| me hungi|

Modern Irish, also known as Gaeilge (in Irish) or Irish Gaelic (in countries like the USA where Irish is uncommon), is spoken by over a million people in and out of Ireland today as a first or second language. It is recognized as the official language of the Republic of Ireland, taught in schools, used in Irish broadcasting and news reporting, and spoken in everyday social situations. It can also be a lot of fun to learn! (x)

Here are some basic phrases in Irish* 

*There are three major dialects in Irish– Munster, Connacht, and Ulster. This post will be using the Munster dialect, as that is the one my teacher uses and I am more familiar with. Other dialects may vary in spelling, pronunciation, or use different phrases.

Dia dhuit       Hello

Dia dhaoibh      Hello (Plural form)

Dia is Muire dhuit      Hello (Reply)

Dia is Muire dhaoibh   Hello (Reply, plural)

These two phrases literally mean “God to you” and “God and Mary to you” respectively, but they are used as greetings in all contexts, religious and nonreligious.  You can also use “heileo” (hello), which tends to be more informal.

Conas atá tú?         How are you?

Conas atá sibh?     How are you? (Plural)

Tá mé go maith, agus tú féin?     I am well / I am good, and yourself? 

Tá mé go dona.     I am not good

Slán            Goodbye

Oíche Mhaith        Good night

Más é do thoil é / Le do thoil        Please

Go raibh maith agat / agaibh        Thank you / Thank you (Plural)        

Tá fáilte romhat     You are welcome.

Tá brón orm          I am sorry.

Gabh mo leithscéal        Excuse me

In Irish, there is no single word for “no”. Instead, to say no to a question, you rephrase the statement to be negative. For example:

Aon scéal?        Any Story? / What’s up?

Níl aon scéal agam.     I have no story.

There are also a few Irish phrases that are commonly recognized outside Irish-speaking circles, such as: 

Sláinte         Cheers (Literally, “health”)

Fáilte            Welcome

Céad Míle Fáilte    Hundred Thousand Welcomes

Éire go Brách        Ireland to the end of time / Ireland forever

Póg mo thóin         Kiss my ass

For help pronouncing Irish, there are many resources online where you can find text-to-speech audio, IPA notation, and recordings of real speakers. Here are a few:

Forvo.com

Focloir.ie

Abair.ie

Irish Phronology on Wikipedia

In a nutshell, Irish séimhiú (lenition) is a mutation of consonants to make them sound softer and to make the speech smoother. Séimhiú is marked by adding a letter ‘h’ after a consonant. Nine consonants pick up séimhiú: b, c, d, f, g, m, s, p, t.

bean →  bhean cara → chara deartháir → dheartháir fuinneog → fhuinneog guí → ghuí mála → mhála súil →  shúil pota → phota teach → theach

Séimhiú changes the pronunciation of a word! Here are some yt videos for reference video 1 (Ulster dialect), video 2, video 3.

Exception

There is a certain exception no this rule - dental consonants d, t, s do not pick up séimhiú; theacht (no-dental t) but tine (dental t). I recommend checking the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) spelling of a word whenever you’re not sure if a consonant is dental or not bc it can be tricky :)

When do consonants pick up séimhiú?

After the definite article ‘an’ - in feminine nouns in nominative singular, bean → an bhean - in masculine nouns in genitive singular, fir →  carr an fhir

After the vocative particle ‘a’, cairde → a chairde

After possessive pronouns, madra → mo mhadra

After prepositions ‘de’, ‘faoi’, ‘mar’, ‘ó’, ‘roimh’, ‘trí’, ‘um’, ‘idir’, ‘ar’, maidin →   roimh mhaidin

After the preterite and conditional of the coupla, duine → ba dhuine

After past particles ‘níor’ and ‘ar’, múinteoir → níor mhúinteoir é

After particles ‘a’, ‘má’, ‘ní’, tuigim → ní thuigim

After numers 1-6 when counting people or things, bó → aon bhó

After constructions of adjective + noun written as compounds,  fear óg → ógfhear

If the word is the second part of a compound word, gorm → dúghorm

If the word is a modifier in some fixed constructions as ‘rainy weather’ báistí → aimsir bháistí

In some adjectives in some contexts, deas → bean dheas

After most prefixes such as ‘an’, ‘ró’, ‘ais’, beag → ró-bheag [full list to be updated]

How does it look like in a sentence?

So, to say that the weather was rainy but I took my dog for a walk, you need to modify certain consonants like this:

Bhí an aimsir bháistí ach thóg mé mo mhadadh ag súil.

My illustration for the VOCALOOK look book collaboration! Truly happy with how the designs and illustration came out. I hope you all enjoy as well!