Seall an tùs aig Lenition and why that is your mother's fault

Ease of articulation.  Don't worry if you never heard of this, all will be revealed.  It's a contentious concept in linguistic circles, but for our purposes it's rather helpful.

And feel free just to jump the explanation - it's a bit long - and go straight to the bit where we tell you how lenition works.

=== Why oh why do we lenite? ===

Ever noticed how things get slurred in fast speech?  Suddenly whole sounds drop out, change into something else ... sometimes that becomes so established that even orthography will reflect that.  The word ''in-pede'' had become ''impede'' long before it even reached Norman French.  And be honest - when was the last time you pronounced ''in BHS'' as such rather than ''im BHS''?  This is where ease of articulation comes in - you are anticipating the next sound you know is to come and your mouth starts getting into position for that sound long before the preceding one has finished.  So sounds next to each other become more alike or drop out, if it just gets too tricky for your mouth.

Funnily enough, this also applies to vowels and consonants.  Consonants are (in articulatory terms) tricky bastards with a lot of things having to get shifted around (anything from your lips to your pharynx) and held in place, whereas vowels are relatively simple things - just move your tongue a bit this way or that way and you have it.

So when you speed up your speech and have a consonant between vowels, it tries to become more like a vowel. The first thing it loses is the closure that many consonants have, such as a [p].  Notice that your lips close up for a moment.  Over time, it moves towards even easier articulation, towards becoming a fricative, an [f], in the case of [p], which is still a consonant but "easier" to say because less mouth movement is involved. This is revealed by the change from the Germanic *<span style="color: #6600CC;">apōn</span> > English ''ape'', but German <span style="color: #6600CC;">Affe</span>. There may be many intermediate stages, but eventually the consonant either became a vowel or it disappeared altogether. Prove it? Easy. Look at the word for ''mother'' in the Indo-European languages and how it developed from ancient Indo-European to our ancestor languages to the modern day ones - watch out for the '''t''':

{| style="width: 70%;" border="0" align="center"
! colspan="6" | *<span style="color: #6600CC;">mā'''t'''ēr</span><br />(Indoeuropean)
|-
| width="16%" | Celtic
| width="16%" | Germanic
| width="16%" | Romance
| width="16%" | Slavonic
| width="16%" | Indic
| width="16%" | Other
|-
| *<span style="color: #6600CC;">mā'''t'''īr</span><br />(C. Celtic)
| *<span style="color: #6600CC;">mō'''d'''er</span><br />(C. Germanic)
| *<span style="color: #6600CC;">māter<br /></span>(Italic)
| *<span style="color: #6600CC;">ma'''t'''ï</span><br />(C. Slavonic)
| *<span style="color: #6600CC;">mā'''t'''ār</span><br />(Old Indic)
| 
|-
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">mā'''th'''ir</span><br />(Old Irish)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">muo'''t'''er</span><br />(Old German)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">mā'''t'''ēr</span><br />(Latin)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">ma'''t'''i</span><br />(Old Slavonic)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">mā́'''t'''ṛ</span><br />(Sanskrit)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">mē'''t'''ēr</span><br />(Ancient Greek)
|-
|
|
|
|
|
| bgcolor="#FFBA43" | <span style="color: #6600CC;">ma'''c'''er</span><br />(Tocharian)
|-
|
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">mō'''d'''or</span><br />(Old English)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">me'''d'''re</span><br />(Old French)
|
|
|
|-
|
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">mó'''ð'''ir</span><br />(Old Norse)
| 
|
|
|
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">mà'''th'''air</span><br />(Gaelic)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">Mu'''tt'''er</span><br />(German)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">ma'''t'''ri</span><br />(Sicialian)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">ma'''t'''ir</span><br />(Ukrainian)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">mā'''t'''ā</span><br />(Bengali)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">me'''t'''éra</span><br />(Greek)
|-
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">má'''th'''air</span><br />(Irish)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">mu'''t'''er</span><br />(Yiddish)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">ma'''d'''re</span><br />(Italian)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">ma'''t'''(ka)</span><br />(Czech)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">mā'''t'''ri</span><br />(Hindi)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">mã'''t'''e</span><br />(Latvian)
|-
| 
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">mo'''d'''er</span><br />(Danish)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">ma'''d'''re</span><br />(Castilian)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">ma'''t'''i</span><br />(Croatian)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">mā'''t'''u</span><br />(Pali)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">mó'''t'''ė</span><br />(Lithuanian)
|-
|
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">mua'''d'''a</span><br />(Bavarian)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">má'''d'''re</span><br />(Sardinian)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">ma'''tj'''</span><br />(Russian)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">mā'''d'''ar</span><br />(Farsi)
| 
|-
|
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">mo'''th'''er</span><br />(English)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">ma'''t'''re</span><br />(Corsican)
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">ma'''ć'''</span><br />(Sorbian)
| 
| 
|-
|
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">mó'''ð'''ir</span><br />(Icelandic)
| 
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">ma'''t'''</span><br />(Russian)
| 
| 
|-
| bgcolor="#FFBA43" | <span style="color: #6600CC;">mayragh</span><br />(Manx)
| bgcolor="#FFBA43" | <span style="color: #6600CC;">mor</span><br />(Norwegian)
| bgcolor="#FFBA43" | <span style="color: #6600CC;">mare</span><br />(Catalan)
| bgcolor="#FFBA43" | <span style="color: #6600CC;">mazi</span><br />(Belorussian)
| bgcolor="#FFBA43" | <span style="color: #6600CC;">mor</span><br />(Pashtu)
| bgcolor="#FFBA43" | <span style="color: #6600CC;">mayr</span><br />(Armenian)
|-
| 
| bgcolor="#FFBA43" | <span style="color: #6600CC;">moer</span><br />(Frisian)
| bgcolor="#FFBA43" | <span style="color: #6600CC;">maire</span><br />(Occitan)
| 
| 
| 
|-
| 
| 
| bgcolor="#FFBA43" | <span style="color: #6600CC;">mère</span><br />(French)
| 
| 
| 
|-
| 
| 
| bgcolor="#FFBA43" | <span style="color: #6600CC;">mãe</span><br />(Portuguese)
| 
| 
| 
|-
|}

So what?  Well, if you look closely, there is some kind of consonant degradation going on - you start with a very strong consonant [t] which gradually is reduced to [d] then [ð] then [h] and then nothing at all (the words underlaid in red)!! So you see, it's a very common thing - even more so when you look at the Tocharian example. Tocharian is the most eastern Indo-European language, sadly extinct, but spoken in East Turkestan up until about 700 AD - but it had already changed the [t] to a [ʧ]!!!

There's another lovely example of several things which also happen in Gaelic happening in Bavarian. There's a slogan one often hears: <span style="color: #6600CC;">Mia san mia</span>, literally ''we're us'' (i.e. "we're the way we are and if you don't like it you can lump it"). Now in standard German this would be <span style="color: #6600CC;">Wir sind wir</span> and in some dialects of Bavarian, it comes out as <span style="color: #6600CC;">Mia han mia</span>. Gold dust. Now the bit you want to focus on is the 3rd person plural verb in the middle. 

High German has a fairly conservative form, with initial s- and -nd at the end: <span style="color: #6600CC;">sind</span>. But in Bavarian, the final -nd cluster often ends up as -n (same as Gaelic, cf Latin <span style="color: #6600CC;">candela</span> > <span style="color: #008000;">coinneal</span>). But more to the point, in some Bavarian dialects s has become h. Textbook lenition - and also exactly what Gaelic does to s!

=== The Celtic twist ===

The mad thing about Celtic languages though is that this does not only happen within a word like <span style="color: #008000;">màthair</span> but also across word boundaries! In Celtic languages, a consonant between vowels got lenited, end of story.  Well, as a rule of thumb. But pardon me, where is the consonant between two vowels in Irish <span style="color: #6600CC;">an bhean</span>? (Gaelic used to spell it that way too, it's just a better example.) And what about <span style="color: #6600CC;">an fear</span>? Same thing, isn't it? Unfortunately, not.

There is something very old going on here - there used to be an extra vowel. But for that we have to go back to Indo-European and Old Irish. The modern definite article <span style="color: #008000;">an</span> used to look very different then. It was <span style="color: #6600CC;">sind-os</span>, the <span style="color: #6600CC;">-os</span> was the ending for the nominative case of masculine nouns and <span style="color: #6600CC;">sind-a</span> was the ending for the nominative case of feminine nouns. You know where we're going now? Let's have the overview:

{| style="width: 80%;" border="0"
! align="left" | Indo-European<br />& Old Irish
! align="left" | Translation 
! align="left" | What's going on
|-
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">sind-os fer-os</span> || the man || Two consonants, so nothing happened, but the <span style="color: #6600CC;">s-</span> was lost at some point in history
|-
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">ind-os fer-os</span> || the man || Then we lost the endings
|-
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">ind fer</span> || the man || Look familiar? Lose the <span style="color: #000080;">-d
|-
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">in fer</span> || the man || Change the spelling and the sounds a bit like ...
|-
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">an fear</span> || the man || And now Gaelic assimilates the <span style="color: #6600CC;">an</span> to <span style="color: #6600CC;">am</span>
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">am fear</span> || the man ||	... a 4000 year journey in 6 lines
|-
|}

So what about lenition?  "Patience young Skywalker!" ... let's look at a feminine noun

{| style="width: 80%;" border="0"
! align="left" | Indo-European<br />& Old Irish
! align="left" | Translation 
! align="left" | What's going on
|-
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">sind-a ben-a</span> || the woman || Oops - consonant-vowel-consonant - we have to lenite! and also lose the <span style="color: #6600CC;">s-</span>
|- 
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">ind-a bhen-a</span> || the woman || Aha. Now what? As before, we lose the endings ...
|-
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">ind bhen</span> || the woman || Look vaguely familiar? Now we lose the<span style="color: #000080;">d-</span>
|-
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">in bhen</span> || the woman || change the spelling and it sounds a bit like ...
|-
| <span style="color: #6600CC;">an bhean</span> || the woman || Irish! Gaelic now loses the <span style="color: #000080;">-n</span> (and changes the meaning slightly from the woman to the wife)
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">a' bhean</span> || the wife || Bingo!
|-
|}

And that's why it's all your mothers fault!!!  Hopefully it makes just a bit more sense now.

=== So how DOES it work? ===
A note to begin with - some people refer to lenition as "aspiration". However, try not to do so yourself because "aspiration" is something entirely different than lenition and should not be confused with leniton. In a nutshell, aspiration refers to a puff of air following a consonant, for example, in English <pat> where the <nowiki><p></nowiki> is followed by a puff of air. Lenition on the other hand means that a sound is changed into something else, such as <span style="color: #008000;">pòg</span>, with a [p] sound, becoming <span style="color: #008000;">mo phòg</span> with an [f] sound.

==== "Normal" Lenition ==== 
Not all Gaelic consonants can be lenited, but a lot of them can be. Some of these lenitions are not as straightforward as you might think because there are two different kinds of lenition. In this lesson, let's look at "normal" lenition, and for guidelines on how to produce these sounds, see the pages under Phonetics.  As for the other kind,
there's a [[Lenition with the definite article or what the...|twist to lenition]] when it's caused by the definite article.


{| style="width: 50%;" border="0"
! align="left" | Original Sound
! align="left" | Lenited
! align="left" | IPA
! align="left" | Example
! align="left" | Example in IPA
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">b</span> (broad) || <span style="color: #008000;">bh</span> || /v/ || <span style="color: #008000;">bàta</span> » <span style="color: #008000;">mo bhàta</span> || /mə vaːhdə/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">b</span> (slender) || <span style="color: #008000;">bh</span> || /v/ or /vj/ || <span style="color: #008000;">beul</span> » <span style="color: #008000;">mo bheul</span> || /mə viaL/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">c</span> (broad) || <span style="color: #008000;">ch</span> || /x/ || <span style="color: #008000;">cù</span> » <span style="color: #008000;">mo chù</span> || /mə xuː/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">c</span> (slender) || <span style="color: #008000;">ch</span> || /ç/ || <span style="color: #008000;">cìs</span> » <span style="color: #008000;">mo chìs</span> || /mə çiːʃ/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">d</span> (broad) || <span style="color: #008000;">dh</span> || /ɣ/ || <span style="color: #008000;">doras</span> » <span style="color: #008000;">mo dhoras</span> || /mə ɣɔɾəs/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">d</span> (slender) || <span style="color: #008000;">dh</span> || /ʝ/ || <span style="color: #008000;">dìth</span> » <span style="color: #008000;">mo dhìth</span> || /mə ʝiː/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">f</span> (br. & sl.) || <span style="color: #008000;">fh</span> || - || <span style="color: #008000;">fuil</span> » <span style="color: #008000;">m' fhuil</span> || /mul/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">g</span> (broad) || <span style="color: #008000;">gh</span> || /ɣ/ || <span style="color: #008000;">gob</span> » <span style="color: #008000;">mo ghob</span> || /mə ɣob/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">g</span> (slender) || <span style="color: #008000;">gh</span> || /ʝ/ || <span style="color: #008000;">gille</span> » <span style="color: #008000;">mo ghille</span> || /mə ʝiLʲe/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">m</span> (broad) || <span style="color: #008000;">mh</span> || /v/ || <span style="color: #008000;">mac</span> » <span style="color: #008000;">mo mhac</span> || /mə vaxg
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">m</span> (slender) || <span style="color: #008000;">mh</span> || /v/ or /vj/ || <span style="color: #008000;">meas</span> » <span style="color: #008000;">mo mheas</span> || /mə vɛs/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">p</span> (broad) || <span style="color: #008000;">ph</span> || /f/ || <span style="color: #008000;">pòg</span> » <span style="color: #008000;">mo phòg</span> || /mə fɔːg/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">p</span> (slender) || <span style="color: #008000;">ph</span> || /f/ or /fj/ || <span style="color: #008000;">piuthar</span> » <span style="color: #008000;">mo phiuthar</span> || /mə fju.ər/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">s</span> (broad) || <span style="color: #008000;">sh</span> || /h/ || <span style="color: #008000;">solas</span> » <span style="color: #008000;">mo sholas</span> || /mə hɔLəs/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">s</span> (slender) || <span style="color: #008000;">sh</span> || /h/ || <span style="color: #008000;">seanag</span> » <span style="color: #008000;">mo sheanag</span> || /mə hɛnag/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">t</span> (broad) || <span style="color: #008000;">th</span> || /h/ || <span style="color: #008000;">tobar</span> » <span style="color: #008000;">mo thobar</span> || /mə hɔbər/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">t</span> (slender) || <span style="color: #008000;">th</span> || /h/ or /hj/ || <span style="color: #008000;">teanga</span> » <span style="color: #008000;">mo theanga</span> || /mə hɛŋgə/
|-
|}

==== Consonant Clusters ====
One helpful thing to watch out for is that since there is only one broad L remaining in Gaelic, it is always [L]. For those of you who want to know how the above and below systems both make sense, 
[[The History of L N and R|click here]], but be warned!

{| style="width: 50%;" border="0"
! align="left" | Original Sound
! align="left" | IPA
! align="left" | Lenited
! align="left" | IPA
! align="left" | Example
! align="left" | Example in IPA
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">bl</span> (broad) || /bL/ || <span style="color: #008000;">bhl</span> || /vL/ || <span style="color: #008000;">mo bhlàr</span> || /mə vLaːr/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">bl</span> (slender) || /bl/ || <span style="color: #008000;">bhl</span> || /vl/ || <span style="color: #008000;">o bhliadhna</span> || /ɔ vliəNə/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">br</span> (broad) || /br/ || <span style="color: #008000;">bhr</span> || /vr/ || <span style="color: #008000;">o bhràigh</span> || /ɔ vraːj/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">br</span> (slender) || /brʲ/ || <span style="color: #008000;">bhr</span> || /vrʲ/ || <span style="color: #008000;">bhris</span> || /vrʲiʃ/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">cn</span> (broad) || /kr  ̃/ || <span style="color: #008000;">chr</span> || /xr  ̃/ || <span style="color: #008000;">a chnoc</span> || /ə xrɔ̃xg/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">cn</span> (slender) || /krʲ  ̃/ || <span style="color: #008000;">chn</span> || /xrʲ  ̃/ || <span style="color: #008000;">chniadaich</span> || /xrʲĩə̃dɪç/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">cr</span> (broad) || /kr/ || <span style="color: #008000;">chr</span> || /xr/ || <span style="color: #008000;">ro chruaidh</span> || /rɔ xruaj/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">cr</span> (slender) || /krʲ/ || <span style="color: #008000;">chr</span> || /xrʲ/ || <span style="color: #008000;">mo chridhe</span> || /mə xeʲi.ə/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">dl</span> (broad) || /dL/ || <span style="color: #008000;">dhl</span> || /ɣL/ || <span style="color: #008000;">ro dhlùth</span> || /rɔ ɣLuː/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">dl</span> (slender) || /dl/ || <span style="color: #008000;">dhl</span> || /ɣl/ || <span style="color: #008000;">ro dhligheach</span> || /rɔ ɣli.əx/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">dr</span> (broad) || /dr/ || <span style="color: #008000;">dhr</span> || /ɣr/ || <span style="color: #008000;">mo dhroma</span> || /mə ɣrɔmə/
|-	 	 	
| <span style="color: #008000;">dr</span> (slender) || /dr/ || <span style="color: #008000;">dhr</span> || /ɣrʲ/ || <span style="color: #008000;">o dhris</span> || /ɔ ɣrʲiʃ/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">fl</span> (broad) || /fL/ || <span style="color: #008000;">fhl</span> || /L/ || <span style="color: #008000;">mo fhlasg</span> || /mə Lasg/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">fl</span> (slender) || /fl/ || <span style="color: #008000;">fhl</span> || /l/ || <span style="color: #008000;">ro fhliuch</span> || /rɔ lux/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">fr</span> (broad) || /fr/ || <span style="color: #008000;">fhr</span> || /r/ || <span style="color: #008000;">mo fhraoch</span> || /mə rɯːx/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">fr</span> (slender) || /frʲ/ || <span style="color: #008000;">fhr</span> || /rʲ/ || <span style="color: #008000;">mo fhreiceadan</span> || /mə rʲeçgʲədan/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">gl</span> (broad) || /gL/ || <span style="color: #008000;">ghl || /ɣL/ || <span style="color: #008000;">ro ghlan</span> || /Rɔ ɣLan/ 
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">gl</span> (slender) || /gl/ || <span style="color: #008000;">ghl</span> || /ɣl/ || <span style="color: #008000;">ro ghlic</span> || /Rɔ ɣliçgʲ/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">gn</span> (broad) || /gr ̃/ || <span style="color: #008000;">ghn</span> || /ɣr ̃/ || <span style="color: #008000;">mo ghnùis</span> || /mə ɣrũːʃ/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">gn</span> (slender) || /grʲ ̃/ || <span style="color: #008000;">ghn</span> || /ɣrʲ ̃ || <span style="color: #008000;">mo ghnìomh</span> || /mə ɣrʲĩə̃v/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">gr</span> (broad) || /gr/ || <span style="color: #008000;">ghr</span> || /ɣr/ || <span style="color: #008000;">mo ghràdh</span> || /mə ɣraː/ 
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">gr</span> (slender) || /grʲ/ || <span style="color: #008000;">ghr</span> || /ɣrʲ/ || <span style="color: #008000;">ro ghreannach</span> || /Rɔ ɣrʲɛNəx/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">mn</span> (broad) || /mr  ̃/ || <span style="color: #008000;">mhn</span> || /vr  ̃/ || <span style="color: #008000;">mo mhnathan</span> || /mə vɾã.ən/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">mn</span> (slender) ||  ||  ||  ||  || '''doesn't exist'''
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">pl (broad) || /pL/ || <span style="color: #008000;">phl</span> || /fL/ || <span style="color: #008000;">mo phlaosg</span> || /mə fLɯːsg/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">pl</span> (slender) || /pl/ || <span style="color: #008000;">phl</span> || /fl/ || <span style="color: #008000;">ro phliutach</span> || /mə fliuhdəx/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">pr</span> (broad) || /pr/ || <span style="color: #008000;">phr</span> || /fr/ || <span style="color: #008000;">mo phrais</span> || /mə fraʃ/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">pr</span> (slender) || /prʲ/ || <span style="color: #008000;">phr</span> || /frʲ/ || <span style="color: #008000;">mo phreas</span> || /mə frʲes/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">sl</span> (broad) || /sL/ || <span style="color: #008000;">shl</span> || /L/ || <span style="color: #008000;">mo shluagh</span> || /mə Luəɣ/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">sl</span> (slender) || /ʃLʲ/ || <span style="color: #008000;">shl</span> || /l/ || <span style="color: #008000;">mo shlighe</span> || /mə li.ə/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">sn</span> (broad) || /sN/ || <span style="color: #008000;">shn</span> || /n/ || <span style="color: #008000;">mo shnaidhm</span> || /mə naim/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">sn</span> (slender) || /ʃNʲ/ || <span style="color: #008000;">shn</span> || /n/ || <span style="color: #008000;">shnìomh</span> || /niəv/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">sr</span> (broad) || /sdr/ || <span style="color: #008000;">shr</span> || /r/ || <span style="color: #008000;">mo shràid</span> || /mə raːdʲ/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">sr</span> (slender) || /sdr/ || <span style="color: #008000;">shr</span> || /rʲ/ || <span style="color: #008000;">mo shreath</span> || /mə rʲɛh/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">tl</span> (broad) || /tL/ || <span style="color: #008000;">thl</span> || /L/ || <span style="color: #008000;">ro thlachdmhor</span> || /Rɔ Laxkvər/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">tl</span> (slender) ||  ||  ||  ||  || '''doesn't exist'''
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">tn</span> (broad) || /tr  ̃/ || <span style="color: #008000;">thr</span> || /r/ || <span style="color: #008000;">mo thnùth</span> || /mə rũ/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">tn</span> (slender) ||  ||  ||  ||  || '''doesn't exist'''
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">tr</span> (broad) || /tr/ || <span style="color: #008000;">thr</span> || /r/ || <span style="color: #008000;">mo thrachdas</span> || /mə raxkəs/
|-
| <span style="color: #008000;">tr</span> (slender) || /tr/ || <span style="color: #008000;">thr</span> || /rʲ/ || <span style="color: #008000;">bho thrì</span> || /vɔ rʲiː/
|-
|}

Contrary to popular belief, /Lʲ/, /N/, /Nʲ/ and /R/ can be lenited in Gaelic, even though the orthography does not reflect that. For the lenition of these sounds, check the section on [[Liquids or - L N R in Gaelic|Liquids]].

==An odditiy or two==
So there are initial consonant groups which don't generally lenite, like <span style="color: #008000;">sm</span> or <span style="color: #008000;">st</span>. ... I hear you going "uh-oh", what does he mean, generally?

Don't panic, overall those are rules you can rely on. But now and then one catches a glimpse that suggests that there may have been dialect variations to this rule. For example in the book <span style="color: #008000;">Òrain, Marbhrannan, agus Duanagan Ghàidhealach</span> by Allan MacDonald (1829) from Knoydard, there's this line:
:<span style="color: #008000;">Seobhag meartainneach nan ard-bheann</span>
"Wait what?" I hear you go? Shouldn't that be <span style="color: #008000;">mheartainneach</span> since <span style="color: #008000;">seobhag</span> is feminine? Yes and no. So there are two ways of reading this. One is that it's a typo or grammatical error and someone missed out the lenition. The other is that for the author, the root form of the adjective is <span style="color: #008000;">smeartainneach</span>, which he duly lenited to <span style="color: #008000;">(sh)meartainneach</span>. I don't know which is the case but it's a fun thing to ponder, no?

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{{BeaganGramair}}