Tag Archives: seanfhocail
A ‘Seanfhocail’ (Irish Proverbs) Fill-in-the Blank Challenge Posted by róislín on Apr 20, 2019
(le Róislín) A few years ago, we did a few blog posts on Irish proverbs (seanfhocail, lit. “old words”; naisc thíos / links below), which are always a popular language learning tool. The seanfhocail not only teach vocabulary and sentence structure, but they’re often also fun (Ní hé lá na gaoithe lá na scolb), pithy…
How To Say ‘Doctor’ in Irish (plus ‘physician,’ ‘healer,’ etc.) Posted by róislín on Sep 17, 2018
(le Róislín) Doctor … healer … physician? What’s the difference in Irish? And are some of the terms overlapping? Basics first. Certainly the word most people learn first for “doctor” in Irish is “dochtúir,” and here are its basic forms: 1.. An dochtúir, the doctor, the physician Mála an dochtúra, the bag of the doctor/physician…
Comhrá le Cat Posted by róislín on Jun 21, 2017
(le Róislín) Since so many of you seemed to enjoy the recent piscín gleoite (cute kitten) post (nasc thíos), I figured I’d extend the topic with an conversation with a cat. Many of the questions could easily be transformed into dialogues between people about cats, since, mostly, we assume cats don’t really talk, even if…
Wrapping Up the Berry Business for this Lughnasa Posted by róislín on Aug 12, 2010
le Róislín Our last blog looked primarily at the berry known in Irish as “fraochán” [FRAYKH-awn] or “fraochóg” [FRAYKH-ohg] and in English, most commonly, as bilberry, blaeberry, or whortleberry, and additionally as winberry, whinberry, bog bilberry, myrtle blueberry, and black-heart. Confusingly, for me at least, as a non-pomologist, there’s also some overlap in terminology with…
Clásail Choibhneasta Neamhdhíreacha: Indirect Relative Clauses Posted by róislín on Jan 26, 2010
This is probably the arena where most of the confusion with clásail choibhneasta starts to set in. Remember how the “tá” form of the verb “to be” changes drastically (to “bhfuil”) for the question form? You’ve probably seen this if you’ve done day one of almost any Irish language course. Here’s an example, just for…
Seanfhocail Fhrithráiteacha: An Béal Binn vs. An Roth Díoscánach, and What’s So Bad about Moss Anyway? Posted by róislín on Nov 10, 2009
We recently looked at the proverb “Is binn béal ina thost” (It’s sweet, a mouth in its silence). As hinted at last time, there is also a proverb expressing the opposite sentiment, that is, the advantages of being a squeaky wheel, “Faigheann an roth díoscánach an ola.” So that starts us off with a breakdown…