JC Irish T2 key terms

The listening section of the exam, in which recorded passages such as dialogues, announcements or interviews are played and candidates answer questions on what they heard. Answers are usually written in Irish.

The reading section of the exam, where candidates read prose passages, notices or articles in Irish and answer comprehension questions, often by locating and rewording specific information.

The written production section, covering tasks such as letters, essays, diary entries, articles or short messages written in Irish for a stated audience and purpose.

The oral assessment, in which the candidate speaks Irish with an examiner or in a group, typically covering a general conversation, a picture-based description, and sometimes a role-play or prepared topic.

The language awareness component, testing control of grammar and usage: verb forms and tenses, the cases of nouns, agreement, pronouns, prepositions with pronouns, and sentence structure.

The past tense of Irish verbs, used for completed actions. Regular verbs take séimhiú where possible and add endings such as -as, -ais, -amar; the autonomous form ends in -adh.

The present tense, describing habitual or current actions. It is marked by endings such as -ann, -eann and the autonomous -tear or -tar, and by the present forms of the verb bí.

The future tense, marked by endings such as -faidh, -fidh and the autonomous -far or -fear. It states what will happen and is common in notices, plans and predictions.

The conditional mood, expressing what would happen or what one would do. It uses endings such as -fainn, -fá, -fadh and is central to polite requests and hypothetical statements in essays and conversation.

The subjunctive mood, used after certain particles to express a wish, prayer or unreal condition, as in go raibh maith agat or dá mbeadh. Recognition matters more than active production at this level.

The autonomous or impersonal verb form, where the doer is unspecified, as in deirtear, cuireadh or brisfear. It is often translated with 'one', 'people' or a passive English construction.

Lenition, the softening of an initial consonant, shown in writing by adding h after it, as in cat to chat. It is triggered by certain words, by feminine nouns after the article, and by vocative address.

Eclipsis, where a consonant's sound is replaced by another written before it, as in cat to gcat. It follows triggers such as i, ag an, ár, bhur and after certain prepositions and plural endings.

The genitive case, marking possession or a noun modifying another noun, as in doras an tí or ainm an chailín. It commonly appears after the definite article and after compound prepositions.

The definite article, an, na, or a before vowels. Its form changes with number, gender and case, and it triggers séimhiú or urú depending on the noun that follows.

A prepositional pronoun, formed by combining a preposition with a pronoun, such as agam, agat, aige, uirthi, againn or leo. These forms are frequent in speech and must be learned as units.

A preposition such as ar, ag, le, ó, do or i. Irish prepositions often carry meaning beyond English equivalents and combine with pronouns to form prepositional pronouns.

An essay written in Irish on a given topic, usually with an introduction, several developed paragraphs and a conclusion. Marks reward structure, range of vocabulary, accurate grammar and relevance to the title.

Indirect speech, reporting what someone said without quoting directly, as in Dúirt sé go raibh sé sásta. It requires tense and pronoun shifts and the particle go or nach before the reported clause.

A letter written in Irish, either informal to a friend or formal to an institution. Candidates must use correct opening and closing formulas, appropriate register, and cover every point required by the task.

A sequence of pictures used in the oral exam. The candidate describes what is happening in each picture, links the pictures into a story, and answers the examiner's follow-up questions about the scene.

The general conversation part of the oral exam, covering familiar topics such as family, school, hobbies, holidays and future plans. Fluency, range of vocabulary and accurate tenses are assessed.

Vocabulary, the stock of words a candidate can recognise and use. In this exam it spans everyday topics, school life, the media, the environment and current affairs, and is tested across all sections.

A key word in a question or passage, the word that carries the essential meaning. Identifying it helps a candidate locate the relevant sentence in a reading text or pick out the answer in a recording.

A full answer written as a complete sentence rather than a single word, matching the tense and person of the question. Many comprehension marks depend on answering in full and in Irish.

A question, either in the exam paper or asked by the examiner in the oral. Recognising question words such as cad, cé, cathain, cá and cén fáth is essential for locating the required information.

An opinion. Written and oral tasks often ask candidates to state and justify a view, so phrases for agreeing, disagreeing and giving reasons are needed, such as measaim, sílim, dar liom.

A reason. Justifying an opinion or explaining an event requires linking words such as mar, óir and toisc go, which carry marks for coherence in written and spoken answers.

Idiomatic phrases and expressions whose meaning cannot be read off word by word. Learning a bank of them improves fluency and range in essays and in the oral conversation.

See the autonomous verb form. In comprehension passages it often signals general statements or reported practice, and recognising it prevents the candidate from searching for a subject that is not there.

The word for tense in grammar, and also for weather. In language questions it refers to verb tense; in comprehension passages it may appear in a weather forecast, so context decides the meaning.

Number, in the grammatical sense of singular or plural. Agreement between noun, article, adjective and verb depends on it, and errors here are common in written production.

A telling or account, as in the narration of a story or event. In oral and written tasks, a clear sequence of events with time markers such as ar dtús, ansin and ar deireadh earns marks.

Listening where meaning is inferred from context rather than from every word understood. Candidates should use tone, situation and known vocabulary to guess unfamiliar words instead of stopping.

A notice or announcement, a common listening and reading text type. Such texts are short and factual, giving times, places and instructions, so numbers and details must be captured accurately.

An interview, a frequent listening passage in which a presenter questions a guest. Noting who says what, and the reasons given, is usually what the questions test.

A summary. Some reading tasks ask for the main points of a passage in a few sentences, requiring selection of key ideas rather than copying long stretches of the original text.

Grammar, the system of rules for forming words and sentences. In this exam it is assessed both directly through language exercises and indirectly through accuracy in writing and speech.