how to say baby in irish

Let’s learn how to say baby in Irish!

One common word for baby in Irish is leanbh /lyan-uv/.

This is pronounced  /lyan-oo/ in the Ulster dialect.

Another common term for baby is babaí /bob-wee/.

This is not to be confused with the Irish word for doll, babóg /bob-owg/.

If you want to say baby boy the term you need is leanbh mic /lyan-uv mik/.

Baby girl is leanbh iníne /lyan-uv in-een-eh/.

If you wanted to say that a boy is the youngest child in his family you would say sé an babaí é /shay un bob-wee aye//

To say the same about a girl the expression that you need is sí an babaí í /shee un bob-wee ee/.

Another way to say this is to call a child as ‘the last of the litter’. In the case of a boy we say sé deireadh an áil é /shay dehr-ih-ruh un aw-ill aye/ (‘he is the last of the litter’). To say the same of a girl: sí deireadh an áil í /shee dehr-ih-ruh un aw-ill ee/.

In this expression, ail is the genitive singular form of the word ál /awl/. We can use to refer to things like ál páistí /awl paw-ish-tee/ – a swarm of children – or ál banbh /awl bon-uv/ – a litter of piglets (farrow). Banbh (piglet) is in the genitive plural here.

The word pregnant in Irish is torrach /thurr-ukh/

To ‘get pregnant by somebody’ is éirí torrach le duine /eye-ree thurr-ukh le dhin-eh/. This translates directly as to get pregnant ‘with’ somebody, which is nice as it is the same preposition, le (‘with’), that is used when we talk about being in love with somebody – i ngrá le duine /i ngraw leh dhin-eh/ . I like to think that this use of le implies a spirit of union and care in relation to pregnancy.

Another phrase used in relation to pregnancy is to say that a woman is ag iompar clainne /egg umm-pur klin-eh/. This translates as ‘carrying offspring’.

And should one be ag iompar clainne, amongst the things required are..

..a cliabhán /klee-uv-awn/ (cot)..

..lots of bainne /boh-in-eh/ (milk)..

..and plenty of clúidíní /klood-een-ee/ (nappies)!