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Tag Archives: man

Oh, Man! ‘Fear,’ ‘Fir,’ ‘Fhir,’ and ‘bhFear,’ (How to say ‘man’ and ‘men’ in Irish) Posted by on Jan 9, 2014

(le Róislín) Since Nollaig na mBan on January 6th gave us the opportunity to discuss the Irish word for ‘woman,’ we might as well follow up with the word for ‘man.’ First, let me clarify that this blog will discuss ‘man’ (fear) as opposed to woman (bean), not “man” as opposed to the following: plants…

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You Just Call Out My Name (sa Tuiseal Gairmeach, of course, in Irish) (Pt. 3: Ainmneacha Buachaillí) Posted by on Jun 14, 2013

(le Róislín) In several previous blogs (links below), we looked at Irish names used in direct address, focusing on names for girls and women in the most recent one.   Today we’ll look at saying names for buachaillí (boys) and fir (men) when you’re speaking directly to them. In English, there is no official change when…

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An Chéad Díochlaonadh: Newts, Frogs, and, for Easter, Baskets Posted by on Apr 8, 2011

(le Róislín) We’ve recently seen a number of first-declension nouns in Irish, with their various forms.  You might have noticed how when we say “hats of men” or “eyes of newts,” the plural form appears to look singular.  In other words, “fear” normally means “a man” but can mean “of men” in the right grammatical…

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What’s the “Tuiseal” of “an Tuiseal Ginideach” Anyway? Posted by on Apr 5, 2011

(le Róislín) By now, you’ve probably heard the term “tuiseal” quite a bit in discussing Irish nouns.  It’s generally translated as “case” as in “an tuiseal gairmeach” (“a Shinéad” for “Sinéad” in the “vocative” case) or as in “an tuiseal ginideach” (“cóta Sheáin” for “John’s coat” in the “genitive” case), etc. Of course, this isn’t…

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