Steve asked us:
Hi! Just something I’ve noticed while working both through your site, as well as Micheal O Siadhail’s _Learning Irish_. From your site, I’m hearing “Agus tu “F”ein?” and from Siadhail’s site, as well as the old BBC’s “Little Bit” Irish series, I’m hearing “Agus tu “H”ein?” Is it just a question of dialect? Are the two mutually understandable, or would listeners assume I was a country bumpkin if I were to speak one version or the other?
Agus tú féin?
In our first Irish language conversation lesson, “Agus tú féin?” is a way to reply “And you/And yourself?”.
It’s pronounced like: /Ogg-us too hayne?/
However, our recording pronounces that word as “fayne”.
Some research on Irish pronunciation
I’ve done some reading on site called Daltaí (this debate gets a bit heated!).
While here at Bitesize Irish Gaelic we try to keep the Irish language audio in the lessons as standard as possible, it seems that I slanted towards the Munster Irish dialect by saying “fayne” and not “hayne”.
The more general way to pronounce “Agus tú féin?” is as /Ogg-us too hayne/.
As Steve said there is nothing wrong with either pronunciation, and they are certainly mutually understandable.
We’ll be re-recording that audio phrase in the future to standardize the pronunciation of “Agus tú féin?” as /Ogg-us too hayne?/.
By the way, if you’re interested in cracking Irish pronunciation, check out our pronunciation cheatsheets and worksheets.
Whenever I pronounce *duit* it comes out *dootch*.
You’re not far off, it’s closer to ditch than dootch 😀
Le beannacht,
Aisling
Question. I have been listening to your recordings on Spotify along with some others I found on the internet and there seems to be a difference in the pronunciation of Dia. I have heard it as Jee-ah on your recordings and Dee-ah on others. Which is correct?
Hi Amber,
Thank you for commenting. Let me find this out for you and we will contact you back with the answer.
Le meas,
Ana.
Hi Amber,
Thank you for your question.
Both pronunciations of “Dia” are correct. It is very common in Irish for words to have a number of varying pronunciations.
Le meas,
Siobhán
Éoin, a chara,
Cad faoi ‘Sinn Féin’?
Le gach dea-ghuí,
Gearóid
Good question! But again I think it is just a matter of dialect.
An an leathannach Daltaí, dúirt daoine gur chóir “Sinn Féin” a fhoghraíocht le “fhéin”, go ginearálta.
Ní raibh fhios agamsa é sin, ghlachas leis gur “féin” atá i gcónaí i gceist.
Tharla sé gur chuala mé Peadar Ó Riada ag rá “as sinn féin” (of us, gan an bhfoghraíocht /hayne/). I Geailge na Mumhan a raibh á labhairt aige.