25 Ways to Say ‘Family’ in Irish, Cuid a hAon (Pt. 1) Posted by róislín on Feb 25, 2016
(le Róislín) In a recent blog (nasc thíos), we examined the word ‘muirín,’ one of many Irish words for ‘family.’ As you may recall, we looked at “muirín” in comparison to a homograph (muirín as “a scallop,” of all things!) and also in comparison to the similarly-spelled múirín, which has two distinct meanings, 1)…
An Dá Mhuirín agus an Dá Mhúirín (families, scallops, and leaf-mould, oh my! — plus ‘showers’ but that would break ‘an mhéim’) Posted by róislín on Feb 22, 2016
(le Róislín) Sometimes it seems that no sooner do you learn one Irish word, than you find another one spelled in almost the same way. In some cases, these are, in fact, dialect variations of the same word (raibh/rabh nó madra/madadh, mar shampla). But often they are completely different words, sometimes with just a “fada” of…
Ten Ways to Say “Bravo” in Irish (using Ceol, Gairm, Beannacht, Fáinne, etc.) Posted by róislín on Feb 18, 2016
(le Róislín) Music lovers at a classical music concert will probably wait politely until the very end to call out “Bravo!” or “Brava!” during the applause. But in the realm of Irish folk music, short phrases of encouragement are often used during the song or tune, offering encouragement to the performer. They can all be…
Céard a déarfá dá mba thusa … Posted by róislín on Feb 15, 2016
www(le Róislín) Seo deich n-abairt le líonadh isteach le mianta agus le manaí agus le hathfhriotail. Is féidir dhá fhreagra nó níos mó a úsáid le cuid acu seo. Agus amanna téann freagra amháin le cúpla frása. Ar ndóigh, ní raibh Gaeilge ag na daoine atá luaite sna habairtí seo (fad m’eolais) ach cuir i…
Saying “I Love You” in Irish Posted by róislín on Feb 11, 2016
(le Róislín) Around Valentine’s Day (Lá Vailintín), we see lots of cards, candies, and decorative items saying “I love you” in English. Irish has many ways to say this as well, although the actual verb “to love” isn’t usually part of the phrase. Most of the expressions rely on terms of endearment (téarmaí ceana)…
Irish Vocabulary Round-up for ‘Comhrá idir Hamstar agus Seirbil’ Posted by róislín on Feb 6, 2016
(le Róislín) Our most recent post introduced some vocabulary specific to hamster and gerbil cages, as Hamaltún an Hamstar and Searbhán an tSeirbil compared their accommodations (nasc thíos). Let’s take a closer look and check out some more general vocabulary as well. A. Céard Atá sna Cásanna? ámóg [AWM-ohg], hammock ardán codlata [AWRD-awn KUL-uh-tuh…
Comhrá: Searbhán an tSeirbil agus Hamaltún an Hamstar ag caint faoina gcásanna Posted by róislín on Jan 31, 2016
(le Róislín) Since we talked about hamstair in the most recent blog, I figured we might as well do seirbilí this time. So first, let’s look at the different forms for the word “seirbil” and then a few other words that have a similar pattern. Then we’ll have a little comhrá between a seirbil and a…