{"id":593,"date":"2011-01-06T12:37:19","date_gmt":"2011-01-06T12:37:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=593"},"modified":"2017-01-10T15:32:32","modified_gmt":"2017-01-10T15:32:32","slug":"na-huimhreacha-pearsanta-i-ngaeilge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/na-huimhreacha-pearsanta-i-ngaeilge\/","title":{"rendered":"Na hUimhreacha Pearsanta i nGaeilge (Irish Personal Numbers and Cuid a C\u00faig or the Last Installment of Dh\u00e1 L\u00e1 Dh\u00e9ag na Nollag)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Fotheideal <\/strong>(perhaps too long for the subject line): Ag comhaireamh na ndaoine san amhr\u00e1n \u201cDh\u00e1 L\u00e1 Dh\u00e9ag na Nollag\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Learning to use the numbers in Irish is often considered one of the more challenging aspects of the language.\u00a0\u00a0 Often you start out with the \u201cmaoluimhreacha\u201d <\/strong>(independent numbers) such as \u201ca haon, a d\u00f3, a tr\u00ed, a ceathair,\u201d <\/strong>used for situations like giving telephone numbers and reading lottery ticket numbers out loud. \u00a0No sooner do you learn those than you learn to change some of them to use them as cardinal numbers, for most counting purposes.\u00a0 For example, \u201chaon\u201d (aon) <\/strong>changes to \u201camh\u00e1in,\u201d \u201cd\u00f3\u201d <\/strong>changes to \u201cdh\u00e1,\u201d <\/strong>and \u201cceathair\u201d <\/strong>changes to \u201cceithre,\u201d <\/strong>etc.\u00a0 Then you learn to apply s\u00e9imhi\u00fa <\/strong>and ur\u00fa <\/strong>when counting most items (dh\u00e1 charr, seacht gcat, srl.), <\/strong>and to change those rules slightly for some of the aonaid tomhais (tr\u00ed bliana, tr\u00ed seachtain\u00ed, srl.).\u00a0 <\/strong>To top it all off, the rules change\u00a0again when you count people as opposed to things (the good news \u2013 less s\u00e9imhi\u00fa<\/strong>, no ur\u00fa!<\/strong>).\u00a0 .<\/p>\n

So far, in this song, we\u2019ve been counting animals or things (depending on if you think of the rings as physical rings, or ring-necked pheasants).\u00a0 Either way, the bunuimhreacha<\/strong> (cardinal numbers) were used: c\u00faig fh\u00e1inne, s\u00e9 gh\u00e9, seacht n-eala, srl.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

But now, as we come down the home stretch, we\u2019re counting people.\u00a0 Admittedly, not the type of people we\u2019d normally encounter in daily life.\u00a0 <\/strong>Usually we\u2019re dealing with ordinary cail\u00edn\u00ed (<\/strong>not cail\u00edn\u00ed ble\u00e1na\u00ed <\/strong>or cr\u00faite,\u00a0<\/strong>girls\/maids \u201cof milking\u201d), fir (<\/strong>not tiarna\u00ed), buachaill\u00ed, mn\u00e1, docht\u00fair\u00ed, m\u00fainteoir\u00ed, p\u00e1ist\u00ed, <\/strong>and the like.\u00a0 <\/strong>But whether you\u2019re counting unusual types of people or ordinary ones, Irish usually uses a system called \u201cuimhreacha pearsanta\u201d <\/strong>(personal numbers), usually adding a suffix (-ar, -ear, -i\u00far, or \u2013\u00far) to the basic number itself.\u00a0 The number \u201ctwelve\u201d has about a blog\u2019s worth of detail, and \u201celeven\u201d is sort of exceptional too, so more on those is forthcoming.<\/p>\n

The next few blogs will discuss the uimhreacha pearsanta <\/strong>in more detail, but for now, and to finally put the caip\u00edn b\u00e1is (deireadh) ar an \u00e1bhar seo, <\/strong>here\u2019s the bare bones translation I would offer for the remaining five \u201ccountables\u201d in the song.<\/p>\n

ochtar cail\u00edn\u00ed ble\u00e1na\u00ed <\/strong>(the rhythm of this phrase seems to fit better than \u201cag ble\u00e1n\u201d <\/strong>or \u201cag cr\u00fa\u201d<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

naon\u00far ban ag damhsa <\/strong>(with the irregular genitive plural form \u201cban<\/strong>,\u201d meaning \u201cof women\u201d)<\/p>\n

deichni\u00far tiarna\u00ed ag l\u00e9imneach <\/strong>(again, slightly better rhythm than just \u201cag l\u00e9im\u201d<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

aon ph\u00edobaire dh\u00e9ag ag seinm.\u00a0 <\/strong>If you say this really quickly, it will fit the meter of the song, but if you try to actually say \u201ca-piping,\u201d (ag p\u00edobaireacht\u201d), <\/strong>you\u2019ll have to speak like a ceant\u00e1la\u00ed.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

dh\u00e1r\u00e9ag drumad\u00f3ir\u00ed ag bualadh. \u00a0<\/strong>To say that the drumad\u00f3ir\u00ed <\/strong>are \u201cag drumad\u00f3ireacht\u201d<\/strong> doubles the number of syllables that the English has (4 for English, 8 for Irish), so I\u2019d opt for \u201cag bualadh,\u201d<\/strong> which is used for \u201cbeating\u201d a drum, as well as \u201chitting\u201d or \u201cstriking\u201d in general.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll work some more on counting people i mblaganna eile<\/strong>, but meanwhile, you might want to check back to some previous ones where the topic was addressed (10 L\u00fanasa 2009, mar shampla<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Gluais: ceant\u00e1la\u00ed,<\/strong> auctioneer; tomhais<\/strong>, of measurement<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Fotheideal (perhaps too long for the subject line): Ag comhaireamh na ndaoine san amhr\u00e1n \u201cDh\u00e1 L\u00e1 Dh\u00e9ag na Nollag\u201d Learning to use the numbers in Irish is often considered one of the more challenging aspects of the language.\u00a0\u00a0 Often you start out with the \u201cmaoluimhreacha\u201d (independent numbers) such as \u201ca haon, a d\u00f3…<\/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":[96397,3937,3942,3944,3951,255488,255487,255472,255429,96662,4074,4182,255469,255436,8601,4268,255478,255461,255452,255475,8052,255445,255446,255458,7351,255482,4609,255433,255439,255459,4806,255462,255447,255442,4895,4933,96585,255434,13298,255485,3160,255453,255479,255486,255477,255476,255457,32971,255428,1083,255448,5482,255480,5632,97,255467,255466,255431,255449,8051,255471,255450,6128,255454,255463,6274,6323,255484,255464,255455,6431,255468,255473,3349,255460,255441,255440,255443,255435,255444,6758,255470,2534,255481,150,255430,255465,255451,255483,255437,255438,255456,13297,7232,7234],"class_list":["post-593","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-uru","tag-a-ceathair","tag-a-do","tag-a-haon","tag-a-tri","tag-a-leaping","tag-a-milking","tag-a-piping","tag-ag-comhaireamh-na-ndaoine","tag-amhain","tag-amhran","tag-aon","tag-aon-phiobaire-dheag","tag-aonaid-tomhais","tag-auctioneer","tag-ban","tag-beating","tag-blean","tag-buachailli","tag-bualadh","tag-bunuimhreacha","tag-cailini","tag-cailini-bleanai","tag-caipin-bais","tag-cardinal-numbers","tag-ceantalai","tag-ceathair","tag-ceithre","tag-count-people-as-opposed-to-things","tag-countables","tag-counting-people","tag-cru","tag-cruite","tag-cuig-fhainne","tag-damhsa","tag-deichniur","tag-dha","tag-dha-charr","tag-dha-la-dheag-na-nollag","tag-dhareag","tag-do","tag-dochtuiri","tag-drum","tag-drumadoir","tag-drumadoireacht","tag-drumadoiri","tag-eleven","tag-fir","tag-fotheideal","tag-genitive","tag-girls","tag-haon","tag-hitting","tag-independent-numbers","tag-irregular","tag-leim","tag-leimneach","tag-lottery-ticket","tag-maids","tag-maoluimhreacha","tag-meter","tag-milking","tag-mna","tag-muinteoiri","tag-naonur-ban","tag-nollaig","tag-ochtar","tag-of-measurement","tag-of-women","tag-paisti","tag-personal-numbers","tag-piobaire","tag-piobaireacht","tag-plural","tag-rhythm","tag-ring-necked-pheasant","tag-rings","tag-se-ghe","tag-seacht-gcat","tag-seacht-n-eala","tag-seimhiu","tag-seinm","tag-song","tag-striking","tag-suffix","tag-telephone-numbers","tag-tiarna","tag-tiarnai","tag-tomhais","tag-tri-bliana","tag-tri-seachtaini","tag-twelve","tag-twelve-days-of-christmas","tag-uimhir-phearsanta","tag-uimhreacha-pearsanta"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8804,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593\/revisions\/8804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}