Tag Archives: athbhliain
Some Consonant Clusters in Irish (thbhl, thbh, thbhr, thchl, thfh, and ch-chl) Posted by róislín on Dec 21, 2019
(le Róislín) Irish can have up to five consonants in a row, something we rarely encounter in English. These situations usually occur because a prefix has been added to a word, so the seemingly simple “cleas” (trick) can become “droch-chleas” when we add the prefix “droch-” (bad). In this case, with “ch” followed by “ch,”…
Frásaí an tSéasúir (Seasonal Phrases) in Irish: ‘Sona’ or not ‘Sona’? (‘happy’ or not ‘happy’?) Posted by róislín on Nov 30, 2019
(le Róislín, taking a short break from the “Nature Words” series, in honor of the season) ‘Tis the season where we go around wishing people ‘Happy’ (‘sona‘ in Irish) _____ (fill in your holiday). Or do we? One of the most basic words for “happy” in Irish is “sona,” which sometimes appears as “shona,” as…
What’s Your New Year’s Resolution (and How to Say It in Irish)? Posted by róislín on Dec 31, 2018
(le Róislín) ‘Sea, an t-am sin den bhliain arís, aimsir na ndea-rún don bhliain nua. In the word cloud (néal focal) above we see some common topics for “dea-rúin na hAthbhliana,” many of which have to do with health (sláinte). How many of them do you recognize? Here they are again, with a few pronunciation…
Twenty Ways to Say ‘Happy’ in Irish and Which Ones to Use for ‘Christmas’ and ‘New Year’ Posted by róislín on Dec 25, 2017
(le Róislín) In various previous blogposts (naisc thíos) we’ve looked at how to say “happy” in Irish. Like many times when we go from one language to another, it seems like the more you look, the more possibilities you find. So right now, the count for “happy” is at twenty, and I’m sure a few…
How many ‘happys’ are there in Irish for the various seasonal greetings? Posted by róislín 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…
How many ways can we say ‘bliain’ (year) in Irish, including ‘athbhliain’? Posted by róislín on Jan 11, 2016
(le Róislín) As we settle into the new year (an bhliain nua, an bhliain úr, an athbhliain, srl.), let’s think of how many ways we can say and use the word ‘year’ in Irish. Most recently, you’ve probably seen the phrase “Athbhliain faoi shéan is faoi mhaise” (A happy and prosperous New Year). But let’s look…
How to say ‘How are you?” in Irish — not quite 100 ways but maybe 50-ish. And which are the top 5(-ish)? Posted by róislín on Jan 4, 2015
(le Róislín) Some of you may have seen the recent article “Did you know there are 100 ways to say ‘How are you?’ as Gaeilge?” in The Daily Edge, based on a dialect map posted on Twitter (naisc thíos). As comments to the Daily Edge article pointed out, about half of the examples are from Scotland…