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déiridh (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Posted From:
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 10:32 pm: |   
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i usually hear simply "oíche mhaith"
but i've seen both
oíche mhaith duit
oíche mhaith agat
is there a difference in meaning?
grma
(gabhaim pardún agaibh as an teachtaireacht seo i mBéarla) |
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Student of Guesses (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Posted From:
| | Posted on Saturday, June 24, 2006 - 03:45 pm: |
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A Dhéiridh, a chara,
Since no one's replied yet, I'd like to try a guess.
1 (Tá or Beidh) Oíche mhaith dhuit = Good night to you.
2. (Tá or Beidh) Oíche mhaith agat = Have a good night.
It's only a total guess regarding the implied verb tá. Maybe it's some other verb or the copula, but my guess is that the first means "to you" and the second one means "you have." |
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déiridh (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Posted From:
| | Posted on Sunday, June 25, 2006 - 11:19 pm: |
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grma |
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Léitheoir (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Posted From:
| | Posted on Monday, June 26, 2006 - 06:21 am: |
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I think these are similar to the commonplace phrase for "thanks" i.e. go raibh maith agat (literally: "may you have goodness")
So
"Oíche mhaith" is probably short for "Go raibh oíche mhaith agat" (May you have a good night).
I am not so happy about "oíche mhaith dhuit". In my humble opinion, I may be wrong, this is a mis-translation from English of "Good night to you". But then we have "Dia dhuit" so I may be completely wrong.
"go raibh" in these sentences is in the "modh foshuiteach" and I am not really sure what that is but I think it expresses a wish like "Slán a bhéas tú" (May you be safe) and "Nára fearrde thú" (May you be no better for it / May it do you no good - a curse)and "Go mbeannaí Dia dhuit" (May God greet you) |
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Pangur_dubh
Member
Username: Pangur_dubh
Post Number: 67
Registered: 03-2006
| | Posted on Monday, June 26, 2006 - 12:29 pm: |
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Casting my mind back over the centuries when I first started learning Irish (not such a big joke, if truth were told), and from other languages I have managed to acquire, wishes and hopes seem generally to take the subjunctive mood - the modh foshuiteach - that Léitheoir so correctly zeroes in on.
I therefore conclude that the full greeting/wish would be
'go raibh oíche mhaith agat'.
'Oíche mhaith dhuit' is certainly intelligible but gramatically skewed and rather inelegant. That said, in English journalism there difference between a present and past subjunctive seems to have been lost - equally inelegant and rather jarring on sensitive ears. [e.g. may (present) seems to have utterly obliterated might(past).] So we should not be too severe.
The mere fact that someone is speaking (or even trying to speak) Irish at all is to be rejoiced at, not faulted. Time enough for correction when the person concerned is better grounded and more secure in the language. At that point correction makes more sense and is UNDERSTOOD. Faultfinding is a sterile exercise in the end. |
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