"Ritheann an cailín leis an mbrat."

Translation: The girl runs with the flag.

[seoirsin-45]

bratach is flag. Brat is cloak.

[alexinIreland]

When talking about the flag of a nation, both are acceptable.

[sineaddots]

Brat is also blanket

[mjkuecker1965]

Ok, the reason for the eclipse here?

[Nate_J]

The preposition + article causes eclipsis almost all of the time. In this sentence we have "leis an," so the noun following "an" needs to be eclipsed.

[Alsandera]

From the definite article? That's what I assumed.

[TuathaDeDanann]

Because of the preposition and the definite article combination.

"... ar an mbord," is eclipsed because there is both.

"... ar bhord," doesn't have both, so it is lenited instead.

I may be wrong, but that's what I understand of it.

[SeanMeaneyPL]

cloak?

[fierymagpie]

I wonder if somebody could explain why we say "Rithim le do mhadra" and "Rithim leis an mbrat"? Is there a difference between "le" and "leis" or they can be used interchangeably?

[SatharnPHL]

We say leis an instead of le an because it is easier to say leis an. (In the case of le na, saying leis na avoids any confusion with lena)

le becomes leis before a definite article - it's not the same leis as the 3rd person singular propositional pronoun leis. And it's not just alternative for le - you can't say leis do mhadra.