The fada is very important because
- It changes the sound of the vowel
- It also changes the meaning of the word
Take a look at these examples, there’s a big difference in what each word means depending on whether the fada is used!
| Cáca / Caca | Cake / Excrement |
| Bríste / Briste | Trousers / Broken |
| Lón / Lon | Lunch / Blackbird |
| Seó / Seo | Show / Here |
| Ár / Ar | Ours / On |
| Snámh / Snamh | Swim / Dislike |
Here’s a handy table below to help you with the sounds each vowel with a fada makes