Irish Gaelic Lesson 1, grettings and goodbyes

[Danann]

Ok, this is the lesson this week... I know how drol, but if you can't say hi, you can't say pass me the beer! So here we go.

1. Greetings

Dia dhuit! (diah gwit) - Good Day! or Hello! (literal translation is like God to you)

Dia dhuit ar maidin (diah gwit air mahdeen) Good morning! (again, as above, more like God to you this morning. )

Dia is Muire dhuit. (diahs murrah gwit) This is the relpy to hello or good morning. (Literally is God and Mary to you)

2. Name Exchange
Cad is ainm duit? (cahd iss anim ditch?) What is your name? (What name is to you is the literal translation)

__________ is ainm dom. (________ iss anim dyum) ________ is my name. (__________ is name to me).

3. Pleasantries

Conas tá; tú? (co-nas tah tu ) How are you?

Tá mé go maith (tah may go mah) I'm well...or

Táim go maith. (tah-im go mah) I'm well

Níl mé go maith. (neel may go mah) I'm not good.

Tá me.... (tah may...) I'm ...... (follow I'm with any of these next phrases)

Tá mé go hiontach. (tah-may go hee-un-tachk) wonderful

Tá mé go breá. (tah-may go brah) fine

Tá mé go dona (tah-may go doe-nah) bad

Tá mé go measartha. (tah-may go mas-ser-ah) ok (literally medium)

Tá mé ar meisce. (tah-may air meeish-kah) drunk

Tá mé ólta. (tah-may ole-tah) very drunk

Tá mé ar buille. (tah-may air bu-ill-yah) mad (crazy or angry)

Tá mé tuirseach. (tah-may ter-shock) tired

4. Good Byes

Slán (shlahn) Good bye

Slán leat (shlahn lyaht) Relpy to Good bye

Slán go fóill (shlahn goh foihll) Goodbye for now

And that is this weeks lesson. I'll work up some exercises or something so we can practice together... I'll also post a history lesson on all the Gaelic languages soon too... This is more fun than I even thought it would be!

Slán go fóill!!
Danann

[Shamalama]

I really hope you continue this. This is great fun. Thanks!

[Raven]

Danann

What is the literal translation of Slainte'?

Thanks

Mikel

[Danann]

Sláinte in the vernacular is cheers, but litterally its "health".

[Raven]

Dia Dhuit Danann

How you say "Thank You"?

Thank You!!

Slain

Mikel

[Danann]

Go raibh maith agat! (goh rab mah ah-gut) Thank you! (to one person)

Go raibh míle maith agaibh as bhur gcúnamh! (goh rab mil ma ah-gahw as wur gun-ahw) Thank you very much for your help! (to more than one person)

Tá mé buíoch díot as do chúnamh. (ta may bueech deet choo-nahw)
I'm grateful to you for your help. (to one person)

Go méadaí Dia thú! (goh mah-dee Diah tu) May God prosper you! (to one person, serious thanks)

Go mba seacht bhfearr a bheas tú bliain ó inniu! (goh ma sahcht warr tu bleeah-een oh inn-ew)
May you be seven time better a year from today! (very serious thanks, to one person)

Tá fáilte romhat! (Tah fawil-teh row-aht)
You're welcome! (to one person)


Whew... that one was a bit harder to phonetically spell out than the others... for the most part, people just use Go raibh maith agat!

and Tá fáilte romhat!

[Raven]

Whew,You are very thorough!!

Ta me buiock diot as do chunamh

Danann

Now for one more

How do you say Peace.

Go meadai Dia thu

Mikel

[Danann]

Peace is síocháin, siochán (see-chawin, si-chawn)

This is fun! I am getting into the vocab section early!

Danann

[Raven]

Go raibh maith agat again Danann

I just got some Gaelic teaching CD's from a friend today. Between that and you I should be doing this in no time

Siochan

Mikel

[Aaediwen]

/me glances in too late.
Say wha?
I should look back again, when there's context to use these

Go raibh maith agat, a Dhanann

Sláinte math, na sibhse
(hope I got that right)

[Danann]

this is a continuation of lesson one... here are some simple sentances and their translations. As well as the VOCABULARY LIST!!

Tá sé (TAW* shay*) he is, it is
tá sí (TAW* shee) she is
tá mé (TAW* may) I am

fuar (FOO-uhr) cold
mór (mohr) big
te (te) hot
óg (ohg) young
sean (shan) old
lán (law*n) full
fear (far) man, a man
cat (kaht) cat, a cat
bean (ban) woman, a woman
cailín (kah-LEEN) girl, a girl
bord (bohrd) table, a table
ard (ahrd) high, tall
gairid (GAH-rid) short
anseo (un-SHUH) here
ansin (un-SHIN) there
fada (FAH-duh) long
bosca (BOHSK-uh) box, a box
íseal (EE-shuhl) low, short
sráid (sraw*d) street, a street
agus (AH-guhs) and
láidir (LAW*-dir) strong
tanaí (TAH-nee) thin
ramhar (ROU-wuhr) fat
cam (koum) crooked

I'll be posting an exercise to test your Irish here soon.

[Danann]

"Tá" serves to tell where something is or what its condition is, and therefore it has some of the functions of English "is".

For the (t) sound next to an "a", "o" or "u", put the front part of your tongue up along the top of your mouth, with the tip against the upper front teeth and almost--but not quite--protruding between the teeth. Pronounce the (t) sound a few times. If you extend the tongue too far between the teeth, you will say English "th" as in "that" or "throw". Irish does not have those sounds.

For the (aw*) sound, say the English word "tot", but start the word with the Irish (t) you have just learned. Repeat several times, then drop the final "t" and lengthen the (aw*) sound. As a check, try making the (aw*) sound in another way: Say English "awful" several times slowly, and notice that your lips are pushed far out. Try the word with your lips held in closer and more rounded. You may recognize the sound as the way some Irish pronounce "awful"

For the negative of "tá", the basic word is "níl" (neel).

Read these:
Níl sé mór (NEEL shay* mohr). He is not big.

Níl mé fuar (NEEL may* FOO-uhr). I am not cold.

Níl Seán ramhar (NEEL shaw*n ROU-wuhr). John is not fat.

For questioning with "tá", the basic group is "an bhfuil" (un VWIL).

In the West of Ireland this may be pronounced (un WIL). Read these:

An bhfuil fear ansin? (un vwil FAR un-SHIN) Is a man there?

An bhfuil Nóra óg? (un vwil NOH-ruh ohg) Is Nora young?

An bhfuil bosca anseo? (un vwil BOHSK-uh un-SHUN) Is there a box here?

[Raven]

Being more of a Parrot than a linguist I have found in the smattering of different languages that I speak that listening to how for example the mexicans speak English and putting that accent on Spanish allows me to speak without an accent.

Is this true of Irish and gaelic also?

[Danann]

Yes, it is. The problem that you run into is the same one that people here in the states run into. Different regions speak with a different accent. The way someone in Ardmore says Dia Dhuit would be different than someone in County Donegal. That type of thing.

The way I've learned, in conjunction with the websites, is a cd that has verbal clues on how to say something. Knowing the mechanics of speaking Gaelic is very different than knowing the colloquial cadence of speech. The gaelic is very rolling, very connected. Like dia dhuit... it sounds more like diagwit instead of two distinct words.

I hope that answered what you were asking.

Sláinte!
Danann

[Raven]

(confused look) yes of course I'm just joking.... I have a CD now, this is just something that I have found helpful and have observed amongst Europeans who speak English as a second language. If they speak without their native accent they sometimes have a British accent if their teacher was British. I think that is kind of cool.