Make a real connection to your Irish heritage
Feeling like you could never crack Irish Gaelic?
Break it down into easy Bitesize portions, with the free "Irish for Beginners" email course by Bitesize Irish.
Enter your name and email address below to get started (and we'll never spam you):
Lesson by "The Irish People"
PRONUNCIATION
The letter group
"omh" in a word often gets the sound of (oh). This sound is held for
the same length of time as "ó". Examples are: romham (ROH-uhm),
before me; romhat (ROH-uht), before you; comhar (KOH-uhr), aid; comhairle
(KOHR-le), council, advice; comhrá (KOH-raw*), conversation;
fómhar (FOH-uhr), autumn; comhacht (KOH-uhk*t), power; comhlacht
(KOH-luhk*t), a corporation.
GRAMMAR
To say "I had
a book", rather than "I have a book", you merely replace "tá"
by "bhí", as in:
Bhí leabhar
agam (vee LOU-wuhr uh-GUHM), I had a book. The literal meaning is,
of course, "There was a book at me".
Forms for "had"
parallel those needed to express "have". Here is practice reading
to help you recognize and use the forms. Only the new or less familiar
words have a pronunciation guide directly after them.
Bhí airgead
(AR-i-guhd) agam inné. Nach raibh bainne agat? Níl mórán
bainne againn anois. Tá scian ag Tomás. An raibh cóta
ag an mac? Nach bhfuil nuachtán agat? Ní raibh cnaipe
(kuh-NAHP-e) ag an gcóta.
An bhfuil carr
aige? Níl caife nó tae aici. Nach raibh bróg
ag Peadar? Bhí bord mór acu. An bhfuil léine
mhaith aige? Tá leabhar agaibh. An raibh mála bán
aici? Nach bhfuil hataí acu? Ní raibh ceann (kyoun)
eile agam.
The pronunciation
guide and translation for these sentences follow:
vee AR-i-guhd
uh-GUHM in-YAY*. nahk* rev BAHN-ye uh-GUHT? neel moh-RAW*N BAHN-ye
uh-GIN uh-NISH. taw* SHKEE-uhn eg toh-MAW*S. un rev KOH-tuh eg un
MAHK? nahk* vwil NOO-uhk*-taw*n uh-GUHT? nee rev kuh-NAHP-e eg un
GOH-tuh.
un vwil KAHR
eg-GE? neel KAH-fe noh tay* a-KI. nahk* rev brohg eg PAD-uhr? vee
bohrd mohr ah-KUH. un vwil LAY*-ne vwah eg-GE? taw* LOU-wir uh-GIV.
un rev MAW*-luh baw*n a-KI? nahk* vwil HAHT-ee ah-KUH? nee rev kyoun
EL-e uh-GUHM.
I had money yesterday.
Didn't you have milk? We don't have much milk now. Thomas has a knife.
DId the son have a coat? Don't you have a newspaper? The coat didn't
have a button.
Has he a car?
She doesn't have coffee or tea.. Didn't Peter have a shoe? They had
a large table. Has he a good shirt? You have books. Did she have a
white bag? Don't they have hats? I didn't have another one.
DRILL
- It is necessary
for you to practice with masculine and feminine nouns accompanied
by adjectives, so that you will be familiar with the changes needed.
Here are some drill expressions. Go over them until you are completely
in mastery of them:
Máthair
mhaith (MAW*-hir vwah); an mháthair mhaith (un VWAW*-hir
vwah); mo mháthair mhaith (muh VWAW*-hir vwah).
cailín
maith (kah-LEEN mah); an cailín maith; do chailín
maith (duh k*ah-LEEN mah).
bróg
shalach (brohg huh-LAHK*); an bhróg shalach (un vrohg huh-LAHK*);
a bhróg shalach (uh vrohg huh-LAHK*).
bord salach;
an bord salach; ár mbord salach ( aw*r mohrd suh-LAHK*).
traein fhada
(tray*n AH-duh); an traein fhada; do thraein fhada.
carr fada;
an carr fada; mo charr fada ( muh K*AHR FAH-duh).
cathaoir
chrua (KAH-heer K*ROO-uh), a hard chair; an chathaoir chrua (un
K*AH-heer K*ROO-uh); a cathaoir chrua, her hard chair.
cóta
beag (KOH-tuh byuhg); an cóta beag; mo chóta beag
(muh K*OH-tuh byuhg).
sráid
dheas (sraw*d yas), a nice street; an tsráid dheas (un
traw*d yas); a shráid dheas (uh hraw*d yas), his nice street.
fuinneog
ghlan (fwin-YOHG gluhn); an fhuinneog ghlan (un in-YOHG gluhn);
do fhuinneog ghlan (duh in-YOHG gluhn). fear mór (far mohr);
an fear mór; do fhear mór (duh ar mohr).
scian ghéar
(SHKEE-uhn yay*r), a sharp knife; an scian ghéar; mo scian
ghéar (muh SHKEE-uhn yay*r).
pingin bheag
(PEENG-in vyuhg), a small penny; an phingin bheag (un FEENG-in
vyuhg); mo phingin bheag.
These changes
are annoying to you at first, but a little practice will make
them seem very natural. Writing them out after you have gone over
the pronunciation several times is another good way to become
used to the changes required.
- The verbal
nouns with "tá" and "bhí" also require some drilling.
Repeat this drill until you can do it with full understanding and
without hesitation:
Nach bhfuil
Seán ag léamh sa chistin? (nahk* vwil shaw*n uh
LAY*-uhv suh HYISH-tin). Níl sé ag léamh
sa chistin. An bhfuil sé ag léamh thuas an staighre?
(HOO-uhs un STEYE-ruh). Tá sé ag léamh ansin.
Nach raibh
do mháthair ag caint leat? (uh KEYENT lat) Ní raibh
sí uh caint liom (luhm) An raibh sí ag caint le
Máire? (MAW*-re) Bhí sí ag caint le Máire
agus le Bríd, freisin (le BREED FRESH-in).
Nach bhfuil
ár n-athair ag scríobh na litreach? (nahk* vwil
aw*r NA-hir uh SHKREEV nuh LI-trahk*), writing the letter? Níl
sé ag scríobh na litreach. An bhfuil sé ag
obair sa bhaile? (eg OH-bir suh VWAH-le) Tá sé ag
obair sa ghairdín (suh gahr-DEEN).
Nach raibh
cat agaibh? (uh-GIV) Ní raibh cat againn anuraidh (uh-GINN
uh-NOOR-ee), last year. An raibh madra agaibh? Bhí madra
álainn againn anuraidh.
Nach bhfuil
nuachtán agat? (NOO-uhk*taw*n uh-GUHT) Níl nuachtán
ar bith agam. An bhfuil airgead agat (AR-i-guhd uh-GUHT), have
you money? Tá mórán airgid agam (moh-RAW*N
AR-i-gid uh-GUHM), I have a lot of money.
Nach raibh
cathaoir eile agat sa teach? (KAH-heer EL-e) Ní raibh ach
cathaoir amháin againn (uh-WAW*-in uh-GIN), we had only
one chair. An raibh bord agaibh? O, bhí dhá bhord
againn (GAW* vwohrd uh-GIN), We had two tables.
Note: The word
for "two" of anything (except persons) is "dhá" (gaw*), and
it is followed by the aspirated singular. Examples: dhá bhád
(gaw* VWAW*D), two boats; dhá léine, two shirts; dhá
fháinne (gaw* AW*-nye), two rings; dhá chat (gaw* K*AHT),
two cats.
Would
you like to learn Irish Gaelic with audio pronunciation?
You
can really start to learn to speak Irish with Bitesize Irish.
It's a full online learning program.
- Would you like
to make a connection with Ireland?
- And speak the
native language of the Irish?
- Do you find
it difficult to learn from reading only text?
Then take the free
Irish
for Beginners email course by Bitesize Irish. Every couple
of days, you'll get a mini-series of free Irish language lessons. Each
lesson is full of interactive audio recordings.
Learn
Irish with Irish for Beginners, by Bitesize Irish.
<<back to top of page>>
(c) 1997 The
Irish People. May be reprinted with credit.
