German linguist Franz Bopp (1791-1867) is credited with having finally proven the Celtic languages to be a branch of the Indo-European language family. We thought it time to pay tribute to Herr Bopp by learning how to say ‘I am a German’ in Irish!
Here we go..
Is Gearmánach mé /Iss Gyar-maw-nukh may/ (I am a German)
Lets take a look at the grammar of this simple statement.
We begin with the copula Is /Iss/ . This is a special form of the verb ‘to be’ (bí /bee/) that is used to describe what a person is rather than his or her state or condition. Here we are talking about nationality and cultural heritage, but this copula may be used to describe other enduring things such as a person’s profession e.g. Is múinteoir mé /Iss moo-in-tyoe-ir may/ I am a teacher.
Next we have the noun Gearmánach (masc.) / Gyar-maw-nukh / [(a) German]
The last word in the statement, mé /may/, is a pronoun and simply means ‘me’ or ‘I’.
Next lets see how you ask if someone else is a German
An Gearmánach thú? /Un Gyar-maw-nukh hoo?/ (Are you a German?)
The first word in this question, An /Un/, is the interrogative (question) form of the copula Is /Iss/.
The noun Gearmánach we know already.
The last word in the question, thú /hoo/, is the pronoun second-person singular ‘you’. This form thú is used rather than the form basic form tú when the person being referred to is the direct object of the sentence (except in the Ulster dialect).
This is how you say that you are not a German
Ní Gearmánach mé. /Nee Gyar-maw-nukh may/ (I am not a German)
Here the word Ní /Nee/ is the negative form of the copula Is /Iss/.
All things German
Conveniently, the word Gearmánach can be either a noun or an adjective, so we can use it in its adjective form to describe nouns.
We can use it to talk about
Ceol Gearmánach /Kyohl Gyar-maw-nukh/ (German music)
Bia Gearmánach /Bee-a Gyar-maw-nukh/ (German food)
or even
Litríocht Ghearmánach. /Lih-tree-ukht Gyear-maw-nukh/ (German literature)