This can confuse people a lot when they're learning verbs, especially when they're taught with a mix of the dialects but each dialect is quite internally consistent with it.

This also applies to -idh as slender dh and slender gh have merged in every dialect.

In Connacht these are entirely silent, so in an unstressed syllable they're just pronounced like a schwa, a neutral vowel.

Cheannaigh (bought) -> Cheanna

Bhailigh (collected) -> Bhaile

Cuirfidh (will put) -> Cuirhe

Samhraidh (of summer) -> Samhra

In Ulster and Munster, the pronounciation is also a schwa when it is a verb form before a pronoun:

Cheannaigh sé (He bought) -> Cheanna sé

Cuirfidh sé (He will put) -> Cuirhe sé

But, if it isn't before a pronoun then it is pronounced like 'í' in Ulster and like 'ig' in Munster.

Cheannaigh Seán -> Cheannaí Seán (Ulster), Cheannaig Seán (Munster)

Nigh (Wash) -> Ní (Ulster), Nig (Munster)

We have to make sure we get our point across, so we do.

An actual answer, I think it's a holdover from the Irish language in certain dialects. I'll look into it because somehow I've never thought about it!

Yeah for learning Conamara Irish I'd use

the textbook Learning Irish by Mícheál Ó Siadhail

If you already know some Irish and want to know more about the dialect specifically you can use An Teanga Bheo - Conamara by Séamas Ó Murchú, or the translation online here

A lot of the media produced in Irish has strong conamara speakers, especially Ros na Rún on TG4, and some of the dubs of kids shows like Miraculous

Iris Aniar and Adhmhaidin are both Raidió na Gaeltachta shows hosted by strong Conamara speakers

In terms of more linguistics heavy books there's stuff like Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge and The Irish of Iorras Aithneach which talk about all the sounds in the dialect and can be found online

For books written in the dialect, the biggest name is Máirtín Ó Cadhain who was a really influential writer, wrote Cré na Cille which is one of the most well known novels in Irish. There's also people like Pádraic Ó Conaire who wrote many short stories in the dialect.

Bhuel ní mise a dhein an léarscáil sin, ach tá níos mó dá leithéid in Linguistic Atlas and Survey of Irish Dialects (LASID).

Tá an chéad leabhar digitithe ag cara liom agus é ar fáil anso mar léarscáil interactive. Tá níos mó frásaí agus focal sna leabhair eile sa tsraith ach ní dóigh liom go bhfuilid digitithe fós

Seo thíos: "Gaeilge" agus "Feicfidh mé"

this ask is from january, sorry for the delay, I've just been pretty busy In terms of how to start in the states, I'd say look at the resources I've recommended in other posts tagged with #resources, the only thing that will be significantly different outside of ireland is less irish books in libraries, everything else I mention will be similarly accessible.

Choosing a Dialect

I'm of the opinion that you should choose a dialect when learning Irish for 2 reasons.

It helps you to be consistent with pronunciation, which varies a lot between dialects. If you pick one dialect you can check how that word is pronounced on a site like teanglann.ie and immediately know.

It's fun!! Standard Irish is kind of boring, and learning about dialects is a much better window into how Irish is actually spoken in native communities. There's so many interesting traits and features to learn about. Also it kind of fills that primal urge to join a team or a club (Gaelainn na Mumhan abú!)

In terms of how to pick, I think there's a few ways to go about it.

Pick based on the resources available to you. This is super reasonable, if you have a book that teaches connacht Irish and nothing else, maybe focus on connacht Irish.

Pick based on personal ties. Maybe your family comes from Kerry, or you grew up in Mayo, you can choose to learn a dialect based on that.

Pick based on what you like the best. You don't need a 'reason' to learn a specific dialect, listen to the major dialects and see if there's any you like the sound of. If you're a linguistic nerd see if any of the dialects have interesting traits to you. Pick whichever one has the best vibes.

I used to think it was just a thing that uninformed Americans did, but I was wrong, so let's talk about it.

There are Irish people (notably, native Irish speakers) who call it "Gaelic", when speaking English. (All video clips are timestamped, but it seems like timestamps don't work on mobile? So I'll write them as well) 8:27

4:36

In the name for the language in Irish varies across the dialects, but in Donegal, it's usually said as "Gaeilic"*, as you can hear here. (Bhí an Ghaeilic thar timpeall achan áit)

0:32

Or in the recording here from teanglann.ie:

It's fine to call it "Irish" as well, or "Irish Gaelic", but there's nothing wrong with just saying "Gaelic".

So I thought I would share, since lots of people might not be aware. In Kerry Irish, the emphatic pronouns (s)eisean, (s)ise, and (s)iadsan are generally replaced by the demonstrative forms (s)é sin, (s)í sin, and (s)iad san. Literally "that" (masculine), "that" (feminine) and "those".

So instead of having "Rinne seisean é" - "He did it", you would have "Dhein sé sin é" And that's just another neat dialectal quirk!

PS if you're confused about san, it has the same meaning as sin, but in Munster you usually only use sin after slender sounds. PPS if you're wondering what the difference between (s)iadsan and (s)iad san is, there's two things. 1. is the stress, first syllable versus second syllable. And the 2. is the vowel, the first has a schwa (since it's unstressed) and the second usually has an o or a u vowel, it's just written like san for historic reasons. PPPS source: Gaeilge Chorca Dhuibhne by Diarmuid Ó Sé