I decided to start a new question thread because I felt the other one got a bit confusing.

I have learned so much Irish now that I feel I can begin to experiment with my vocabulary and create sentences of my own. In my first sentence I have tried to use the prepositional pronoun 'ag'. I am a bit insecure of the way I have constructed the sentence, but I believe it is correct.

I know German myself!

"Tá Géarmáinis agamsa mé féin!"

Next I have tried to create a sentence with the copula containing an adjective.

Irish is a beautiful language.

"Is Gaeilge deas an teanga í."

Should I put 'í' before Gaeilge or can I use an abstract such as Gaeilge at all?

quote:

"Tá Géarmáinis agamsa mé féin!"

Either: Tá Gearmáinis agamsa.
Or: Tá Gearmáinis agam féin.

You have to choose. To anticipate your next question, they both have a similar emphatic tone, but are used slightly differently. The first might be the reply to "Does anyone in the group know German?" The second might be your response to "They say German is impossible to learn."

quote:

"Is Gaeilge deas an teanga í."

Is deas an teanga í an Ghaeilge.

"Deas" is only "nice", not "beautiful". And the syntax of the copula is one of the most complicated things in the language!

Irish is a beautiful language - I think it'd be
Is deas an teanga í an Ghaeilge

there are other ways as well :)

I said "you have to choose", but before someone jumps on that, let me amend it to say "you have to choose unless you are deliberately stretching the boundaries of the language", something that competent speakers do all the time, just for fun or for dramatic effect.

Mo leithscéal Dennis, ní fhaca mé thú ansin

Ní gá leithscéal a ghabháil ar chor ar bith, a Asarlaí. Is léir go raibh muid ag scríobh freagra ag am céanna. Agus níos fearr fós, bhí an freagra ceannann céanna againn araon! :-)

I guess I'll stretch the language to its limit then! :)
Why Gaeilge with the definite article? I forgot about 'deas' not meaning beautiful, sorry. Was a bit tired when I wrote.

Next question: What is the difference between cén, cé and céard?

quote:

Why Gaeilge with the definite article?

an Ghaeilge = the Irish language
Gaeilge = Irish

Tá Gaeilge aige. = He knows Irish. (Conceptually, you might think of this as: he has a share of the Irish language, not the whole thing!)

Bhí sé ag caint faoi thábhacht na Gaeilge. = He was talking about the importance of the Irish language. (Here, it's the entirety of the language that's faoi chaibidil.)

Strange. Is it really NA Gaeilge, no AN Gaeilge? NA = of the ?

quote:

NA = of the ?

Bingo.

Ah!! Eureka! I'll edit this post and add my next questions tomorrow. Thanks, Dennis!

Any recommendations on novels to read? I need to start with something simple and go over to mediocre as soon as possible. :-)

There is fiction out there that has been specially created for adult learners. Mar shampla:

Paloma - Úrscéal don Fhoghlaimeoir Fásta

le Pól Ó Muirí

You can get it with the text (more nearly a novelette in length) read aloud on CD. There are others like this. Maybe litriocht.com has a subsection for them? In this case, the reader has a Donegal accent, más buan mo chuimhne. Perhaps you could get another úrscéal with a Conamara reader, since that's where you're starting from.

Dála an scéil, is dócha gur intermediate atá ar intinn agat. Tá ciall eile le mediocre.

"Dúnmharú ar an Dart" is good too, but fairly small. It has a glossary of words at the back. And there's also "Aililiú Bop Súáidiú", also small, it's more for teenagers, but it's a decent read.

Tá comórtas ag an oireachtas do úrscéalta don foghlaimeoir fásta ag dul siar cúig nó sé de bhlianta, ba cheart go mbeadh an oiread sin acu ann.

Ach munar féidir leis an Ainnir Ioruach a bhfuil scríofa agam anseo a léamh, is eagal liom nach úrscéalta atá de dhíth uirthi!

http://www.antoireachtas.ie/liteartha.html

Since this is the 'question thread', I have two:

After 'a lán' or 'an-chuid', is there a need for the tuiseal ginideach, or is it just the nominative case? e.g. a lán leabhair or a lán leabhar, for a lot of books, plural.

Ceist 2: Aidiachtaí. Tar éis aidiachtaí firinscneacha san uatha a chríochnaíonn ar ghutha, an gá shéimhiú san fhocal i ndiadh? Léigh mé é sin i mo seanleabhar scoile ach, más fíor é, bheadh shéimhiú tar éis 'duine' agus ní fheicim é sin ar chor ar bith. Agus, tagann shéimhiú tar éis aidiachtaí firinscneacha san iolra, nach ea? Mar sin, an dtagann shéimhiú tar éis 'daoine'?

a lán (an-chuid, beagán, etc.) leabhar, airgid, trioblóide, etc.

quote:

más fíor é, bheadh shéimhiú tar éis 'duine' agus ní fheicim é sin ar chor ar bith

Gan trácht ar "dalta mhór, baile bheag, An Garda Shíochána" agus aisteachtaí eile.