Everyday Irish Phrases to Remember for Conversation

Last week, we put a call out for words that you often come across in the Irish language.

This week, we’ll bring them all together, and explain them in a bit more detail.

You can keep this post for reference – come back every once in a while to revise the phrases.

Let’s start with an easy one: And

agus means “and”, and you pronounce it like /ogg-us/.

In fast speech, you may here it often as ‘gus /gus/ or even ‘s /ss/.

An example would be:

Síle agus Seán (Síle and Seán)
/Shee-leh ogg-us Shawn/

Saying OK

If you’re speaking with someone in Irish, you can reply to them with some standard phrases.

So if Síle says:

Tabhair dom an salann. (Give me the salt.)
/tow-er dum on sol-onn/

… Then Seán could reply with:

Ceart go leor. (Alright.)
/kyart guh lyore/.

Literally, “ceart” means correct. “Go leor” means enough. So the phrase translates to “correct enough”, or alright.

Seán might also reply slightly more negatively with:

Maith go leor. (Alright.)
/mah guh lyore/

It means “alright” in this case again. “Maith” means “good”, and we already saw that “go leor” means “enough”, so the phrase literally translates to “good enough”.

Also

Síle also wants the pepper (she’s very abrupt!):

An piobar, freisin. (The pepper, also.)
/on pyub-er, fresh-in/

“Freisin” is a handy phrase for saying “also” or “too”.

An alternative phrase for this context is chomh maith /kho mah/ (another way to say ‘also’). We already saw that “maith” means “good”. “Chomh” means “equally”. Therefore “chomh maith” literally translates to “equally good”, or “as good”.

Good

Síle might finish with:

Go maith. (Good.)
/guh mah/

There’s that word “maith” again, means “good”. “Go maith” can mean “good”, or “well”.

More Irish language phrases

Thanks to our commentators Joan agus Erin who also added these useful Irish Gaelic words:

b’fhéidir (perhaps)
/bay-jir/

Cúpla pionta (A couple of pints)
/coop-la pyun-tah/

Amach! (Out!)
/a-mokh/

Gan dabht. (Without doubt… certainly)
/gon doubt/

Buíochas le Dia. (Thank God, literally “thanks to God”).
/bwee-uh-khos leh Jee-ah/

Ag dul go dtí… (Going to…)
/egg dul guh jee…/

Ní raibh. (Wasn’t.)
/nee rev/

Summary

Patterns are always good for learning a language. As you practice, you see them more.

In this post, you’ve seen that the little word “maith” /mah/ meaning “good” gets used in many different ways.

Bitesize Irish Gaelic members have access to this full lesson, with Gaelic pronunciation recordings.

If you have already signed up for Bitesize Irish Gaelic, then I suggest that you jump straight to Lesson: About Conversation Practice.