The síneadh fada
The síneadh fada (“long sign”, usually just the fada) is the acute accent Irish writes over its five vowels: á, é, í, ó, ú. It marks a long vowel, and it is not decoration: a dropped fada does not make a typo, it makes a different word.
What it does
Irish vowels come in short and long pairs, and the fada is the only thing on the page that tells you which you are looking at. The pairs it separates are not subtle. The word for “man” without a fada becomes the word for “grass” with one; “old” becomes the name Seán; Éire (Ireland) loses its fada and becomes a word for a burden. On a wedding card, a headstone or a tattoo, that difference is the whole difference.
Why this site is strict about it
Every Irish wording here is quoted from a cited source with its fadas exactly as the source prints them, and our validator rejects any page where the Irish carries a lookalike accent or a stripped vowel. The fada is also the single most common casualty when Irish passes through spreadsheets, sign-makers and content systems. Which is exactly how errors become heirlooms. Our essay What the fada does tells the full story with examples from the records.
Practicalities
- How to type fadas: iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac and Chromebook, step by step.
- How the fada sounds: the long vowels inside our pronunciation guides.
- Checking a wording? Every saying on this site shows its source: the full collection.
The five, at a glance
á as in law · é as in day · í as in see · ó as in boat · ú as in too. Lower case or capital, the mark is the same acute accent. Scottish Gaelic’s grave accent leans the other way and is a different language’s habit.