Gaeilge (Irish) - Basic Grammar

The Fada

This special gaelic character accent, the fada, is only used with the vowels (aeiou). If you are spelling a word which had letters with the accents you describe it as follows.

Example 1: (which means 'me') - you would spell it as: m, e fada.

Example 2: cailín (which means girl) - you would spell it as: c, a, i, l, i fada, n.

The fada usually makes the vowel stronger - and longer.

Nouns

The English word 'the' basically translates to the gaelic an. So we have:
- an siopa (the shop)
- an cailín (the girl)
- an madra (the dog).


The plural of an is na. So we have:
- na siopaí (the shops)
- na cailíní (the girls)
- na madraí (the dogs).

A lot of plural nouns end in í but NOT all of them. (Things are never that easy!!)

Verbs

Most verbs require the word ag before the main verb, along with part of the verb To Be which gives it the tense.

Example 1: Tá mé ag rith = I am running
Tá mé = I am, ag rith = running
Example 2: Tá na fir ag ithe arán = the men are eating bread
fir = men, ithe = eating, arán = bread

Adjective (describes a noun)

In English the adverb goes BEFORE the noun. In Irish, similar to the French language, the adverb goes AFTER the noun.

Example 1: an fear mór = the big man (fear = man, mór = big)

Example 2: an cailín deas = the pretty girl (cailín = girl, deas = pretty)

Example 3: na buachaillí salach = the dirty boys - (buachaillí = boys, salach = dirty)

Numbers

coming soon-ish!


Updated: 28th August 2012

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