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| chinita96 | Thursday 18th of November 2004 08:42:42 AM |
| IRISH 06 (Ceacht 6) - Here are some common Irish blessings and sayings used to Wish your friends the best of health! We will also focus on more Grammar in this lesson. The pronunciations you see here are in [b]Connemara[/b] dialect. [b]Click here to see a list of all PHRASE lessons.[/b] [b]Irish Blessings:[/b] Céad míle fáilte romhat! /KADE MEE-LAH FAWL-CHEH ROW-OTT/ = A hundred thousand welcomes to you! Fáilte ar ais. /FAWL-CHEH AIR AYSH/ = Welcome back Rath Dé ort! /RAH JAY URT/ = The grace of God be with you. Nár lagaí Dia do lámh! /NAWR LOG-EE JEE-AH DUH LAWV/ = May God not weaken your hand. Slán agus beannacht leat /SLAWN UH-GUS BEN-NAHHT LAT/ = Goodbye and blessings with you. Bail ó Dhia ort. /BILE OH YEE ORT/ = The blessing of God on you. [b]Grammar:[/b] The definite article [i][b]an[/b][/i] (the) Nouns in Irish are divided into 2 classes: masculine and feminine. The gender of the word is shown by the way it is treated after [i]an[/i]. Masculine nouns which begin with a consonant are unaffected by [i]an[/i]; those which begin with a vowel have a t- added to the beginning of the word. Examples: fear [i]man[/i] = an fear [i]the man[/i] bord [i]table[/i] = an bord [i]the table[/i] athair [i]father[/i] = an t-athair [i]the father[/i] árasán [i]apartment[/i] = an t-árasán [i]the apartment[/i] Feminine nouns which begin with a consonant are lenited. Lenition means softening, referring to the replacement of hard and abrupt sounds by the more hissing sounds. Lenition is also known as mutation, aspiration, or séimhiú. Example: bean [i]woman[/i] = an bhean [i]the woman[/i] máthair [i]mother[/i] = an mháthair [i]the mother[/i] oifig [i]office[/i] = an oifig [i]the office[/i] uimhir [i]number[/i] = an uimhir [i]the number[/i] An s preceding l,n,r or a vowel at the beginning of a feminine noun becomes [i]ts[/i] after [i]an[/i]. Example: sráid [i]street[/i] = an tsráid [i]the street[/i] [b]Addressing a Person by Name:[/b] You put [i]a[/i], which requires lenition, before the name: Máire becomes A Mháire Pádraig becomes A Phádraig Síle becomes A Shíle Siobhán becomes A Shiobhán Not all consonants are affected by lenition: Lughaidh becomes A Lughaidh Niamh becomes A Niamh Most male names ending with a broad consonant (one preceded by a, o, or u) change that to slender (adding [i]i[/i] before it): Dónall becomes A Dhónaill Tomás becomes A Thomáis Séamas becomes A Shéamais Peadar becomes A Pheadair [b]Expressing possession with [i]ag[/i] (at):[/b] There is no verb [i]to have[/i] in Irish, so instead you would use the phrase: Tá + noun + ag (or personal form of [i]ag[/i]) Example: Tá leabhar agam. = I have a book. (Literally translated, The book is at me) Tá carr ag Máire. = Mary has a car. (Literally translated, The car is at Mary) Tá rothar nua aige. = He has a new bicycle. (Literally translated, The new bicycle is at him) The personal forms of [i]ag[/i]: agam = at me agat = at you aige = at him aici = at her againn = at us agaibh = at you all acu = at them That's all the grammar for now. One way to get used to using the word "ag", is to try to use it in everyday speech. "Think in Irish", so when someone asks you in English "Do you have a book?", for example, answer them and say "Yes, the book is at me." They might look at you funny, but it will help when translating from English to Irish. P.S. Tá mé ag foghlaim fós, so feel free to correct me or add to this... | |
| tasya-la-poliglota | Wednesday 24th of November 2004 07:47:06 AM |
| hi chinita!!! - Hi! thanks for your posts. I'm interested in learning Gaelic, and I'm trying to start with your posts. keep up! I'll be reading them... thanks! :-D | |
