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Tag Archives: singular

Beoir: Uaine nó Glas nó Ceachtar? (Beer: Green/Uaine or Green/Glas or Neither?) Posted by on Mar 22, 2013

(le Róislín) Our last blog primarily covered the actual history of St. Patrick and his name.  This blog will take a lighter-hearted look at some St. Patrick’s Day imagery, namely the much-maligned-but-nevertheless-consumed green beer.   I’m refraining from value judgments on the topic (unlike many of the online commentators!), but am primarily interested in whether people…

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Deich nDóigh (10 Ways) le ‘I Love You’ a Rá i nGaeilge Posted by on Feb 8, 2013

(le Róislín) So, Irish has lots of ways to say “I love you,” but most of them don’t involve the verb “to love.”  How is that supposed to work?  Bhuel, with lots of téarmaí ceana (terms of endearment)!  In other words, you mostly use nouns to say that someone is your sweetheart, your darling, your…

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Scannáin Nollag (Christmas Movies — na teidil i nGaeilge) Posted by on Dec 9, 2012

(le Róislín) Seo rogha de scannáin Nollag a bhfuil clú mór orthu.  Fad m’eolais níl leagan Gaeilge díobh ann so rinne mé an chéad chéim — na teidil a aistriú go Gaeilge.  An aithníonn tú iad?  Agus an féidir leat iad a mheaitseáil leis na teidil i mBéarla?  Mar chuidiú, tá gluais leis na freagraí. …

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Ainmhithe Eile (ón Iolra go dtí an tUatha, from Plural to Singular) Posted by on Sep 12, 2012

(le Róislín) In the last blog, we created a chart with the names of various types of ceathairchosaigh chrúbacha (ungulate quadrupeds), going from the plural form to the singular form.  Why an t-iolra go dtí an t-uatha?  Just for a change of pace, is dócha.  So often we see an fhoirm uatha first, and then…

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Ceathairchosaigh Chrúbacha (Say WHAT Kind of Quadrupeds?) Posted by on Sep 9, 2012

(le Róislín)  “Crúbach” is a readily recognized word if you know “crúb” (hoof).  It can mean “hoofed,” of course, but, in more technical jargon, it also means “ungulate.”  Anyone recognize the Irish word related to “ungulate”?  Try “ionga,” or, as you might know it, in the plural, “ingne,” seen in the well-known curse, “Tochas agus…

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Eavesdropping “as Gaeilge” But Not Exactly Under the Eaves Posted by on May 24, 2012

 (le Róislín) A few blogs ago, in the discussion of “rusticles” on the Titanic, we also talked about the various Irish words for “icicle.”  For the full list, féach ar an nóta “Súil Siar” thíos.  It does seem unusual to me to have that many words for “icicle” when I don’t associate icicles with the…

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Happiness Is … Lots of Ways to Say “Happy” in Irish (including “Happy Christmas”) Posted by on Dec 3, 2011

(le Róislín) Recently we talked about some of the more whimsical (i.e. jingle-ish) ways to describe Christmas (“Holly Jolly” and “Berry Merry”) in English and pondered their translatability into Irish.  Today let’s get back to the more traditional Irish phrase, and look at its various forms (singular and plural, greeting and response): Nollaig Shona duit…

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