How to Count People in Irish: beirt, triúr

Q: How do you say “two people” in Irish?

beirt. It is one word and it already means two people: Bhí beirt ann, there were two people there. Two men is beirt fhear, two women beirt bhan, two children beirt pháistí.

Q: How do you say “three people” and “three men” in Irish?

triúr and triúr fear. From triúr up the people counted go into the genitive plural with no séimhiú: triúr fear, ceathrar ban, cúigear páistí.

Q: How do you say “there are four of us” in Irish?

Tá ceathrar againn ann. The pronoun forms of ag carry the “of us, of you, of them”: ceathrar againn, beirt agaibh, triúr acu.

Q: How do you count people above twelve in Irish?

With the ordinary numbers and duine: trí dhuine dhéag (13 people), fiche duine (20 people), céad duine (100 people). Twelve itself is dháréag.

The pattern

The number comes first and the people come after it in the genitive plural (fear men, ban women, páistí children). Beirt also adds a séimhiú, but not to d, t or s: beirt deartháireacha (two brothers), beirt saighdiúirí (two soldiers). The rest add nothing.

beirttwo people

firmen

beirt fheartwo men

beirttwo people

mnáwomen

beirt bhantwo women

triúrthree people

firmen

triúr fearthree men

ceathrarfour people

páistíchildren

ceathrar páistífour children

One to twelve

People	On its own	Men	Women
1	duine amháin	fear amháin	bean amháin
2	beirt	beirt fhear	beirt bhan
3	triúr	triúr fear	triúr ban
4	ceathrar	ceathrar fear	ceathrar ban
5	cúigear	cúigear fear	cúigear ban
6	seisear	seisear fear	seisear ban
7	seachtar	seachtar fear	seachtar ban
8	ochtar	ochtar fear	ochtar ban
9	naonúr	naonúr fear	naonúr ban
10	deichniúr	deichniúr fear	deichniúr ban
11	aon duine dhéag	aon fhear déag	aon bhean déag
12	dháréag	dháréag fear	dháréag ban

From 13 up: Use the ordinary numbers with duine: trí dhuine dhéag (13 people), fiche duine (20 people), céad duine (100 people).
“Four of us”: Add the pronoun form of ag: ceathrar againn (four of us), beirt agaibh (two of you), triúr acu (three of them).

In a sentence

Tá beirt pháistí agam.

I have two children.

Bhí triúr fear ag an doras.

There were three men at the door.

Tá ceathrar againn sa teach.

There are four of us in the house.

Tá seisear sa teaghlach.

There are six in the family.

Chonaic mé beirt bhan ag siúl.

I saw two women walking.

Bhí deichniúr ag an gcruinniú.

There were ten people at the meeting.

More numbers

a haon, a dó, a tríHow to count in Irish, 1 to 100 an chéad, an dara, an tríúFirst, second, third in Irish na huimhreachaAll the numbers in one place

Counting people in Irish: the questions people ask

How do you say “two people” in Irish?

beirt. It is one word and it already means two people: Bhí beirt ann, there were two people there. Two men is beirt fhear, two women beirt bhan, two children beirt pháistí.

How do you say “three people” and “three men” in Irish?

triúr and triúr fear. From triúr up the people counted go into the genitive plural with no séimhiú: triúr fear, ceathrar ban, cúigear páistí.

Why does Irish have special numbers for people?

The personal numbers (beirt, triúr, ceathrar…) work like nouns meaning “a group of two, three, four”. That is why what follows them is in the genitive plural, as after any noun: triúr fear is literally “a threesome of men”.

How do you say “there are four of us” in Irish?

Tá ceathrar againn ann. The pronoun forms of ag carry the “of us, of you, of them”: ceathrar againn, beirt agaibh, triúr acu.

How do you count people above twelve in Irish?

With the ordinary numbers and duine: trí dhuine dhéag (13 people), fiche duine (20 people), céad duine (100 people). Twelve itself is dháréag.

How to Count People in Irish: beirt, triúr, ceathrar