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Tag Archives: séimhiú

Ten Irish Phrases for Snowflake and Whether They Use ‘Sneachta’ or ‘Shneachta’ Posted by on Feb 28, 2019

(le Róislín) I have to admit that I was surprised at how many Irish words for “snowflake” I found as I researched the previous blog (nasc thíos).  Before we move on to some other topics, I thought it would be good to review them one more time, looking specifically at how to say “a snowflake”…

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How to say “Merry Christmas” and “Happy New Year” in Irish AND Five Examples of Lenition (Séimhiú), to boot Posted by on Dec 24, 2018

(le Róislín) Around this time of year, we often see the phrases “Nollaig Shona” and “Athbhliain faoi shéan agus faoi mhaise duit.”  Today’s blogpost will look at how to pronounce these phrases and at the reasons why words like “sona” and “bliain” change to “shona” and “bhliain.”  This change of the first letter is called…

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Review: A charming retelling of Goldilocks in Irish with animated video (Cinnín Óir agus na Trí Bhéar) Posted by on Sep 30, 2018

(le Róislín) A charming retelling of a classic tale, with an animated video, to boot. While I have enjoyed many Irish videos, animations, and cartoons, going back at least as far as “Bouli” (early 1990s),  many of them have very rapid-paced dialogue and sometimes I’m a bit reluctant to recommend them to elementary learners because…

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The Word ‘Picnic’ in Irish and the Mysterious Insect ‘Créachadóir na bPicnicí’ Posted by on Aug 22, 2018

(le Róislín) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Cole%27s_%22The_Picnic%22,_Brooklyn_Museum_IMG_3787.JPG, A Pic-Nic Party (The Picnic), by Thomas Cole (1801-1848), public domain; lipéad Gaeilge le Róislín, 2018 It’s not hard to figure out how to say ‘picnic’ in Irish – it’s “picnic”!  The only thing that’s a bit tricky is to figure out what slight changes might occur to the word when we…

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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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Christmas Movie Titles  — Aistrithe go Gaeilge (Irish) le Bearnaí le Líonadh Posted by on Jan 6, 2016

(le Róislín)   One last Christmas blog before the season really wraps up.  For any teachers out there, especially of adult ed/night school courses in the Irish language, this one could be a ready-made class activity.  For some lesson objectives, please see Nóta a Dó (thíos). We’re building here on a previous blog (nasc thíos)…

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Mutating Turkeys, With ‘Séimhiú’ and ‘Urú’ That Is Posted by on Nov 17, 2015

(le Róislín) ‘Tis the season to “talk turkey,” so let’s go for it.  And by the way, “mutating” here (as in the title of this blog) doesn’t refer to “sócháin” (mutations in genetics:  A thiarcais, sin turcaí a bhfuil trí shnúda air!) but rather to “athruithe gramadaí,” that is, the use of “séimhiú” and “urú”…

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