Raven sent an interesting email recently about learning Irish:
I am a fairly new student of your website but I am
learning quickly. I have been watching TG4 every day
since starting and I have been running into words
that I see being repeated over and over again in
different ways. Some of them I am getting an
understanding of, such as, “ceart go leor”. (alright,
okay) but there are many more that I find difficult to
place. Like the word ” freisin”. Agus I also know and
here it being used alot as well.
Raven went on to ask what other such ‘link’ words are used in Irish a lot.
Great question. If you learn to distinguish these different words, you’re already one step ahead in learning to understand spoken Irish.
So, we already have:
- ceart go leor /kyart guh lyore/ (alright, OK)
- freisin /fresh-in/ (also)
- chomh maith /kho mah/ (another way to say ‘also’)
- agus /ogg-us/ (and)
Here’s my question for you.
What other words do you see everywhere in Irish?
Please reply below with your answer.
Don’t worry if you don’t know the meaning of the word. You can still suggest it.
11 thoughts on “Words in the Irish language that are often used”
I’D LIKE A “SHORT & SIMPLE” WAY OF SAYING THANK YOU IN IRISH/GAELIC, THE WAY THE IRSIH SAY IT TO ONE ANOTHER ON A DAILY BASIS. TY.
Hi Pami,
Go raibh maith agat (http://bitesize.irish/blog/polite-phrases-in-irish/) and Míle Buíochas (https://www.focloir.ie/en/dictionary/ei/bunch#bunch__13) are the most common – unfortunately there is no shorter way!
Gabrielle
Here’s some easy ones for us native English speakers 😉
Frog= Frog but with more of a “row” than a “ah” sound for the letter “o”
Cat= Cat but more like “coat”
Leon= Lion but more like “loan”
Bus= Bus pretty much the same as English
Carr= Car
Veain=Van
My spelling on the rest will likely need correction since I’ve mostly heard them spoken and rarely written, plus am not sure how to type fadas on an iPad! 🙂
Conas tan tu= how are you?
An tingen tu gaelen? Do you understand Irish?
Tigen biagan–ach ni muron=I understand a little–but not much (or “but not a lot”)
Ta me go maith= I am well.
Agus tusa? = And you? (as in “ta me go maith–agus tusa?)
Dia duit=Hello
Dias muir duit=to say “Hello” in response
Slan=Goodbye
And my all time favorite just because I love how it rolls off the tongue is “Gabh mo leithsceal” which simply means “excuse me” or ” I beg your pardon” as in trying to get someone’s attention (a passerby or waitress, for example)
Due to the lateness of the hour, I forgot to explain how to pronounce Gabh mo leithsceal, so here it is “G’mo leshkell”
Eoin, I have an idea for you for a learning platform, but will email you direct.
Slan!
Thanks, and we’re always open to new ideas to help learners better!
The posted words/phrases are great – can a phonetic breakdown be added for correct pronounciation?
I’ll collect them all into a new post another week, with a deeper explanation of meanings, and with phonetics.
Cupla pionta. (Now who would be saying that a lot????)
Amach!
Gan dabht.
Buiochas le dia.
ag dul go dti
ni raibh
Go raibh maith agat, Joan.
I’ve taken an Irish class and some of the most common phrases we’d hear or say were:
maith go leor (good enough/ok)
go maith (good/response as in good job)
b’fhéidir (perhaps)
Go deas! Nice.