I need assistance in translating the following phrase into Irish Gaelic:

To the love of my life; for our past, present and future.

Thanks in advance!

Maybe:

Do ghrá mo shaoil, don am caite, don am anois, 's don am atá romhainn

m'anam istigh thú

Can anyone tell me the circumstances in which this idiom is used?

I know the Ulster sentence "tá mo chroí istigh ionat" = I love you (my heart is inside in you). Maybe your sentence is a different way to say "i love you".

I'm contemplating having it inscribed on my fiancee's engagement ring, if that helps.

I'd suggest changing the phrase slightly

Do mo ghrá buan, inné, inniu agus riamh

For my everlasting love, yesterday, today, forever

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Pádraig "m'anam istigh thú" - I've never seen. M'anam istigh ionat would mean "my soul is in you", i.e. I deeply love you. Although croí would be more usual than anam.

Riamh means "ever" and "never" (in the past; it comes from the same root as "roimh"=before). Forever is go deo, go brách, go héag, go síoraí... I think it’s better than "riamh".

Ón bhFoclóir Beag:

riamh [dobhriathar]
ó thús aimsire, i gcónaí; choíche, go deo (go raibh tú riamh amhlaidh); (mar threisiú) (gach aon duine riamh acu).

Ok but in the sentence it would be unprecise: since there is no conjugated verb, you can't know whether it means "ever", "forever", "always" etc. I think it'd be better to use a word that only refers to the future...

Thank you very much for all your wonderful and creative ideas! Building on Aonghus' suggestion, would it be more logical to simply use "Tomorrow" instead of "Forever" since "Yesterday" and "Today" are used earlier in the sentence? Also, elsewhere I've seen two "Love of My Life" equivalents: "Mo Anam Cara" or "Soul Mate/Friend" and "Gra Geal Chroi" or "Love of My Heart". First, are those two correctly written in Irish Gaelic, and second, which of the three examples do you think would best apply to this situation (the third being "Mo Ghra Buan" or "My Everlasting Love")? Thanks again for all your assistance!

Mo anam chara - has religious overtones; can mean "spiritual director"

Grá geal mo chroí

Obviously, I prefer "Mo ghrá buan"....

Tomorrow is amárach

"Mo anam chara" doesn't sound Irish to me. My soul friend would be "Mo chara anama" or better "Cara m'anama" (the friend of my soul), maybe.

But it has been in use that way for over a thousand years. (I'll try to back that up with citations!) It should be written as one word, though - my mistake.

Ón bhFoclóir Beag (arís)

anamchara [ainmfhocal firinscneach]
comhairleoir spioradálta.


(Message edited by aonghus on February 21, 2005)

Tá anam-chara (le fleiscín) ag Dinneen.

De réir mo chuimhne, gluaiseacht na Céilí Dé a chéad usáid an tearma.

Fuair mé an méid seo in Annálacha na Ceithre Maistrí, ach níl sean Ghaeilge agam; seans mar sin gur focal eile atá ann

http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G100005A/index.html

Im Chunna, im chill n-anamcaratt
cingiu aniú céim ar conair
Fáicfidh Aodh Roin a cend lim
no fuicfett-sa la sodhain.

Ahhh, hmmmm....unhunh..and other sounds of one clearing his throat...

With all due respect to my dear friend from France, Lughaidh....If Aonghus says it sounds Irish, then it sounds Irish. Native speaker, "from the cradle" versus well educated, lived in the gaeltacht for a while...."from the cradle" wins....sorry.

Le meas,

James

Lughaidh strikes me as the sort who would go up to a couple of old men chatting in their native tongue, Irish, and tell them how wrong their pronunciation and word usage is.

Lughaidh, you might learn things that would actually improve your Irish if you'd put your attitude in check and bother to listen to what Aonghus has to say.