About this phrase

Tú the second person, singular pronoun you.

Féin has a number of slightly different meanings, depending on context. When used after pronouns, it means -self, -selves.

Thus, tú féin: yourself.

Notes

In spoken Irish, féin is often pronounced héin, especially when following a vowel sound (the héin form is particularly strong in Donegal Irish) and the non-standard spelling fhéin is often seen used to reflect this.

Strictly speaking, this is incorrect even outside the constrictions of the official standard spelling as aspirated initial f sounds (fh-) are totally unvoiced. Compare and contrast these examples:

• Rud a fheiscint ('ish-gint'; to see something).
• Rud a thuiscint ('hish-gint'; to understand something).
• Rud a fhoghlaim ('owl-im'; to learn something).
• Rud a thomhas ('house'; to measure something).

In Munster féin / héin are often, though not always, pronounced féinig / héinig.