Dia daoibh, a chairde
Tá mé ag iarracht Gaeilge a fhoghlaim le sé mí thart ar. Tá mé ag lorg eolas faoin focal “what” in abairt Gaeilge.

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What I’ve tried to say in the above sentence is that I’ve been trying to learn Irish for about six months and I’m looking for a translation of the word “what” in an Irish sentence. I really would be very grateful if somebody could comment on my effort at compiling a sentence in Irish. If I’ve made any mistakes at all, I really do need to know so that I can avoid making them again and again, so please be honest with your criticism.

The thing I would like to know is how to correctly translate the following 2 sentences into Irish:

(a) “I don’t know what to do about it”
(b) “You know what you have done, don’t you?”

Go raibh maith agaibh roimh ré as bhur gcúnamh. Thank you in advance for your help. (Did I get that bit right?)

Christine.

Slightly modified:
a) Níl fhios agam céard ba cheart dom a dhéanamh faoi
b) Tá fhios agat céard atá déanta agat, nach bhfuil?

Céard is not the only option - there are several ways of correctly translating it.

Dia daoibh, a chairde
Tá mé ag déanamh iarracht Gaeilge a fhoghlaim le thart ar sé mhí . Tá mé ag lorg eolais faoin bhfocail “what” in abairt Gaeilge.

(Errors and ommisions excepted)

quote:

(Did I get that bit right?)

Fuair. (yes)

Faoin bhfocal (Connaught, Munster), faoin fhocal (Ulster). Focail is the plural form: a Aonghuis, chuir tú meancóg in áit nach raibh ceann ar bith!

In Aonghus' sentences, you can replace céard (Connaught word) by cad é (Ulster) or cad (Munster).

> Faoin bhfocal (Connaught, Munster), faoin fhocal (Ulster).

Isn't it:
Fén bhfocal (Munster), fán fhocal (Ulster)?

Lars

Just one minor addition to Aonghus' response:
a) Níl a fhios agam céard ba cheart dom a dhéanamh faoi
b) Tá a fhios agat céard atá déanta agat, nach bhfuil?

It's that a (its) which causes the aspiration of "fios" (knowledge)

A Christine, a chara,

I wish that I was able, after only about 6 months, to construct a sentence like that. From memory, it took me much longer ;-)

Le meas,

(Message edited by Larry on October 28, 2005)

quote:

Isn't it:
Fén bhfocal (Munster), fán fhocal (Ulster)?

Yup, and
faoin fhocal (Achill).

(Message edited by Peadar_Ó_Gríofa on October 28, 2005)

>Isn't it:
>Fén bhfocal (Munster), fán fhocal (Ulster)?

Bhí mé ’g iarraidh a bheith simplí... Thug mé leaganacha giota beag caighdeánaithe sa litriú. Ach más mian leat eagla a chur ar Christine ;-) , ar aghaidh linn:

Conamara: faoin bhfocal /fi:N wokəL/
Ulaidh: fán fhocal /faN okəl/, fá dtaobh don fhocal /fa du doN okəl/
Mumha: fén bhfocal /f'e:n vokəl/

quote:

a Aonghuis, chuir tú meancóg in áit nach raibh ceann ar bith!

Meas tú cén fath a scríos:

Errors and ommisions excepted

(Meancóg ansin freisin - omissions...)

Cheap mé (go fo-chomhfhiosach, mar is gnáth) ar chúis éigin gur lean an ginideach "Tá mé ag lorg eolais faoin"

A Chairde,

Tá sibh go hiontach ar fad!

Go raibh maith agat, a Aonghuis, as do cheartú le (to??) mo abairt.

Arís, go raibh míle maith agaibh as bhur gcúnamh.

Christine.

>Cheap mé (go fo-chomhfhiosach, mar is gnáth) ar chúis >éigin gur lean an ginideach "Tá mé ag lorg eolais faoin"

Leanann an ginideach an t-ainm briathartha "lorg". Cha bhíonn ginideach ar bith i ndiaidh réamhfhocail mar "faoi"...

Glacaim leis go ndearna mé botún. Ní raibh mé ach ag lorg miniú (ós árd) - ginideach seachas iolra a bhí agam ann.

Christine, Fáilte is fiche romhat.

Is ar d'abairt a rinne mé ceartú!

A Christine, a chara,

Scríobh tú thuas:

quote:

...If I’ve made any mistakes at all, I really do need to know so that I can avoid making them again and again...

Maidir le "... mo abairt.", it's usual to use an apostrophe (as in Aonghus' reply) - m'abairt, d'abairt - when the noun following the personal pronoun begins with a vowel.

I don't know which resources you're using to learn Irish but they appear to be serving you well. Keep up the good work, a chara.

A Aonghuis. Go raibh maith agat as d’ionchur a chara. Ní raibh mé cinnte cé acu focal a úsáid ansin. (Thank you for your input. I wasn’t sure which word to use for “to” in that case)

A Larry. Rinne mé “typo” thuas. Bhí a fhios agam faoin uaschamóg sin. Scríobh mé as mo chuimhne ach go raibh maith agat as é sin a chara. Tá leabhar Uí Shiadhail “Learning Irish” agam. Tá “EasyReader” agus dhá fhoclóir agam freisin ach is fearr liom an clár plé seo a léamh. Tá sé idirghníomhach agus tá sé soar in aisce!! (I knew about the apostrophe in those cases but in my haste I forgot that simple rule. But thank you for pointing out the error. As I said, if nobody corrects me I’m likely to repeat any mistakes. I sometimes use Ó Siadhail’s Learning Irish, together with the software EasyReader and 2 dictionaries, but I prefer to read the comments on this board as a resource).

Ba mhaith liom buíochas a gabhail libh ar fad as bhur gcúnamh arís. Tá súil agam go mbeidh mé in ann Gaeilge níos fearr a scríobh go luath.

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Corrections always welcome! Please don’t hesitate to tell me about the slightest mistake I make. This site has been a great inspiration for me and I’ve learned a lot already (I hope). Thank you.

Christine.

>Ní raibh mé cinnte cé acu focal a úsáid ansin.

"Ní raibh mé cinnte cé acu focal ba chóir a úsáid ansin" (you can't use the verbal noun directly there, have to use "ba chóir a + vn" or "ba cheart a + vn"). "I dunno what to do" = "Níl a fhios agam cad é ba chóir a dhéanamh". You can never say "Níl a fhios agam cad é *a dhéanamh", etc.

>go raibh maith agat as é sin a chara.

as + é = as (the "é" is inside, even if you don't see it)
as + é sin = as sin

With most prepositions, there's a difference in spelling between the preposition alone and the preposition+him/it (not with "as", that’s why it’s a bit confusing).
ar + é = air
ar + é sin = air sin, etc

Your Irish is really good. In 6 months you've learnt much more Irish than most Irish kids in 10 years at school. Comhghairdeachas.

A Lughaidh,

Ceart go leor, a chara. Go raibh míle maith agat as sin. An bhfuil aon ceartú eile ar bith ann?

Ceann nó dhó:

>Ba mhaith liom buíochas a gabhail libh ar fad

Buíochas a ghabháil libh

>An bhfuil aon ceartú eile ar bith ann?

An bhfuil ceartú ar bith eile le déanamh ann?
= An bhfuil aon cheartú eile le déanamh ann?

Cuirtear "eile" i ndiaidh "ar bith". Níl ’s agam an féidir "aon" + "ar bith" a úsáid in éineacht, mar go bhfuil siad ar aon chiall... Tá cuma throm ar d’abairt agus an dá rud sin inti ag an am chéanna.

Is dóigh liom gur cheartaigh muid achan mheancóg dá dtearn tú. Cha dtearn tú mórán!

A Lughaidh,
Ní raibh a fhios agam faoi "Cuirtear eile i ndiaidh ar bith" mar sin go raibh maith agat, agus sílim go dtuigim faoi "aon" agus "ar bith". Déanfaidh mé iarracht cuimhne a bheith agam ar sin as seo amach (I'll try to remember that in future).

Scríobh tú freisin: "Cha dtearn tú mórán". I'm guessing here that "tearn" = déan, in which case I'm reading that as "you don't make many (mistakes)" but I would have to disagree. I should have known, for example, about the "sé mhí" in my first post in this thread. Ach go raibh míle maith agat as d'fhoighne, a chara.

Cha dtearn tú = ní dhearna tú. (=you didn’t make)
My form is used in northwestern Donegal.

Don't be too hard on yourself Christine. It may well be that one of the first things you learnt to do in Irish was count using the ordinal and cardinal numbers, but nobody expects you to remember every rule. Most of us are guilty of the occasional typo too. You've come a long way in a very short time and I, for one, don't think you have much further to go before you're as fluent as the best.

A chairde,

Go raibh míle maith agaibh as bhur bhfoighne arís, a chairde. Tá ceist eile agam oraibh, le bhur dtoil.

An bhfuil an ceart ag "Déanfaidh mé iarracht cuimhne a bheith agam ar sin as seo amach" thuas nó nach bhfuil?

Christine.

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p.s. I really do appreciate your kindness and patience. Your words of encouragement have been a great inspiration to me so please keep the corrections coming. I need them! Thanks again.

Tá sé ceart, ach casta.

(Tá an ceart agat - you are correct, Tú tienes razon)
(Tá sé ceart - it is correct, está correcto (if that is!))

I'd say:
Déanfaidh mé iarracht cuimhneamh ar sin as seo amach.

Go raibh míle maith agat, a Aonghuis. Bhí sé mo chéad iarracht an abairt sin a scríobh agus ní raibh mé cinnte.

Fáilte romhat. Bhí sé go breá mar iarracht. Tá sé deacair an leagan simplí a aimsiú, uaireanta.
NB:
"Bhí sé sin" should be "B'é sin" (Ba + é sin, past tense of "is" )

PSS: I don't know why it is "is" there - but the other sounds ciotach to me. I think someone explained it here well once. I operate on automatic, and can't.



(Message edited by aonghus on November 01, 2005)

"Déanfaidh mé iarracht cuimhne a bheith agam ar sin as seo amach"

on that = air sin

Féach: ar + é = air
ar + é sin = air sin