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Tag Archives: áthas

How to Say ‘Be Happy’ in Irish and 20 Ways to Say ‘Happy’ Itself:  ‘Ádhúil’ to “Toilteanach’ with an Emphasis on “Sona” Posted by on Feb 10, 2018

 (le Róislín) We’ve recently had a request for the phrase “Be happy!” for a tattoo. So seo dhuit, na frásaí is coitianta (mo thuairimse, ar a laghad) le “Be happy” a rá agus ansin súil siar ar dhóigheanna eile le “happy” a rá i nGaeilge.  So, here you are, the most common phrases (my opinion…

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How many ‘happys’ are there in Irish for the various seasonal greetings? Posted by on Dec 14, 2017

(le Róislín) How many ways are there to say ‘happy’ in Irish? Quite a few, but for right now we’ll concentrate on two seasonal variations. One will be for saying ‘Happy Christmas,’ which in US English would be ‘Merry Christmas,’ and the other will be for ‘Happy New Year.’ The bottom line is that neither…

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Vocabulary Round-up from ‘More Irish Numbers Practice: Orduimhreacha i dTeidil Scannán’ (Cuid/Part 2) Posted by on Aug 26, 2017

  (le Róislín) Here, as promised, is the second batch of words from the blogpost practicing ordinal numbers by using examples from movie titles (nasc thíos).  As you might recall, the movie Muiscít ar an Deichiú hUrlár (bunteideal i Seapáinis: Jukkai no mosukîto, 1983) was one of the most unusual, offering a workout with the orduimhir, the…

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More Irish Numbers Practice: Orduimhreacha i dTeidil Scannán — Aistrithe go Gaeilge Posted by on Aug 16, 2017

(le Róislín) Since we’ve been on an “orduimhreacha” roll recently (nasc thíos), I thought it would be fun to try some more examples, this time embedded in Irish versions of famous (or not-so-famous) film titles.  So I’ll provide the Irish phrase for context, and see if you can fill in the blank, using the ordinal…

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Happy, Happiness and Happy Dances in Irish (mostly based on ‘áthas’) Posted by on May 25, 2015

(le Róislín) “I’m just doing a little happy dance.”  Recently overheard at an event I attended, where one of the coordinators had had to sit on the floor because all the seats were taken.  At the end of the event, she got up, did some yoga-like stretches, and one of the other coordinators asked if…

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Grins, Grimaces, and Emoticons: Straoiseanna and Straoiseoga in Irish Posted by on May 18, 2015

(le Róislín) I was tickled pink (is there an emoji for that?) when I found out that the Irish language had its own word for “emoticon.”  The word “straoiseog” [STREESH-ohg] isn’t based on either of the two words that make up “emoticon.”  A classic portmanteau word, “emoticon” in English is quite transparently based on “emotion”…

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If ‘brón’ can be ‘orm’ in Irish phrases like ‘TBO,’ what else can be ‘ort’? Posted by on Apr 28, 2015

(le Róislín) A few posts ago, we looked at the Irish abbreviation ‘TBO‘ for “Tá brón orm” (nasc thíos).   This might be a good time to look at how to say that some other emotions, feelings (like hunger or thirst), or illnesses are “on you” (ort) in Irish. How does this compare to English?  In…

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