A chairde,
tá a lán oibre déanta agam ag foghlaim Gaeilge, ach ar an drochuair, níl aon mhúinteoir agam fós. ar mhiste libh cuidiú liom? tá go leor ceisteanna agam:

1. Feicim na daoine eile (ag?) ithe a mbricfeasta. (I see the others eating their breakfast) "ag" or no?

2. Caithfidh mé chur glaoigh teileafóin chuig mo chara. (I have to call my friend) word order, etc?

3. (I heard him come in.) Chuala mé é teacht isteach....nó...Chuala mé (ag?) teacht isteach é?

4. Ní raibh a fhios ag aon duine cad é a bhí (a raibh?) an fear a dhéanamh. (Nobody knew what the man was doing.)

5. Cad é a theastaíonn uait a dhéanamh? (what do you want to do?)

6. Rachaidh me go hEireann go ceann cupla míosa. (i'll go to Ireland in a couple of months)


tá fadhb agam le "want"...(teastaigh? tá...uaim?, etc.). Tá mé an-bhuíoch as bhur gcuidiú. Go raibh míle maith agaibh!

le meas,
Tadhg

1) ag
2) Caithfidh mé glaoch teilefóin a chur ar mo chara
3) Chuala mé ag teacht isteach é
4) ag déanamh
5) ceart!
6) as it stands, this means I'm going to Ireland now, and I'll be there for a few months
Should be
Rachaidh mé go hÉireann i gceann cúpla míosa

want - context please!
Tá bia uaim - I want food
Teastaíonn bia uaim - ditto!

fáilte romhat

Tá peann uaim

I want a pen

-

That is an abbreviation of

Tá peann ag teastáil uaim

-

Teastaigh = "is wanted"

Theastaigh peann

A peann was wanted


Theastaigh peann uaim

A pen was wanted from me. I wanted a pen

-

a) Teastaíonn sé uaim

b) Tá sé ag teastáil uaim

As with all present tence verbs, A is repeated. Say if you're a guitarist, then now again you want to play the guitar, ie. it's repeated:

Teastaíonn uaim an gíotar a sheinm

But say you don't play the guitar and you're at a pub and you see one and you want a shot of it:

Tá ag teastáil uaim an gíotar a sheinm

BTW, your Gaeilge is pretty good.

I'm wondering if "tá rud éigin agam" or "tá rud éigin uaim" are not so much abbreviated expressions as simple statements meaning something is either "at me" or "away from me." I have something. I don't have something. Wouldn't this make teastaigh redundant? This from an admitted novice whose inclination is to take things literally. I'm still trying to understand why a well-wisher would want the road I travel to leap up under my wheels.

Opps. Never mind, a chairde. I just realized that "ó" (uaim) may be translated into English as "by" which would give "theastaigh peann uaim" as "a pen was wanted by me."

Tá brón orm.

"I'm still trying to understand why a well-wisher would want the road I travel to leap up under my wheels. "

that particular one usually causes me to foam at the mouth!

"D'éirigh liom" means "I succeeded"

By all means, take things literally; but be aware of the pitfalls, and get a more detailed dictionary!

Éirigh takes up half a page of Ó Donaill!

May the road rise to meet you. HHMMMM. Is that what they really want?! The only time I can think of seeing the road rising to meet me is when I trip over something and the road appears to rise just for that brief second before it hits me in the face.
-Maidhc.

Buíochas, a chara,

I'm looking at An Foclóir Póca (arna fhoilsiú na hÉireann ag Criterion Press.) That last -- Criterion -- sounds like an English outfit, but all the other publication information is given in Irish. I can't determine the editor(s), but the address is given as:

AN GÚM, Baile Átha Cliath.

Ceist eile -- What is An Gúm? A literal translation doesn't help. Also, in the preface to this foclóir the name N. Ó Dónaill is mentioned as a source. Is this the same Ó Dónaill and is this possibly the same dictionary in a paperback version?

Buíochas arís.

Go n-éirí an bóthar leat.

May you succeed the road.

-

D'éirigh mé

I rose

D'éirigh liom

I succeeded

Bhí mé ag éirí

I was rising

Bhí ag éirí liom

I was succeeding

-


I have a pen

Tá peann agam

I don't have a pen ( A pen is away from me as you said)

Níl peann agam


I want a pen

Tá peann ag teastáil uaim


There's no point in trying to find other meanings for "ó". It means "from", plain and simple.

Chaith sé an liathróid liom.

He threw the ball at me.

There is no way that "le" can mean "at". Different languages use different prepositions.

in short, "ó" doesn't mean "by" "away from", it simply means "from".

-Phil

Oh yeah, don't you just hate Gaeilge grammar books written entirely in Gaeilge.

If you were able to read it, then you wouldn't be reading it.

-Phil

Just trying to sort this out -- doesn't the expression "ó cheart" translate as "by right," as in an expression such as "the inheritance went to the first-born by right?"

Also, An Foclóir Póca about which I inquired in an earlier post cites the following use of ó (uait) as "by" when used with teastaigh:

"An dteastaionn uait labhairt leis?" Do you wish to speak with him? Literally, this looks like "Is it needed by you to speak with him?" I wouldn't have thought to look at it this way had the Foclóir not identified the (ó = by) relationship. I'm not looking to be contentious. It's just very confusing.

An Gúm means "the scheme" and is the name of the publishing house set up by the Governemnt of Ireland in the 1920s to provide books in Irish.

Phil a chara, you have to lose the idea that there is an exact 1:1 correspondence between English and Irish. Languages just don't work that way.

For example, here is what an Foclóir Beag gives for le:-
le [réamhfhocal]
cois, in aice (a dhroim le balla; druid anall liom); buailte ar (dá mbeadh ceirín leis; bhí srian lena theanga); i dtreo (bhí a aghaidh linn, ina luí le gréin; tá súil aige léi); ar feadh (thit sé le haill; thart le bun na gcnoc, ag imeacht le sruth); in éineacht (bhí mé ar scoil leo; ná caith an hata sin leis); i bhfabhar (bhí an t-ádh leis; ar mhaithe liomsa); in aghaidh, chuig (ná bí liom; chuir sé an gadhar leo); ar feadh tréimhse áirithe (le trí lá anois; tá sé anseo le fada); i gcomparáid (chomh buí le hór; i gcomórtas le Seán); de chuid (ní liomsa é; cara liom é sin); ag, i seilbh (an bhfuil do chóta leat?; bhí siúl géar linn); ar aghaidh (abair leat; d'imigh sé leis; isteach libh); le cabhair (daoradh le feall é; léirigh le sampla é); ag leanúint (tá costas, deifir, leis); de thoradh (ar crith le heagla, plódaithe le daoine; tá an donas air le bréaga); chun (le greann a dúirt sé é); i dtuairim (ní dóigh liom é; is beag leis é); chun, le haghaidh (tá siad le pósadh, cad a bhí le rá agam; tá obair le déanamh) le + a4 = lena; le + ar3 = lenar; le + ár2 = lenár.


As for Grammar Books in Irish, I've just bought one. Just because I usually know what to say doesn't mean I know the grammatical reason for it, which makes it impossible to explain to others.