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Tag Archives: traditional

How To Say ‘Doctor’ in Irish (plus ‘physician,’ ‘healer,’ etc.) Posted by on Sep 17, 2018

(le Róislín) Doctor … healer … physician? What’s the difference in Irish? And are some of the terms overlapping? Basics first.   Certainly the word most people learn first for “doctor” in Irish is “dochtúir,” and here are its basic forms: 1.. An dochtúir, the doctor, the physician Mála an dochtúra, the bag of the doctor/physician…

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How to Say ‘Happy New Year’ in Irish and How to Pronounce the Consonant Cluster “thbhl” Posted by on Dec 31, 2014

(le Róislín) Athbhliain faoi shéan is faoi mhaise duit.  Happy New Year to you. Athbhliain faoi shéan is faoi mhaise daoibh.  Happy New Year to you (plural). So how do we pronounce that, what does it literally mean, why are the actual words “happy” and “new” not in the phrase, and where does a consonant…

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Cé Mhéad Duine? How Many People? Na hUimhreacha Pearsanta i nGaeilge (ar leanúint) Posted by on Aug 10, 2009

Finally returning to the uimhreacha pearsanta after the numerous events of the past couple of weeks, both happy and sad ones.  This time we’ll count from six to ten people, more on larger groups of people later!  First, a quick review, for one to five people: duine amháin or aonar (depending on the type of…

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An Chéad Lá den Earrach (The First Day of Spring) – Not! Posted by on Mar 21, 2009

(le Róislín)  Shortly after St. Patrick’s Day, we welcome in an tEarrach (the Spring).  Or do we? We may be accustomed to thinking of March 20th or 21st as the beginning of Spring, but there is actually a lot of controversy in English as to whether Spring starts on the first of the month or…

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A Lán Lann – A Lot of Places (with the Suffix “–lann”) Posted by on Mar 15, 2009

(le Róislín) You may have noticed Transparent Language’s recent WOTD, an bhialann, the restaurant, and you may recognize a keyword in this expression, “bia” (food).  It’s helpful to know the suffix “–lann” also, since it is used to make dozens of words. The suffix comes from the word “lann,” which has many meanings, including “land,” “ground,”…

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Lá Fhéile Pádraig! Posted by on Mar 12, 2009

(le Róislín) As you might have guessed, the title phrase above means “St. Patrick’s Day,” a good time for launching this “blag nua” (new blog).  Remember that in pronunciation, the “fh” of the word “Fhéile” is completely silent.  For that reason, you sometimes see the phrase written as “Lá ‘Éile Pádraig,” dropping the “fh” entirely. …

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