Irish Language Blog

An t-am – The time Dia duit a chaidre! Hi friends! Today we are going to talk about an t-am, the time in Irish. Before we do that, let’s look at some numbers: a haon (uh HAYN) – one a dó (uh DOH) – two a trí (uh TREE) – three a ceathair (uh KA-hir) –…

Dia duit gach duine — Hi everyone! Did you know that the origins of Halloween are actually Irish? Samhain is a Celtic pagan festival that originated thousand of years ago. It marks the end of the harvest season and the ‘light season’ and the beginning of winter, the ‘dark season.’ Oíche Shamhna is the Irish word…

Dia duit a chairdre! Today I wanted to share with you some an teaghlach (family) vocabulary, some grammar, as well as some resources to help with your Irish language journey. An chlann – family (children) Athair – Father Máthair – Mother Deartháir – Brother Deirfiúr – Sister Tuismitheoir(í) – Parent(s) Mac – Son Iníon – Daughter Seanathair/ Daideo – Grandfather/ Grandad Seanmháthair/ Mamó – Grandmother/ Granny An…

Haigh a chairde! Hi friends! Bridgette is ainm dom, and I am the new Irish blogger. Deas bualadh leat go léir, it is nice to meet you all even if it is just virtually. I wanted to start off our time together with a cultural blog, especially since it is something I hold dear to my heart…

(le Róislín) Given that a fever is one of the indicators of the novel coronavirus, let’s look at some vocabulary connected to fevers.  The basic structure, like other illnesses or symptoms, is to say that the fever is “on you.”  You may already know sentences like “Tá an fliú orm” or “Tá snag orm”, or…

(le Róislín)  In keeping with the novel coronavirus terms introduced in the previous blog (nasc thíos), we add a few more terms here: sneezing and coughing, and related terms like “droplets” and “salivary.” Let’s start with “sneeze” and some of its various forms.  The most basic, in my experience, is “sraoth a ligean” (lit. to…

(le Róislín) There are, of course, many ways to look at and discuss the ongoing coróinvíreas, but, since this is a language-learning site, how about the tried and true method of ord na haibítre (alphabetical order)?  Irish to English — and that may be a bit of a challenge since the Irish alphabet doesn’t typically…