How To Say Rooms Of The House In Irish

Lets take a bitesized look at naming the rooms of the house in Irish!

First of all, the Irish word for room is seomra /shoh-mur-uh/

If you speak French you might already have noticed how similar this sounds to the French word for room, chambre (or even the English word chamber). Seomra is indeed a word ‘borrowed’ from French.

As you might expect, many of the Irish names for the various rooms in the house feature this word seomra.

For instance, the Irish term for the bedroom is an seomra leapa /un shoh-mur-uh lah-pun/ (alternative pronunciation in Ulster dialect is /un shoh-mur-uh lah-puh/)

Here the word for bed (leaba) is present in its genitive form.

Another term for the bedroom is an seomra codlata. In the Munster dialect this is pronounced /un shoh-mur-uh kud-ul-thuh/. In the Connacht and Ulster dialects the standard pronunciation is /un shoh-mur-uh kuh-la-thuh/ .

The Irish name for the sitting room is an seomra suí /un shoh-mur-uh see/

You may also hear people say an seomra suite /un shoh-mur-uh ssit-eh/

The term for the dining room is an seomra bia /un shoh-mur-uh bee-a/

Bia, of course, means food.

Another term for the dining room is an proinnseomra /unprreen-shoh-mur-uh/. Proinn is a feminine noun that means ‘meal’.

If you are wondering what the Irish tem for the bathroom is it is an seomra folctha /un shoh-mur-uh ful-kuh/

An Irish term for a room that does not use the word seomra is that for the kitchen: an chistin /un khish-tin/

Another, of course, is the term for the toilet: an leithreas /un leh-hurr-ess/

We use the term an leithreas to refer to the ‘WC’ or lavatory rather than a washroom. So, if you were out at a restaurant or pub and needed to find out where the toilet is you might ask Cá bhfuil an leithreas? /Kaw wil un leh-hurr-ess/ (“Where is the toilet?”)

The answer might be upstairs: thuas staighre /hoo-uss ssty-reh/

Or it might be downstairs: thíos staighre /heess ssty-reh/

Lets finish today with a seanfhocal /shan-ukul/, or traditional Irish proverb.

This one roughly corresponds to the English language proverb ‘there’s no place like home’:

Níl aon tinteán mar do thinteán féin /Neel ay-un teen-tawn morr dhuh hee-tawn fayn/