Let’ take a bitesized look at how to sat the moon in Irish, as well as some associated words and terms!
The most commonly used word for moon in Irish is gealach /gyal-okh/
This is a feminine noun in the singular in the nominative case beginning with the consonant ‘g’. When we place the definite article before it we must apply séimhiú /shay-voo/ (termed lenition in English). So, the moon in Irish is an ghealach /un ghyal-okh/
Let’s say a couple of things about the state of the moon.
Let’s say ‘The moon is full moon’: Tá an ghealach lán /Thaw un ghyal-okh lawn/
And ‘The moon is waxing’ (the Irish expression is literally ‘the moon is filling’): Tá an ghealach ag líonadh /Thaw un ghyal-okh egg lee-un-ah/
Conversely, you might want to say ‘The moon is waning’. In Irish we say Tá an ghealach ag dul ar gcúl /Thaw un ghyal-okh egg dul air gool/
The Irish term for moonlight is solas na gealaí /sul-uss nuh gyal-ee/
Here na gealaí is the genitive case form of the ‘an ghealach‘ that we encountered earlier. In Irish the genitive case is a form of the noun often used to indicate possession. The basic rule is that when two nouns come together in Irish, the second one should be in the genitive case. So, you may think of solas na gealaí as ‘the light of the moon’.
We will use that same genitive case form to say ‘ the face of the moon’: aghaidh na gealaí /eyg nuh gyal-ee/
Should you happen to be a fan of the band Pink Floyd (I’m not myself..) you may like to be able to say ‘the dark side of the moon: an taobh dorcha den ghealach /un thay-uv durr-khah den ghyal-okh/
If you’re feeling great (and I hope that you are, dear reader) here’s how we say ‘I’m over the moon’ in Irish’ (though in our idiom we are actually saying ‘the joy of the world is on me’): Tá áthas an domhain orm /Thaw aw-huss un dhow-in ur-um/
And let’s finish by learning how to say the Irish equivalent of the expression ‘They promised us the sun, moon and stars!’:
Gheall siad an ghealach gheal agus an ghrian dúinn! /Ghyowl shee-udd un ghyal-okh ghyal a-guss un ghree-un doo-in/
Literally translated, this is ‘they promised us the bright moon and the sun’.
I am hoping to make my 2026 Lunar Calendar available as Gaeilge too this year. I am just wondering whether you might be able to advise on how to say “Waxing Crescent”, “Waxing Gibbous”, “Waning Gibbous” and “Waning Crescent” in Irish? Also, would Féilire na Gealaí be a correct translation for Lunar Calendar? Thank you in advance!
I’m wondering why the dark side of the moon is not in the genetive. Whereas the light of and the face of the moon are both genetive.
Seems like ‘na’ triggers genitive but ‘den’ does not – do they both translate literally as ‘of the’ ? I’m wondering how I can conceptualise that difference in irish?
Go raibh maith agat !
Good question, James. It is to do with the presence of the definite article ‘an’ (referring to ‘the’ dark side) at the start of the sentence. Without it ‘moon’ would be in the genitive (‘taobh dorcha na gealaí’). We think of the moon as having two sides – the far (dark) side and the near side. Here we have ‘the dark side of the moon’ rather than ‘the moon’s dark side’. I hope that this helps.
The audio is broken for the phrase:
” The Irish term for moonlight is solas na gealaí “
Míle buíochas, a James.
Maith thu, a Bhen. GRM!
Go ndéana a mhaith duit, a James.