how to say Sunrise and Sunset in irish

Lets learn how to say sunrise and sunset in Irish!

As you may know, the Irish for sun is grian. When we place the definite article an (the) before this word we get an ghrian.

Now, when we use an ghrian in the Irish term for sunrise, it changes to its genitive form. This is na gréine.

The Irish term for rise or rising is éirí. Placing this word in front of na gréine gives us the Irish term for sunrise: éirí na gréine.

Similarly, when saying sunset in Irish we use the genitive form of the Irish for the sun, na gréine. By placing the word luí (setting) before these words we construct the term for sunset: luí na gréine.

The same structure and approach is used to say the terms for moonrise and moonset.

The Irish for moon is gealach. Placing the article before the noun gives us an ghealach. The genitive form is na gealaí. So, moonrise is éirí na gealaí, and, of course, moonset is luí na gealaí.

To hear how these words sound check out my video at the top of the page!

Here is a list of phonetic guides for the terms that we learned above:

sun: grian /gree-un/

the sun: an ghrian /un ghree-un/

the sun (genitive form): na gréine /nuh gray-neh/

rise/rising: éirí /eye-ree/

sunrise: éirí na gréine /eye-ree nuh gray-neh/

setting: luí /luh-ee/

moon: gealach /gyal-och/

the moon: an ghealach /un yal-och/

the moon (genitive form): na gealaí /nuh gyal-ee/

moonrise: éirí na gealaí /eye-ree nuh gyal-ee

moonset: luí na gealaí /luh-ee nuh gyal-ee/

I hope that you enjoyed this lesson – to find out more about how to improve your Irish click on the following link to download our Ten Secrets For Practising Irish Every Day.