I got this from a friend, an Irish fiddler. From Cobh but now living in Nova Scotia. Her Irish grammar is a bit off, I believe and, since I'm still a rank beginner myself, it's giving me a bit of a problem. Any help would be appreciated!

Go mbeannai dia dhauibh, a chairdhe!!! Beagan agus a ra go maith!! Cad is anim dhuit?? An labhrai' onn tu' Gaeilge??? Go maire tu' an la'.

Looks like a greeting directed at a group followed by some other idiomatic expression. Then..."what is your name" and "Do you speak Irish"...but this seems to be have a dialectal nuance to it that I don't get followed by "have a nice day" or something to that effect. She's using the apostrophe to indicate a fada as the board where we were communicating doesn't support the fada.


Go raibh mile maith agaibh.

Le meas,

James

>Go mbeannai dia dhauibh, a chairdhe!!! Beagan agus a ra >go maith!! Cad is anim dhuit?? An labhrai' onn tu' >Gaeilge??? Go maire tu' an la'.

Looks like a greeting directed at a group followed by some other idiomatic expression. Then..."what is your name" and "Do you speak Irish"...but this seems to be have a dialectal nuance to it that I don't get followed by "have a nice day" or something to that effect. She's using the apostrophe to indicate a fada as the board where we were communicating doesn't support the fada.

Go mbeannaí Dia dhaoibh, a chairde. Beagán agus a rá go maith (???)! Cad is ainm duit? An bhfuil Gaeilge agat? Go maire tú an lá.


I replaced "an labhraíonn tú Gaeilge?" by "an bhfuil Gaeilge agat?" because his sentence is right butcan mean two things: do you speak Irish (are u able to speak it)? and do you speak Irish (in your everyday life)?

"An bhfuil Gaeilge agat?" is more precise: are you able to speak Irish?
Go maire tú an lá is a kind of greeting "may you survive this day" (i think). It isn't "have a nice day". But other people here will say more about that - I don't use that expression so i'm not sure about its exact meaning and when it is used.

quote:

Beagán agus a rá go maith (???)!

Saghas seanfhocail é seo. "Beagán a rá agus é a rá go maith." Say little and say it well.

For other traditional Irish praise of brevity, see:

http://www.sengoidelc.com/node/133

(Message edited by dennis on September 15, 2005)

Ok. Your version is much more understandable :-D, I'm afraid he has forgotten the half of it :).

http://www.sengoidelc.com/node/133

Nasc deisithe!

Bheadh "Beagán, agus a rá go maith" intuigthe sa chaint. Ach ní beannacht atá ann, ach moladh.

Tá sé mar sin ag an Seabhac - Uimh 564 i Seanfhocail na Mumhan.