(Common greetings/sayings in Gaelic)
T Dia duit (Lit. God to you)
Dia is Muire duit (Lit. God and Mary to you)
Go mbeannai/ Dia duit May God bless you.
Go mbeannai/ Dia is Muire duit May God and Mary bless you.
Bail o/ Dhia ort The blessing of God on you.
Bail o/ Dhia is Muire duit The blessing of God and Mary on you.
Go raibh maith agat Thanks (Lit. May there be good at you).
Go dtaga do ri/ocht May thy kingdom come.
Na/r laga Dia do la/mh May God not weaken your hand.
Gura sla/n an sce/alai/ May the bearer of the news be safe.
Gurab amhlaidh duit The same to you.
Ta/ fa/ilte romhat You are welcome.
Cad e/ (Goide/) mar ta/ tu/? How are you? (Ti/r Chonaill)
Ce/n chaoi 'bhfuil tu/? How are you (Connacht)
Conas ata/ tu? How are you? (Mumhan)
Ta/ me/ go maith I'm doing well.
An bhfuil aon rud u/r ag dul? What's new?
Aon sce/al 'ad? What's new? (Connacht)
Sla/n leat Good Bye (said to one going).
Sla/n agat Good Bye (said to one remaining).
Sla/inte chugat Good health to you.
Gabhaim pardu/n agat beg your pardon.
Gabh mo leithsce/al Pardon me (Lit. Accept my excuse).
Ma/s e/ do thoil e/ If you please.
Le do thoil Please
Saol fada chugat Long life to you.
For the following greetings Gurab amhlaidh duit is a common answer:
Oi/che mhaith duit Good night.
Codladh sa/mh duit A pleasant sleep.
Nollaig shona duit Happy Christmas.
Nollaig faoi she/an is faoi A prosperous and pleasant
mhaise duit Christmas.
Athbhliain faoi mhaise duit A prosperous New Year.
Terms of Endearment
a ghra/
a ru/n
a sto/r
a thaisce
a chroi/
a chuisle
my dear darling/love/treasure
muirni/n
leanna/n
ce/adsearc
sweetheart
a ghra/ mo chroi/
love of my heart!
Curses
Imeacht gan teacht ort
May you leave without returning.
Titim gan e/iri/ ort
May you fall without rising.
Fa/n fada ort
Long travels to you.
Go n-ithe an cat thu/ is go n-ithe an diabhal an cat
May the cat eat you, and may the cat be eaten by the devil.
Faclair
Here is a short list of vocabulary words to enable us to construct
some simple sentences.
sgìth tired
fluich wet
teth hot
fuar cold
tinn sick
tioram dry
luath swift
dubh black
bàn fair, white
mór big, great
beag small, little
agus and
ach but
cù m. dog
cat m. cat
teine m. fire
dorus m. door
taigh m. house
falt m. hair
Here are three comparisons in English/Ga\idhlig/Gaeilge:
English Ga\idhlig Gaeilge
------- --------- -------
I am Tha mi Ta/ me/
You are Tha thu Ta/ tu/
He (or it) is Tha e Ta/ se/
She (or it) is Tha i Ta/ si/
We are Tha sinn Ta/ muid
(or Ta/imid) (or Ta/ sinn)
You are Tha sibh Ta/ sibh
They are Tha iad Ta/ siad
I am not Chan eil mi Ni/l me/
Are you? A' bheil thu? An bhfuil tu/?
Aren't you? Nach eil thu? Nach bhfuil tu/?
I am (habitual) Bi mi Bi/m
You are (hab.) Bi thu Bi/onn se/
I will be Bi mi Beidh me/
I won't be Cha bhi mi Ni/ bheidh me/
Will you be? Am bi thu? An mbeidh tu/?
Won't you be? Nach bi thu? Nach mbeidh tu/?
I was Bha mi Bhi/ me/
I was not Cha robh mi Ni/ raibh me/
Were you? An robh thu? An raibh tu/?
Weren't you? Nach robh thu? Nach raibh tu/?
I would be Bhithinn Bheinn
You would be Bhiodh tu Bheadh tu/
I am drinking Tha mi ag ol Ta/ me/ ag o/l
I drink (hab.) Bi mi ag ol O/laim
I am going Tha mi ag dol Ta/ me/ ag dul
I go (hab.) Bi mi a' dol Te/im
You go (hab.) Bi thu a' dol Te/ann tu/
Impossible looking combinations of consonants at the beginning of Irish
Gaelic words ("eclipsis" - eg "mb", "gc", "nd", "bhf", "bp", "dt") strike terror
in Scottish Gaelic speakers, but they are really very simple. They just mean
that the preceding word historically used to end in an 'n' or 'm', which often
survives in the Scottish Gaelic spelling, but in Irish Gaelic only survives
as a modified pronunciation of the first letter of the following word. To get
at the basic dictionary headword, just strip of the initial consonant. e.g.: Latha nam paistean La/ na bpa/isti/ (look up "pa/iste") Tha fhios agam gum bi e ann Ta/ fhios agam gu mbeidh se/ ann Pairc nan caoraich Pa/irc na gcaorach (look up "caorach") nam biodh airgead agam da/ mbeadh airgead agamThe spelling revision in Irish Gaelic about 40 years ago did away with a lot of letters in the middle or at the ends of words which were no longer pronounced. They may or may not be still pronounced in Scottish Gaelic. e.g.
saoghal saol
ceartachadh ceartu/
If you can't find an Irish Gaelic word in a Scottish Gaelic dictionary,
try changing unvoiced consonants (c p t) to the corresponding voiced consonant
(g b d) (which may actually be pronounced unvoiced in Scottish Gaelic too), and
try changing unstressed 'a' or 'o' to 'u', e.g.:
sgian scian
sgoil scoil
uisge uisce
agad agat
comunn comann
gu go