I am looking fo immediate help with a translation for an important (suprise) dedication for my fiance'. I have been on a "million" chat and translation sites and this may be my last hope!!!!! I don't know if this can be done, but I am hoping for something close. Here it is: "I love you to the moon and back"....HELP ME PLEASE ASAP!!!! I will be forever grateful and my fiance' will too!!!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

You're getting way too excited!! It's just a proposal--no big deal--I've done it twice!!

Seriously, though, the "love you to the moon and back" probably won't translate well into Irish. I'm no native speaker so I could be wrong. In light of that I would offer the following:

Mo chroí leat go deo (My heart with you forever)

Mo ghrá duit go deo (My love to you forever)

Congrats! Hope she says "Is ea" or "Tá" or whatever the appropriate rendering would be as Gaeilge!

Le meas,

James

Good stuff James. In the Irish language people just don't make a bald statement such as "I love you". They tend to use a more indirect allusive approach.

Carly, if you really want to go lunar you might consider:

Mo ghrá thú go dtí an ghealach is ar ais.
You are my love to the moon and back.

To an Irish speaker this would be amusing because to say someone has "gone to the moon" means they've gone clinically insane. Still, they say love is a form of madness - from my own experience they're probably right. As the fella says, "I'd rather be in jail than in love again!".
Carly, stick this post on www.irishgaelictranslator.com, you may get a better version there.

James, as you should know, when you're in love there's no such thing as "way too excited".

slán go fóill,

Oliver.

I can't translate the phrase Carly. I'm just learning how to say: the bread is on the table. (Ta an t-aran ar an mbord.)

This reminds me of what Ralph Kramden used to say in The Honeymooners: To the moon Alice! (Go dti an ghealach Alice!)

Siochan leat (Peace be with you.)
Michil

It would seem that the question would be "Will you marry me?" Which, I believe would be, roughly
An mbeidh tú (the word for marry)liom? Would her answer then be "mbeidh"?

My confusion is on the appropriate affirmative response.

Le meas,

James

Carly,
Try the following:

"Chuig an ghealach is ar ais, goirim thú."
(To the moon and back, I love you)

However as James and Oliver have stated, using "the moon" as in the English phrase isn't really done in the Irish language.
You could try the following terms of endearment:

"Mo cheol thú!"
(You are my music!)

"Is tusa dual mo chléibh!"
(You are the knot in my chest!)

" Is tusa mo chuid dén tsaoil"
(You are my portion of the world)I like this one a lot!

That's all I can think of for now, I'll sign on again if I think of any more.

Beir bua agus beannacht,
Seosaimhín

A Charly, a chara,

Perhaps you could say one of the phrases that Seosaimhín has given you followed by--
Ar mhaith leat go bpósfaidh tú mise? I'm pretty sure that's how you say "Do you want to marry me?"
Ádh mór ort!
Maidhc.

A Mhaidc, A Chara:

Wouldn't that be "An raibh maith leat go bpósfaidh tú mise?" And, again, what would the response be?

I think there's a better "Would it be good with you...." phrase. I'm not sure if it's An raibh or go raibh or go mbeidh..I'm away from my books and can't bring it to mind. I know it's there though.

Le meas,

James

P.S. Best exchange on this site in quite a few days--thanks for getting this started Charly.

A chairde,
You can ask in this way:

Ar mhaith leat go bpósfadh tú mise?
Is it good for you that you would marry me?
WOULD YOU LIKE TO MARRY ME?

Mike,
note that you used future tense (that you will marry me) rather than conditional tense. Removing the "i" changes the tense from future to conditional and also alters the sound of the ending.

James,
"An raibh" means "was there" - past tense - so it wouldn't do. I see what you're getting at with "go mbeidh" but the "An" at the start of the question serves the purpose of asking "Is there?".


BUT

You can just blurt out:

An bpósfaidh tú mise?
Will you marry me?


Of course the question never arises in Ireland because we all get our marriages arranged by matchmakers. Never seen the Quiet Man? :-}

Slán,

Oliver.

Oliver, A Chara:

I knew an raibh was off! Thanks for setting it right for me.

Just another thing to note about questions like this:

Ar mhaith leat?
Would you like (to)?

Ba mhaith liom...
I would like... (to)

An maith leat?
Do you like (to)?

Is maith liom...
I like (to)...
No h after the An

A Oliver, a chara,
Go raibh maith agat for your correction of my phrasing. I just couldn't think of the conditional tense. And it is quite funny that you should mention arranged marriages. LOL. My phrasing of the question does sound as if to ask - Does it sit well with you that you will be marrying me? - Like he's asking her opinion of said arrangement. Hahaha.
Tá dúil m'anama agam in áit seo!
Slán agaibh, a chách.
Maidhc.

A Chairde agus A Charlaigh,

I've been watching this discussion grow as if having a life of its own, and been having a great time learning all sorts of new stuff. Got to wondering how Carly's taking all this, and if or when Carly ever indicated a plan to propose marriage. Looking back I discovered the reference to my fiance' (sic) which is the French masculine form, and I realized that somebody has already asked somebody to marry him/her.

Sooo, congratulations, Carly. I hear you're engaged.

Slán,
P.

A Phádraig,
Good catch, mo chara, now let's hope that Carly hasn't already moved on, counting us as "a million and one"!
So,I think Oliver's response was the correct one in that he simply gave Carly a translation of the phrase.
In attempting my own version of this thought, I submit. (Break out the heap of salt now.) - Tá mo ghrá duit dul a fhad le gealach agus ar ais é! My love for you is stretching to the moon and back! (Why do I get the uneasy feeling about using the wrong tense again? Somebody, please tell me.)
Slán.
Maidhc.

How 'bout one of those "thar a bheith" constructions?

You mean, maybe something like ( again, my grammar is seriously lacking.)
Tá mo chroí istigh thar rud ar bith ionat é.
I love you beyond everything.( My love goes beyond everything to you.)

Tá mo chroí istigh ionat - my heart is in you, i.e I love you very much

It doesn't really sit well with "Thar rud ar bith"
stuck in the middle

To my native ear
"Thar rud ar bith, tá mo chroí istigh ionat" sounds possible but very flowery.

And I really don't like word for word translations to/from english....they rarely sound good to a native speaker

I think your much better off trying to find a native idiom which matches the concept your trying to express.

For example, hearing people say "may the road rise with you" makes me personally cringe.

Go néirí an bóthar leat means may you have a successful journey. Personally, I'd hate it if the road started moving under my feet ... ;-)

beirigí bua

Aonghus

A Aonghus,
Thanks for the advice.It does look like something very pretty to read in a poem, perhaps, but not something that I might actually want to say.
And if you think "May the road rise to meet you" sounds bad, how about that singularly most common misspoken. Really, who is this girl Erin and why is everyone raising a glass toasting her underwear?
Slán is beannachtaí,
Maidhc.

A Mhaidhc,

You've got me utterly confused! Give me that "Erin and underwear" thing as gaeilge. That's too good to pass up. I'm sure it'll serve as a great piece of discussion with my Irish study group!

Le meas,

James

James, A Chara,

Once a year on March 17, hoards of Yanks convene in saloons from coast to coast pretending to be Irish by getting smashed by drinking green beer. Over the bar there is traditionally displayed a banner in green and white with the usual shamrocks, clay pipes and harps which reads:

Erin Go Brach.

Listen carefully and you'll hear the unanimous mispronunciation of brach as bra. Put that together with a girl named Erin, and there you have it.

Slán,
P.

A Chairde,

I must hasten to add that I accidentally omitted the fada in brách. That comes from long years of staring at that mispelling over a considerable number of those bars. After all these years I'm just realizing the insult to injury that lies in the mispelling. Almost as bad as leaving the fada out of Éire. I seem to recall that the latter was once done on a postage stamp.

P.

WOW!!! I have to admit I am very excited to see all of the feedback and conversations I have sparked with my inquiry!!!! Thank you to all of you! This is the first site that I have found such positive results on...and, nooooo....I am not considering this as "a million and one". To be honest, I waited a few days to check back because other sites I have tried did not update all that often so I (wrongly) assumed I would have the same luck here...boy was I wrong!
So, to try and touch base with a few of you on your comments....yes, James, I am "way too excited" but "hey" it's love ...and, Oliver, I can agree that it will, and can, and may very well be madness (gone to the moon)...and by the way, The Quiet Man is one of my favorite all time movies!!!!!...and to you both and all the others, as far as the proposal "thing" I am on the receiving end of that fateful and all important question...my inquiry is for a gift.
All that being said I thank you (all) for your help I certainly received more than I ever could have hoped for....what an excellent website---educational and entertaining! Thank you and God Bless!

Dia daoibh, a chách,
I might also add about the misspelling of "Eire go brách!",that I've also seen it countless times spelled as Erin go bragh. Ouch.
Slán,
Maidhc.

Maidhc
Érin go bragh is an old spelling, rather than a misspelling.

It was used in that way by several Irish regiments in foreign armies (including the British army....)

Irish spelling was fairly revamped in the early 20th Century.