Irish Language Blog
Menu
Search

Tag Archives: shéan

Frásaí an tSéasúir (Seasonal Phrases) in Irish: ‘Sona’ or not ‘Sona’? (‘happy’ or not ‘happy’?) Posted by 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…

Continue Reading

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…

Continue Reading

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…

Continue Reading

How to Say ‘Happy New Year’ in Irish and How to Pronounce the Consonant Cluster “thbhl” Posted by on Dec 31, 2014

(le Róislín) Athbhliain faoi shéan is faoi mhaise duit.  Happy New Year to you. Athbhliain faoi shéan is faoi mhaise daoibh.  Happy New Year to you (plural). So how do we pronounce that, what does it literally mean, why are the actual words “happy” and “new” not in the phrase, and where does a consonant…

Continue Reading