Haigh a Chairde.

I was wondering if someone could correct a text I wrote in Irish. I would really appreciate it - I need to see where my mistakes are. I had done efforts to learn Irish sometime ago, gave up but now I'm back and I want to know how good my memory is. It's a small text about a trip I did to the US.

Téasc beag faoi mo thuras chun na Stát Aointaithe

Chuamar mo mhathair agus mise ar turas chun na Stát Aointaithe ar feadh cúig lá, chun glacadh ár suaimhneas* ar an trá. Thóg an turas thart foai seacht n-uain an chloig, agus nuair a tháinig mé, bhí orainn fanacht ar feadh trí uaire an chloig ina theannta sin, mar bhí an chlann m’uncailí ag teacht in éineacht linn. Bhíomar ag dul ag campáil. Chuamar lán an sheisir ar an trá, ach ní raibh sé in aoin duine de mhisneach snámh a dhéanamh* san uisce fuar ach i mo chol ceathrair agus ionam, mar bhí cláir bheaga toinne* againn. Fuair mé mo chuid de bhó* gréine, ar an tsrón agus ar na gualann. Chuireamar (mise agus mo chol ceathrair) aithne ar bheirt chailín as stát an Chnoic Ghlais (vermont), ar an-mhaith leis mo chol ceathrair (shíl mé go raibh siad ró-óga dom...). Bhí ár gcuid de troda beaga ann eadrainn na colanna ceathrair. Bhí an-phléisiúrtha ann. Ar an mbealach ar ais, chonaic mé fia, ach bhí mé ag lorg múis, mar ní fhaca mé aon amháin riamh. Ní fhaca mé na Saighneáin ach oiread. Ach chonaiceamar lán réaltaí.
Ba rud é an turas sin a chuimhneoidh mé air – ní dheachaigh mé go dtí an fharraige ar feadh i bhfad, agus ní dhéanfaidh mé dearmar ar an uair seo.


*-> structures I'm not sure I understand.
* cláir bheaga toinne / cláir toinne bheaga?
* bó (as in burn)...ní raibh sé i leabhair ar bith.

Hi Spéir,
‘Tis late and there may be some mistakes in what I’ve done and I guessed at the meaning at times but I hope I got the gist OK. Well done on writing about your trip and sharing it with us in Irish.

Mo thuras go dtí na Stáit Aontaithe

Chuaigh mé féin agus mo mháthair ar thuras go dtí na Stát Aointaithe ar feadh cúig lá. Bhíomar ag súil le fada an lá le saoire a bheith againn ar an trá i Meiriceá. Seacht uair a chloig a chaitheamar ar an eitleán, agus nuair a shroicheamar Meiriceá, bhí orainn fanacht trí uair eile ag an aerfort ag fanacht le clann m’uncail a bhí le teacht in éineacht linn.

Nuair a bhíomar go léir le chéile chuaigh an seisiúr againn ag campáil cois na trá. Ar dtús ní raibh misneach ag duine ar bith againn dul ag snámh san uisce fuar. Sa deireadh chuaigh mé féin agus mo chol ceathrair isteach mar bhí surfboards againn. Ar an trá chuir mise agus mo chol ceathrair aithne ar bheirt chailín as Stát an Chnoic Ghlais (Vermont). Bhí an-spéis ag mo chol ceathrair iontu ach shíl mise go raibh siad ró-óg domsa.

Tar éis an t-am go léir a chaitheamar ins an bhfarraige agus ar an trá fuair mé amach an oíche sin go raibh mé dóite ag an ngrian ar mo shrón agus ar mo ghualainn. I rith an ama a chaitheamar i Meiriceá bhí argóintí beaga idir na col ceathracha ach i ndáiríre bhaineamar an-phléisiúr as an saoire.

Ar an mbealach ar ais, chonaic mé fia. Bhí mé ag súil le múis a fheiceáil mar ní fhaca mé ceann ariamh ach ní raibh an t-ádh liom. Bhí mé ag súil leis na Saighneáin a fheiceáil sa spéir san oíche freisin ach ní raibh said le feiceáil. Ach chonaiceamar alán réalta sa spéir agus bhí said álainn.

Ní dhéanfaidh mé dearmad ar an turas sin go deo. Is fada anois ó bhí mé ag an bhfarraige ach fanann an turas go Meiriceá liom is smaoiním air go minic is cuireann sé áthas orm fós.

*1.-> structures I'm not sure I understand.
*2. cláir bheaga toinne / cláir toinne bheaga?
*3. bó (as in burn)...ní raibh sé i leabhair ar bith.

1. to do something is usually written as
something to do, thing a verb, break a take
leabhar a léamh, amhrán a chasadh, sos a thógail

2. Sorry I don't know. Did you mean a surfboard?

3. dó, not bó. That's why you couldn't find it in the dictionary.

I learned a new word in this exercise, Spéir.
Na Saighneáin
Go raibh maith agat.
Ní fhaca mé iad ariamh. Ba mhaith liom iad a fheiceáil freisin,

Thanks.
But there were no airports or airplanes or beautiful stars involved.
hum. it seems I got it all wrong. I'll try again.

Spéir, a chara,

No, you didn't get it all wrong. You did a great job!

The mistakes then were in my interpretation. What I understood from the beginning was that you traveled seven hours and then you had to wait a further three hours but I wasn't sure where or what for so I guessed from context maybe at an airport for relatives.I guessed the mode of transportation incorrectly then. Gabh mo leithscéal.

You could substitute in yourself whatever means of transport you used and where you waited and it should work well
With 'Ach chonaiceamar lán réaltaí.' I thought you meant you saw a lot of stars.Let me know if you can please what you meant here.

It is a lovely composition and one you can be proud of and I really enjoyed reading it.
Gabh mo leithscéal if I didn't do it justice,

Thanks for your corrections again, I was very anxious to get them.
Well, unfortunately for us, we traveled by car, and waited at the camping ground for three hours (we couldn't take any spot as we hadn't yet agreed on any with my uncle, so we just waited).
It's just that I'm not used to getting texts corrected like that (it's not bad though).

I'll study your corrections attentively and write about my new schoolyear starting maybe.

Go raibh maith agat.

Putting in the new information to make a revised 1st paragraph and 1st line of 2nd, I suggest:

Chuaigh mé féin agus mo mháthair ar thuras go dtí na Stát Aontaithe ar feadh cúig lá. Bhí seisear againn ann mar tháinig clann m’uncail in éineacht linn. Bhíomar ag súil le fada an lá le saoire a bheith againn ar an trá i Meiriceá. Seacht uair a chloig a chaitheamar sa charr agus nuair a shroicheamar an ionad campála i Meiriceá, bhí orainn fanacht trí uair eile mar ní raibh spás réidh acu dúinn.

Nuair a bhíomar ag an trá ar dtús ní raibh misneach ag duine ar bith againn dul ag snámh san uisce fuar.

There are many ways of tweaking a story and I tried to stay close to the original. But you have me curious now. How are the texts usually corrected?

If you've any questions about anything above feel free to write back.

Keep up the good work!

Chuaigh mé féin agus mo mháthair ar thuras go dtí na Stát Aontaithe

na Stáit

Seacht uair a chloig

Seacht n-uaire an chloig

a chaitheamar sa charr agus nuair a shroicheamar an ionad campála i Meiriceá,

an t-ionad

bhí orainn fanacht trí uair

trí huaire an chloig

Tar éis an t-am go léir a chaitheamar ins an bhfarraige agus ar an trá fuair mé amach an oíche sin go raibh mé dóite ag an ngrian ar mo shrón agus ar mo ghualainn.

Nó "go raibh mo shrón agus mo ghualainn dóiute ag an ngrian" ?

Bhí mé ag súil leis na Saighneáin a fheiceáil sa spéir san oíche freisin ach ní raibh said

typo: siad

Ach chonaiceamar alán réalta sa spéir agus bhí said álainn.

a lán réalta ; bhí siad...

ach fanann an turas go Meiriceá liom

the travel to America waits for you???

is smaoiním air go minic

Maybe "cuimhním" would be better here because you remember it (smaoineamh is just "to think", could be to think of something you never thought about before).


Téasc beag faoi mo thuras chun na Stát Aointaithe

Téacs beag faoi mo thuras chun na Stát Aontaithe.

chun + Genitive
go dtí + Nominative so:

chun na Stát
go dtí na Stáit.

In several dialects, go dtí means "as far as..." or "until... and no further", while "chun" means "to". For example, in Donegal: chuaigh mé chun na Stát Aontaithe = I went to the USA // chuaigh mé go dtí na Stáit Aontaithe = I went until the border, and stopped there.



(Message edited by Lughaidh on August 31, 2006)

Corrections of corrections. Thanks Lughaidh. That's what happens when I write when I'm tired.
The stupid careless typos were 'Stáit', 'siad' and the lack of space between a and lán.

Stáit was right in the original title. My computer does corrections and often changes siad to said.
Well spotted Lughaidh.

A mistake I shouldn't have made was an t-ionad. Thanks for catching that Lughaidh.

Correction of correction of correction:
go raibh mo shrón agus mo ghualainn dóiute ag an ngrian
Aa, we all do typos.
The dóuite should be dóite of course and Lughaidh's giving you a choice of ways to say it.
The one I wrote is the more natural for me.

Fanann sé liom. It stays with me.

As far as I know go dtí works fine but Lughaidh is giving you information about differences in dialects.

The semicolon is a matter of style I think.

Oh I almost forgot. The time of course.
Check out the first paragraph here: http://www.tg4.ie/Corp/culr.htm
Is the language changing? I was correcting without looking anything up and from ear.
See the third verse here: http://www.atlantareview.com/Ireland/Jenkins2.htm

This is an interesting one. Thanks for bringing it up.

Anyway, go raibh maith agat a Lughaidh,

Seeing as I'm not thinking straight I'm going to take it as a sign that I need to immerse myself in Spanish again before my courses start up again next week so I'll say slán to DnaG for a while. You're in good hands with Lughaidh & Co. here Spéir.
Keep writing,

Thanks for all this! It's so much help!
About go dtí and chun - I learned that you used chun with places with articles (chun na stát aontaithe) and go dtí with places without the article (go dtí an Ceanada) but now I see that you can use both?

Can you say go dtí an Fhraince?
Of do you have to say chun na Fraince?

About go dtí and chun - I learned that you used chun with places with articles (chun na stát aontaithe)

yes

and go dtí with places without the article (go dtí an Ceanada)

Mmm, isn't "an" an article before "Ceanada"? :-)

Actually, you use "go dtí" when the noun has an article (just as "chun", then), and "go" when it hasn't any article:

Chun an tí = go dtí an tí (but the meaning and the choice depends on dialect)

go Ceanada, go hÉirinn, go Béal Feirste...

You can't use "go" if there is an article, and you can't use "go dtí" if there isn't an article (some people do, but as far as I know it's wrong).

To France is go dtí an Fhrainc or chun na Fraince, according to the dialect.

Chuaigh mé féin agus mo chara mná maith, Alixe, go dtí an chathair bheag chun obair a fháil, tráth agus go bhfuil an scoil tosaithe arís. Ní raibh a fhios againn, cén ait arbh fheidir linn dul , ait go mbeadh in aice leis an scoil nó mo bhaile. Shiúlamar suas sraid mhór thábhachtach agus chuamar i gach caife a chuamar amach air. D’imigh mé ón bhaile le déich gcurriculum vitae, agus ní raibh aon agam nuair a chuaigh mé abhaile. Bhí an lá rathúil go leor. Tá súil agam go bhfaighidh mé aon scrait ghutháin ar laghard ar bith. Cheannaigh sí a cuid de éadaí (bríste géine, aon scairf agus bróga). Ba mhaith linn dul chuici, ach ina dhiaidh sin, thug mo mhathair cuireadh dúinn ith againn. Ach chuimhnigh sí go raibh uirthi buail leis a stócach i pairc, is mar sin, chuaigh me abhaile i mo aonar. D’itheamar iasc le rís agus toradh éigin le cáis gorm léaite is cnónna, curtha san oigheann – bhí sé sobhlasta!
Táim ag éisteacht leis an cheol is fearr san dhomhan – my bloody valentine.
Bhí an lá an-dhéas, agus is súil agam go mbeadh an téasc sin chomh maith leis an lá.

Bhí an lá an-dhéas, agus TÁ súil agam go mbeadh an téasc sin chomh maith leis an lá.

Chuaigh mé féin agus mo chara mór, Alixe, go dtí an chathair bheag [which one?] chun obair a fháil, tráth agus go bhfuil an scoil tosaithe arís. Ní raibh a fhios againn cén áit arbh fhéidir linn dul, áit a bheadh in aice leis an scoil nó le mo bhaile. Shiúlamar suas sráid mhór agus chuamar isteach i ngach caife a thángamar air. D’fhág mé an baile le deich gcurriculum vitae, agus ní raibh ceann ar bith agam níos mó nuair a d’fhill mé abhaile. Bhí an lá rathúil go leor. Tá súil agam go bhfaighidh mé scairt ghutháin amháin ar a laghad. Cheannaigh mo chara cuid éadaigh (bríste géine, scairf agus bróga). Ba mhaith linn dul chuig an teach s’aici, ach ina dhiaidh sin, thug mo mháthair cuireadh dúinn chun ithe (?). Ach chuimhnigh sí go raibh uirthi bualadh lena stócach i bpáirc phoiblí, is mar sin, chuaigh mé abhaile i m’aonar. D’itheamar iasc le rís agus cúpla toradh [fruits?] le cáis ghorm leáite is cnónna, curtha san oigheann – bhí sé blasta!
Táim ag éisteacht leis an gceol [leis an cheol is Ulster Irish, the rest of your text isn’t in that dialect] is fearr sa domhan – my bloody valentine.
Bhí an lá an-dheas, agus tá súil agam go mbeidh an téasc seo chomh maith leis an lá.

(I hope I've corrected all the mistakes...)

Woho! I'm very proud!! Tá bród orm anois :)
I'll continue.