{"id":5353,"date":"2014-06-14T09:04:54","date_gmt":"2014-06-14T09:04:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=5353"},"modified":"2015-06-21T15:44:41","modified_gmt":"2015-06-21T15:44:41","slug":"athair-an-tathair-aithreacha-and-more-ways-to-say-father-in-irish-just-in-time-for-fathers-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/athair-an-tathair-aithreacha-and-more-ways-to-say-father-in-irish-just-in-time-for-fathers-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Athair, An tAthair, Aithreacha, and more ways to say ‘father’ in Irish (just in time for Father’s Day)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

‘Sea, is \u00e9 an t-am sin den bhliain \u00e9 — t\u00e1 L\u00e1 na nAithreacha ag teacht. 15 Meitheamh i mbliana.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So first let’s look at the various forms of the word for “father” in Irish. Then we’ll think of the Irish words for a few typical Father’s Day gifts. Perhaps you’d like to send another gift idea in to the n\u00f3ta\u00ed tr\u00e1chta<\/strong> (comments).<\/p>\n

Here are the basics:
\nathair<\/strong> [AH-hirzh, note the “t” is silent]
\nan t-athair<\/strong> [un TAH-hirzh], the father (note the prefixed “t-“)
\nathar<\/strong> [AH-hur], of a father. This form is probably not all that common as such, but it is typical in phrases like “hata m’athar<\/strong>” (the hat of my father, my father’s hat) or “ainm d’athar<\/strong>” (the name of your father, your father’s name). For “of a father,” as such, we could have phrases like “c\u00faram athar<\/strong>” (a father’s responsibility)
\nan athar<\/strong> [un AH-hur], of the father, as in “In ainm an Athar<\/strong>” (In the name of the Father) or “pas an athar<\/strong>” (the father’s passport)<\/p>\n

And the plural forms:
\naithreacha<\/strong> [AH-hruh-khuh, with the “t” silent], fathers
\nna haithreacha<\/strong> [nuh HAH-hruh-khuh], the fathers
\naithreacha<\/strong>, of fathers (no change from the first plural form)
\nna n-aithreacha<\/strong> [nuh NAH-hruh-khuh], of the fathers; when capitalized, this is written: na nAithreacha<\/strong>, with the fleisc\u00edn<\/strong> dropped.<\/p>\n

Of course, there will be some other changes if we say something about giving a gift to “my father” or to “their fathers.” Here are some samples:<\/p>\n

Thug m\u00e9 hata do m’athair.<\/strong>
\n Thug t\u00fa m\u00e1la gailf do d’athair.<\/strong>
\n Thug s\u00ed slat iascaireachta d\u00e1 hathair.<\/strong>
\n Thug s\u00e9 uairead\u00f3ir Rolex d\u00e1 athair.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And plural — we’ll make these several people talking about several fathers, for additional practice:<\/p>\n

Thug muid stoca\u00ed d\u00e1r n-aithreacha. N\u00ed raibh siad r\u00f3sh\u00e1sta leo ach d\u00fairt siad “go raibh maith agaibh,” p\u00e9 sc\u00e9al \u00e9.<\/strong>
\nNote: you can say “Thugamar<\/strong>” for “Thug muid<\/strong>.”
\nChniot\u00e1il sibh stoca\u00ed do bhur n-aithreacha. Bh\u00ed bhur n-aithreacha an-s\u00e1sta leis na stoca\u00ed mar bh\u00ed siad l\u00e1mhdh\u00e9anta.<\/strong>
\n Ph\u00e9inte\u00e1il na p\u00e1ist\u00ed picti\u00fair d\u00e1 n-aithreacha agus thug siad d\u00f3ibh iad. Bh\u00ed a n-aithreacha thar a bheith s\u00e1sta leis na picti\u00fair \u00e1ille.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What changes did you notice as we used the word “athair<\/strong>” in different ways? Can you fill in the blanks below?<\/p>\n

She gave a fishing rod to her father. Thug s\u00ed slat iascaireachta d\u00e1 __athair<\/strong>. (reminder: prefix “h” to “athair<\/strong>” to show that it’s “her father,” not “his father”)<\/p>\n

In the next three sentences, using “to our fathers” or “for their fathers,” etc., there will always be a prefixed “n-” (that’s “n” with the fleisc\u00edn<\/strong> unless the word is going to be capitalized, in which case you’d have “d\u00e1r nAithreacha,” “do bhur nAithreacha,” <\/strong>and “d\u00e1 nAithreacha”<\/strong>).\u00a0 So, to review:<\/p>\n

Thug muid stoca\u00ed d\u00e1r __-aithreacha.<\/strong>
\n Chniot\u00e1il sibh stoca\u00ed do bhur __-aithreacha.<\/strong>
\n Ph\u00e9inte\u00e1il na p\u00e1ist\u00ed picti\u00fair d\u00e1 __-aithreacha agus thug siad d\u00f3ibh iad.<\/strong><\/p>\n

(reminder: all of the above have the prefixed “n-“).<\/p>\n

And did you also notice what happened to the preposition “do<\/strong>” [say: duh], which means “to” or “for,” in some of these examples?<\/p>\n

It combines with the following “a<\/strong>” (his, her, their) or “\u00e1r<\/strong>” (our) to form:
\nd\u00e1<\/strong> with a prefixed h before vowels (d\u00e1 hathair, <\/strong>likewise: d\u00e1 huncail <\/strong>or d\u00e1 haint\u00edn<\/strong>) for “to\/for HER father,” etc.
\nd\u00e1<\/strong> with no change to the following word (d\u00e1 athair, d\u00e1 uncail, d\u00e1 aint\u00edn<\/strong>) for “to\/for HIS father,” etc.
\nd\u00e1<\/strong> + r with a prefixed n- before vowels (d\u00e1r n-athair, d\u00e1r n-uncail, d\u00e1r n-aint\u00edn<\/strong>) for “to\/for OUR father,” etc.
\nd\u00e1<\/strong> + with a prefixed n- before vowels (d\u00e1 n-athair, d\u00e1 n-uncail, d\u00e1 n-aint\u00edn<\/strong>) for “to\/for THEIR father,” etc.<\/p>\n

A younger child might use “Daid\u00ed<\/strong>” or “Deaide<\/strong>” and there are other variations as well, but that will have to be the subject for yet another blog.<\/p>\n

At any rate, bain sult as L\u00e1 na nAithreacha<\/strong>, and if any of you have other gift ideas, please do write them in! SGF — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gluais:<\/strong>
\n am<\/strong> [ahm], time (an t-am sin<\/strong>, that time)
\nbliain<\/strong>, year; den bhliain<\/strong> [den VLEE-in], of the year, referring to parts or portions of the year in this case; i mbliana<\/strong> [im-LEE-uh-nuh, for pronunciation, think of it as one word], this year; note that\u00a0“i mbliana<\/strong>” literally means “in year” — the normal word for ‘that,’ (“sin<\/strong>“), isn’t used for this adverbial expression and “bliain<\/strong>” gets a special ending
\ncniot\u00e1il<\/strong> [KNIT-aw-il, the initial “k” sound is pronounced, unlike English], to knit; for the past tense,\u00a0insert an “h” (chniot\u00e1il<\/strong>), which makes the initial “c” silent.\u00a0 Yes, an initial “hn-” sound is unusual from an English perspective, but it’s\u00a0a bit like “huh-nuh” but really glided together, so the first “-uh” part isn’t really there.
\nd\u00f3ibh<\/strong> [DOH-iv], to them
\nl\u00e1mhdh\u00e9anta<\/strong> [LAWV-YAYN-tuh, the “mh” is like a “v” and the “d” is silent], handmade
\nMeitheamh<\/strong> [MEH-hiv], June
\nsin<\/strong> [pronounced like English “shin,” as in a part of the leg], that<\/p>\n

sult,<\/strong> enjoyment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) ‘Sea, is \u00e9 an t-am sin den bhliain \u00e9 — t\u00e1 L\u00e1 na nAithreacha ag teacht. 15 Meitheamh i mbliana. So first let’s look at the various forms of the word for “father” in Irish. Then we’ll think of the Irish words for a few typical Father’s Day gifts. Perhaps you’d like to…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[4036,4236,4239,5142,9748,6180,6210],"class_list":["post-5353","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-aithreacha","tag-athair","tag-athar","tag-fathers-day","tag-la-na-naithreacha","tag-n-aithreacha","tag-naithreacha"],"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