So, ar dtús, ba mhaith liom na rudaí go bunúsach a cruthú, mar is é bunaidhm an bhlog seo ná Gaeilge beo, easca a múineadh don daoine gan Gaeilge ar bith. Tá fhios agam go bhfuil an mórchuid de mo leantóirí ag iarraidh ceaicht níos cruinn, maidir leis an Ardtéist, ach beidh siad ag teach níos deanaí, ná bí buartha :D
So, to begin, I want to set up the basic things, cos the main aim of this blog is to teach alive and easy Irish to people without any sort of Irish at all. I know that the majority of my followers are looking for more accurate lessons, in relation to the Leaving Cert, but they’ll come later, don’t worry :D
So yeah, we’ll start with the very start of languages, which is communication. And of course communication generally starts with conversation, so let’s begin there. So in Irish, we’ve not really got one word for hello, generally we say Dia Dhuit or Dia Dhaoibh if we’re talking to more than one person. To reply, however, we say Dia is Mhuire Duit/Daoibh, again depending on the amount of people you are addressing. Both of them mean God with you and God and Mary with you respectively. It’s not being purely Christian or intolerant of other religions or however you may want to distort that, it’s just the way the language is. You can always change it to whatever you want I’m sure, but all that’s meant from it is blessings on your life.
Following on from that, conas atá tú? means how are you, word for word. You can answer anyway you please, here’s a list of possible endings:
Táim: (I am:)
- go maith good
- go híontach brilliant
- go dona bad
- ceart go leor ok
- tinn sick
- brón sad
- sásta happy
In Irish, for a lot of other feelings, we say that the feeling is on us, rather than in English where we are the feeling. Here is a list of such feelings:
Tá _____ orm (There is ____ on me/I am:)
- ocras hungry
- thart thirsty
- tuirseach tired
- uaigneas lonely
- brón sorry
Notice in the last one, to say sorry is to say that there is sadness on you.
To ask someone how they are after they have asked you, simply give your response and then agus tú? or agus tú féin? meaning and you? or and yourself?
More vocab:
- Le do thoil/le bhur dtoil Please
- Go raibh maith agat Thanks
- Go raibh milé maith agat Thank you so much
- Tá failte reoit You’re welcome
- Maidin mhaith Good morning
- Oiche mhaith Good night
- Slán Goodbye
- Slán go foill Bye for now
Now, this is the end or thereabouts of Lesson 1. I’ll put up a cómhra samplach or sample conversation in a minute outlining all that’s been covered here. Lesson two will be out hopefully on Friday, so until then, slán go foill!
