{"id":2965,"date":"2012-08-09T13:28:11","date_gmt":"2012-08-09T13:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=2965"},"modified":"2019-06-13T18:20:50","modified_gmt":"2019-06-13T18:20:50","slug":"how-to-congratulate-someone-in-irish-comhghairdeas-leat-a-katie-srl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/how-to-congratulate-someone-in-irish-comhghairdeas-leat-a-katie-srl\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Congratulate Someone in Irish: Comhghairdeas leat, a Katie, srl."},"content":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Comhghairdeas!\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Agus go d\u00edreach mar a r\u00e9amhinis an t-amhr\u00e1n “Cro\u00edl\u00e1r na F\u00e9ile,” n\u00edor stop duine ar bith Katie Taylor!\u00a0 An cuimhin leat an l\u00edne seo san amhr\u00e1n: ” ‘S n\u00edl duine a stopas riamh \u00ed”? \u00a0An bonn \u00f3ir aici ag na Cluich\u00ed Oilimpeacha!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

So what would you say if you met her?\u00a0 Ar bhuail duine ar bith agaibh ariamh l\u00e9i?<\/strong>\u00a0 Before we actually work on “congratulations,” let’s look at that question.\u00a0 The two typical answers would be “bhuail<\/strong>” (yes, lit. “met”) or “n\u00edor bhuail<\/strong>” (no, lit. “didn’t meet”).\u00a0 \u00a0Given that almost every verb in Irish can serve as a “yes” or “no” answer, we see “bhuail<\/strong>” [woo-il] used for these answers, since the question is in the past tense.<\/p>\n

Remember that when you ask “Ar bhuail duine ar bith agaibh l\u00e9i<\/strong>?” the word “l\u00e9i<\/strong>” is critical, so the question means, “Did any of you ever meet her?”\u00a0 If you just asked, “Ar bhuail duine ar bith agaibh \u00ed<\/strong>?,” it would mean “Did any of you ever hit her?”\u00a0 And that would be a completely different situation, especially after bua Katie sa dorn\u00e1la\u00edocht<\/strong>.\u00a0 Unless you were deliberately ag spe\u00e1r\u00e1il l\u00e9i<\/strong>, I doubt you’d want to find yourself accidentally in a babhta<\/strong> with her due to a missing preposition.<\/p>\n

If the conversation is directly with her, you might say:<\/p>\n

T\u00e1 \u00e1thas orm bualadh leat, a Katie <\/strong>(I’m happy to meet you, Katie).<\/p>\n

You probably wouldn’t say: T\u00e1 \u00e1thas orm th\u00fa a bhualadh, a Katie <\/strong>(I’m happy to hit you, Katie). \u00a0 Needless to say!<\/p>\n

Same deal as in the question above with the preposition “leat<\/strong>” in this sentence.\u00a0 The word “leat”<\/strong> changes the meaning of “bualadh<\/strong>” from simply “hit” or “strike” to “meet.” \u00a0\u00a0So if you said, “Ba mhaith liom th\u00fa a bhualadh, a Katie<\/strong>,” it would mean, “I’d like to hit you, Katie.”\u00a0 What you probably would want to say instead is “Ba mhaith liom bualadh leat, a Katie<\/strong>” (I’d like to meet you, Katie). \u00a0That, of course, would assume that you weren’t actually talking to her in person, but that you were perhaps talking on the phone to set up a meeting.<\/p>\n

Now let’s move on to the actual words for “congratulations.”\u00a0 Of course, there are many other ways to praise someone, like “Bulla\u00ed fir<\/strong>!” (for a man, based on “fear<\/strong>,” when I’ve heard it) or “Maith th\u00fa<\/strong>!,” or “Maith an bhean<\/strong>!” or “Maith an fear<\/strong>!,” or “Mo ghraidhn<\/strong> \u00a0(or “ghraidhin<\/strong>“) go deo th\u00fa<\/strong>.” \u00a0But “congratulations” itself is either “comhghairdeas<\/strong>” [KOH- \u03b3arzh-djus] or, primarily in the North, “comhghairdeachas<\/strong>” [KOH-\u03b3ardj-ukh-uss].\u00a0 This is a combination of “comh<\/strong>-” (a prefix like “co-“) and “gairdeas<\/strong>” (joy, gladness).\u00a0 “Gairdeas<\/strong>” has a variation “gairdeachas<\/strong>,” just like “comhghairdeas<\/strong>” has the variation “comhghairdeachas<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

The gamma sign \/\u03b3\/ stands for our old friend from many a pronunciation blog in this series, the voiced velar fricative, as described in\u00a0 https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/saying-i-love-you-in-irish\/<\/a>\u00a0 and elsewhere.\u00a0 You can search for the term in the bosca cuardaigh<\/strong> at https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/<\/a> to find other blogs where this was discussed.\u00a0 If you use the northern variation, “comhghairdeachas<\/strong>,” you get to pronounce both the voiced and the voiceless velar fricative (the “ch” sound, routinely transcribed as “kh” in these blogs, sounding like the “ch” in German “Buch<\/em>” or Welsh “bach<\/em>“). \u00a0Nach ortsa at\u00e1 an t-\u00e1dh — a d\u00e1 fhuaim sin in aon fhocal amh\u00e1in!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Neither of these two velar fricative sounds occur in standard English although the voiceless velar fricative (indicated by the “kh”) occurs in some speakers’ Lowland Scottish English, in words like “Loch” or “Och, aye” or “deoch an doris<\/em>” (which technically should be “deoch an dorais<\/em>” or “deoch an doruis<\/em>,” but I’m not going to go head-to-head with the late Sir Harry Lauder over “caol\u00fa<\/strong>“). \u00a0I’ll mostly stick to the “comhghairdeas<\/strong>” version here, simply because it’s a bit shorter and more standard.<\/p>\n

If you’re speaking directly to Katie, you could say “Comhghairdeas leat, a Katie!<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

If you’re speaking about Katie, you could say, “Comhghairdeas le Katie!<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

To add a little more emphasis, you could say, “Comhghairdeas \u00f3 chro\u00ed le Katie!<\/strong>” or “Comhghairdeas \u00f3 chro\u00ed leat, a Katie!<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

A few other related phrases are:<\/p>\n

D\u00e9antar comhghairdeas leo<\/strong>, they are congratulated (lit. “congratulation” was made with them)<\/p>\n

Rinneadh comhghairdeas leo<\/strong>, they were congratulated<\/p>\n

D\u00e9anfar comhghairdeas leo<\/strong>, they will be congratulated<\/p>\n

As you can, see the verb “to make” (d\u00e9anamh<\/strong>) is used for “to congratulate” (i.e. we’re not really looking at a verb “to congratulate” as such, but rather “to make congratulation,” with “congratulation” in the singular, which rarely occurs in English).<\/p>\n

The infinitive structure would be “comhghairdeas a dh\u00e9anamh<\/strong>,” as in “Ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a dh\u00e9anamh le Katie faoina bua sa bhabhta dorn\u00e1la\u00edochta<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

Agus ba mhaith<\/strong>, but it looks like I’ll only be able to do it go hionadach<\/strong> (vicariously), tr\u00edd an mblag seo.\u00a0 SGF, R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nasc don amhr\u00e1n “Cro\u00edl\u00e1r na F\u00e9ile”<\/strong>: http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kXZ0Z2CjogQ<\/a>,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn)\u00a0 Agus go d\u00edreach mar a r\u00e9amhinis an t-amhr\u00e1n “Cro\u00edl\u00e1r na F\u00e9ile,” n\u00edor stop duine ar bith Katie Taylor!\u00a0 An cuimhin leat an l\u00edne seo san amhr\u00e1n: ” ‘S n\u00edl duine a stopas riamh \u00ed”? \u00a0An bonn \u00f3ir aici ag na Cluich\u00ed Oilimpeacha!\u00a0 So what would you say if you met her?\u00a0 Ar bhuail…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":2976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[229640,229638,229637,2032,229644,5322,229639,229632,229646,229642,229641,229645,11,111217,111218,111219],"class_list":["post-2965","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-comhghairdeachas","tag-congratulate","tag-congratulating","tag-congratulations","tag-deoch-an-doris","tag-gamma","tag-irish-comhghairdeas","tag-katie-taylor","tag-loch","tag-maith-an-bhean","tag-maith-thu","tag-och-aye","tag-pronunciation","tag-velar-fricative","tag-voiced","tag-voiceless"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t