"Tha mi ann an oifis."

Translation: I am in an office.

[BhauliyaMoss]

Why isn't the t in between as oifis starts with a vowel?

[Arwasaynemane]

There are sort of three reasons not to add t- here / points to consider:

• that t- is only ever added before a vowel-initial word after the definite article if the noun is masculine, and oifis is a feminine noun;
• the an in ann an confusingly is NOT the definite article an, cf. ann an oifis translating to "in an office" not "in the office" in this sentence;
• even if oifis were masculine and the definite article were used ("in the" = anns an), no t- is ever inserted before a vowel-initial noun in a prepositional phrase. cf. an t-òran "the song" (a masculine noun) but anns an òran "in the song".

(Edit prompted by Silmeth's correction – I had erroneously translated ann an as "in a" instead of just "in", making it appear as though there is an indefinite article inherent in the preposition. There isn't.)

[silmeth]

Good answer, upvoted. :) Just to nitpick a bit: ann an really just means in. There’s no a in there either; eg. you’d say ann an taigh Sheumais for in the house of James, in James’ house. Even though taigh Sheumais James’ house is a definite phrase without any a.

You use ann an just because it is the default word for in if there is no explicit definite article in Gaelic (there is no def. art. in taigh Sheumais).

[Arwasaynemane]

Haha yeah, fair enough. I'll tweak it slightly so that it is more correct and in line with what I wanted to make clear, thanks.

[MaraMacs]

It said i was using english when i tried in gaidhlig. And then wouldn't submit problem

[ConnorRichie]

Would "i am in THE office" be "tha mi ann an t-office"?

[silmeth]

No, it would be tha mi anns an oifis.

Ann an changes to just anns before the article, and the article causes lenition and doesn’t add t- to vowels in the dative case (that is, when it is used after most prepositions), so an t-oifis changes to an oifis.