Vowels

Gaelic uses the five symbols a, o, u, i, e to represent a large number of Gaelic vowel sounds. This is achieved by using accents and by combining the five basic vowels in various ways. In Gaelic there are both short and long vowels. Long vowels are indicated by means of accents. There are two accents used in Scottish Gaelic:

• the acute ( ´ ) found only on the letters e and o
• the grave ( ` ) found on a, o, u, i, e

The difference in pronunciation between a, o, u, i, e and à, ò, ù, ì, è respectively is one of pure length. The difference on the other hand between è, ò and é, ó respectively is one of quality. Listen to the difference between è and é and ò and ó:

[ʃɛː]	’s e		[dʲeː]	dé
[ɔːL]	òl		[boː]	bó