Counting in Irish isn’t really easy. If you recall our blog post on this subject, we showed you there are three different counting systems, and they’re not interchangeable. You count differently if you’re counting things, counting people or just counting on your fingers.
We suggest you take a look at the above blog post to understand counting in Irish better. Alternatively, you can watch our first “How to count from one to ten in Irish Gaelic” video we created a few months ago.
Today, we’re teaching you a little bit more about counting people (personal numbers) in Irish Gaelic.
How to Count People (personal numbers) in Irish Gaelic (VIDEO)
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DICTIONARY GUIDE
www.teanglann.com is an excellent resource for online Irish dictionaries. Please follow this example: http://www.teanglann.ie/ga/fgb/fear. Fear is the nominative singular, a man. “gs” stands for genitive singular. “npl” stands for nominative plural, fir (men). “gpl” stands for genitive plural. This symbol ~ means that it’s the same as the nominate plural, fear. “pl” stands for plural.
How to say Count People (personal numbers) in Irish Gaelic
- One (person) Aon duine amháin /ayn din-eh ah-waw-in/ Or just Duine /din-eh/
- Two (people) beirt /berch/
- Three (people) triúr /troo-ur/
- Four (people) ceathrar /kah-rur/
- Five (people) cúigear /koo-ig-ur/
- Six (people) seisear /shesh-ur/
- Seven (people) seachtar /shok-tur/
- Eight (people) ochtar /ukht-ur/
- Nine (people) naonúr /nee-noor/
- Ten (people) deichniúr /jeh-noor/
Dia duit! Siobhán here from Bitesize Irish Gaelic. I speak a Connaught dialect.
7 thoughts on “How to Count People (personal numbers) in Irish Gaelic (VIDEO)”
Hi there,
I have a copy of Dineen open on the table.
It tells me that Col ceathar is a first cousin, and Col seisear is a second cousin.
So, following through on the logic of this, is Col Ochtar a third cousin, and Col Naoinur a fourth cousin?
What about all the ‘odd’ numbers in between?
Is a ‘Col cuigear’ a first cousin ‘once removed’ for example?
Is the Irish language this attuned to kin relationships?
Thanks,
Fiona.
That’s correct, the Irish language is that attuned to kin relationships!
Col cúigear = first cousin once removed: https://www.teanglann.ie/en/eid/col_c%c3%baigear
Col ochtar = third cousin: https://www.teanglann.ie/en/eid/third_cousin
Col naonúr = third cousin once removed (I believe, though I couldn’t find an entry for this anywhere)
It’s all about how many people are needed to form the relationship.. Your col cúigear requires 5 people: you, your mother, your aunt, your cousin and your cousin’s kid, for example. That would be your first cousin once removed. You can marry your col ochtar, sílim! ; )
How do you count up to 100
Hi Amy,
Thank you for commenting.
I would suggest that you sign up to our 21 day free trial here: http://bitesize.irish/try
We have several lessons about numbers with audio that you can listen to.
Le meas,
Ana.
What about us great unwashed that are not linguists? I mean what is the difference between nominative, genetive, etc.?? Can you give English examples? Sixty years ago, I failed Latin because I hadn’t a clue about these distinctions, and I doubt that I am any better now.
Hi Steve,
Thank you for your comment.
It’s very understandable that many people wouldn’t understand most grammatical terms, however, my only goal in the Dictionary Guide was to offer the meaning of the various abbreviations found in Irish dictionaries. I will do my best to explain the terms concisely. I will also write a blog post on this in the future so that it will be more accessible.
As English nouns don’t change much grammatically, let’s take the Irish word “fear” (man) as an example. The following are called cases, of which there are five in Irish. In this comment, I will only explain those mentioned in the Dictionary Guide.
Nominative singular: The word “fear” in its unchanged form which means “man” or “a man”.
Nominative plural: “Fir”, which means “men,” and “na fir” which means “the men.”
Genitive singular: This is also “fir” but it means “man’s”, “a man’s” or “of a man.” “An fhir” is “the man’s” or “of the man.”
Genitive plural: This is the same as the nominative plural. “Fear” means “men’s.” “Na bhfear” means “the men’s.”
To find out what a particular word is in the above cases, go to this Grammar Database and search for the word in the top search box.
If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to ask.
Le meas (Sincerely)
Siobhán