I was listening to Barrscéalta on Raidió na Gaeltachta this morning and there was a bit where a man was talking to the presenter about how he recently proposed to his girlfriend on St. Valentine's Day.

When the lady presenter (I am assuming Áine Ní Churráin) asked him what was the first thing that attracted him his now fiancée...the man who had been speaking rapid fire Irish gave his answer in English and it made me wonder if what he said couldn't be translated into Irish...

He said, "She was plain beautiful."

Can "plain beautiful" be translated?

Two adjectives acting as one kind of messed me up here.

Since I think he was using plain to imply simple, I would have gone with something like this:

Bhí áilleacht shimplí aice.

Or somthing like this...

díreach álainn?

Fiosrach,

"díreach álainn"

Are you trying to say "just beautiful"?

I think it would be "díreach go hálainn"...but I would wait to see what the more advance speakers have to say.

I never thought about it before, but I haven't come across multiple advectives in a sentence before. I can say things like "the bus is yellow, the bus is big, and she is next to the bus"...

But I do not know how to approach the sentence:

She is next to the big yellow bus.

Tá sí in aice leis an mbus mór buí...?

From De Bhaldraithe's English-Irish Dictionary, under the entry for plain II, adv., {go soiléir, go glinn}

In Ó Dónaill's Foclóir Gaeilge-Bearla,

soiléir adj 1. clear, distinct;plain, obvious.

glinn adj 1. clear, distinct, vivid.

Mar sin, b'fhéidir

Bhí sí (go) álainn go soiléir

nó

Bhí sí (go) álainn go glinn

I've put the go in parentheses, because I'm not sure if it's needed since we're trying to say "she was plain beautiful" and not "she was doing plain beautifully."

Mac Léinn,

I thought that there were only a couple of adjectives that take the "go"...?

go maith
go breá
do deas
go donna
go haoibhinn
go hiontach
go háilainn
go holc

At least that's what I thought was being said in LI...

"Glé álainn a bhí sí", b'fhéidir? Níl a fhios agam...

Tomhais
Tá rud mór buí sa spéir. Céard é?
Cá bhfuil a uimhear gutháin? Féach sa Leabhar Mór Buí

Cónaím i ngleann beag álainn.

Tá an t-iasc seo deas úr.

Ceantar lom sceirdiúil a bhí ann.

Caint dhíreach = plain speaking

Ach b'fhéidir
'Bun agus barr an rud: bhí sí álainn.'
a bhí i gceist aige
nó
'Go lom simplí, bhí sí álainn.'

Bean ard, tanaí, a bhí aige b'fhéidir, nó
duine grámhar, gealgháireach.

A Do Chinniúint,

Yeah, you're right and álainn (beautiful) is one of them as you've shown above. We recently had a discussion on the use of go with adjectives at:

http://www.daltai.com/discus/messages/20/23679.html?1172748433

Liz had indicated in that thread that:

quote:

The particle 'go' is only used with a handful of adjectives when they are used predicatively. That means they are linked to the noun by the verb.

So, I think go is required since (h)álainn is one of the handful of adjectives needing it.

Geal Gáireach,

I am going to attempt a translation here...

Tá rud mór buí sa spéir. Céard é?

A big yellow thing is in the sky. Right?

Cá bhfuil a uimhear gutháin? Féach sa Leabhar Mór Buí!

Where is the telephone booth? Look in the big yellow book!

Cónaím i ngleann beag álainn.

I live in a pretty little glen.

Tá an t-iasc seo deas úr.

Here is the nice new fish.

Ceantar lom sceirdiúil a bhí ann.

Not sure about this one...if I had to guess I would say "the region there was bleak?" or "to me the region there was bleak" or something along these lines???

Am I correct?

Also to Mac...I knew that beautiful was one of those adjectives, however, I didn't know if there were cases when you might do that with other adjectives?

(Message edited by do_chinniúint on March 01, 2007)

quote:

"Glé álainn a bhí sí", b'fhéidir?

An-suimiúil, Abigail! Is ionann "glé" agus "an-" (very) i nGaeilge na hAlban:

glè bheag = an-bheag
glè mhòr = an-mhór
glè bhòidheach = an-álainn

Beagnach

There is a big, yellow thing is in the sky. What is it?

Where is his telephone number?

This fish is nice and fresh.

It was a stark, bleak region.

Maith thú

OOPS, I didn't include "a uimhear"

A Dennis, can you explain how to construct a simple sentence with multiple adjectives?

Do you just list them in order after the noun?

For instance, how would you translate these two sentences:

In the big brown box there are many small white rabbits...

He is an old white man...



(Message edited by do_chinniúint on March 01, 2007)

Also to Mac...I knew that beautiful was one of those adjectives, however, I didn't know if there were cases when you might do that with other adjectives?

Do Chinniúint: Sorry, I didn't understand your point above. I don't know of other adjectives than the ones you've listed.

Mac Léinn,

When you typed:

Bhí sí (go) álainn go soiléir

nó

Bhí sí (go) álainn go glinn


I thought maybe you knew of a rule that would allow one to use "go" with adgectives other than the 8 adjectives I mentioned...sorry for the confusion.

Oh, I finally see your point - and it's right in front of me! go soiléir and go glinn are straight out of De Bhaldraithe's English-Irish Dictionary for the meaning of "plain" as an adverb. So maybe soiléir and glinn are two more adjectives that can be prefaced by go. I would be interested in knowing if they can be used that way, or if De Bhaldraithe's entries are just two more examples of how not to use a dictionary.

An cheist ar bhealach eile, b’fhéidir:
I mBéarla, de gnáth, ní úsáidimid níos mó ná trí cinn le chéile.
Ord:
1. Tuairim
Sampla: leabhar spéisiúil, léacht leadaránach
2. Tomhas
Sampla: mála mór, balla tanaí
3. Aois
Sampla: carr nua, stíl nua-aimseartha
4. Cruth
Sampla: túr ciorclach
5. Dath
Sampla: culaith liath, cóta dubh
6. Bunús
Peil Mheiriceánach
7. Abhar
Sampla: mála plaisteach, stocaí olla

Samplaí i mBéarla: A great old Italian opera. (opinion - age - origin)
A big round green box. (dimension - shape - color)
A terrible green plastic ornament. (opinion - color - material)
A slim new French skirt. (dimension - age - origin)

Ceist: Cén ord atá againn sa Ghaeilge?

Is breá liom an cheist.
Caithfidh mé dul ag smaoineamh faoi.

I was having a conversation today in Irish with a girl and we were both using pure Irish, none of this "tá mé alright" crap, but then she came out with an English sentence. What she uttered was an English expression which had no specific meaning in and of itself, but which had an understood meaning among native English speakers. Of course, she would have chosen to speak in Irish if she had the chance, but she wasn't a native speaker of Irish and so was lacking an appropriate Irish phrase. Anyhow, the English sentence added quite nicely to the conversation I must say!

don't forget, however, that in "the big yellow bus" both big and yellow describe the bus. In "the girl was plain beautiful" only beautiful applies to the girl, plain modifies beautiful, making it an adverb (simply beautiful, plainly beautiful, just beautiful, etc).

quote:

I was having a conversation today in Irish with a girl and we were both using pure Irish, none of this "tá mé alright" crap

Nach méanar duit!

Ach más Gaeilgeoir snasta,blasta thú
Is má thuigeann tú cúrsaí gramadaí
Tar trasna na páirce móire chugam...

Táim ar siúl an bhóthair uaignigh seo
Le fada, fada an lá
Ag cuartú mná gaelaí i ngach aon áit
ach faraor, níl sí le fáil...

Samplaí i mBéarla: A great old Italian opera. (opinion - age - origin)
A big round green box. (dimension - shape - color)
A terrible green plastic ornament. (opinion - color - material)
A slim new French skirt. (dimension - age - origin)

Ceist: Cén [t-]ord atá againn sa Ghaeilge?

An-cheist go deimhin, a Ch. Thug mé iarracht ar iad seo a aistriú. An chéad rud a thug mé faoi deara ná go bhfuil drogall orm trí aidiacht aitreabúideach a charnadh le chéile i nGaeilge. Tá dhá cheann sách éasca:

sean-cheoldráma Iodálach
bosca mór uaine
ornáid uaine phlaisteach (ach bheinn sásta le "phlaisteach uaine")
sciorta nua Francach

Ach nuair a thagann an treas aidiacht isteach, bhuel...

bosca mór cruinn uaine ??

Níl a fhios agam an bhfuil aon treoir le fáil in GGBC.

"níl sí le fáil.."
Níl tú ag iascaireacht, an bhfuil?
Ní leor breac ón mbreacGhaeltacht duit mar sin.
Tá mé ag ceapadh go bhfuil ceol na habhann níos milse i gConamara ☺

quote:

She was plain beautiful.

Bhí sí go hálainn amach (is amach).

quote:

"níl sí le fáil.."
Níl tú ag iascaireacht, an bhfuil?
Ní leor breac ón mbreacGhaeltacht duit mar sin.
Tá mé ag ceapadh go bhfuil ceol na habhann níos milse i gConamara ?

Caint dhorcha ón mbean dhorcha!

Ach má thuigim i gceart thú, bheinn breá sásta le dea-threoir ó abhainn ar bith. Bradán atá uaim, ní breac.

A Dhemne,
Feictear dom, ag caint faoin teanga, gur ith tú do dhóthain den bhradán feasa sin: http://www.suibhne.com/gaeilge.html
Ach chuir tú ag gáire mé arís. Go raibh maith agat is oíche mhaith is codladh snámh, sámh, lo que sea.

Do-chinniúint, a chara,
here's an attempt here for your examples:
In the big brown box there are many small white rabbits...
Ins an mbosca mór donn, tá go leor coiníní beaga.

He is an old white man...White? I’m avoiding the possibility of pigmentism; I’m going to go with poor.
Is seanfhear bocht é.


Dennis,

I’m in a hurry so there may be errors. Bí lách led' thoil:

Péire- brí céanna

briste brúite
fite fúite
mór milteach
crosta cantalach

Péire
rud mór buí
lá breá samhraidh
droimeann donn dílis
gleann beag álainn.
iasc deas úr
bean ard tanaí
duine grámhar gealgháireach

Trí cinn
báite fuar fliuch


go leor coiníní beaga (uimhir, briathar, tomhas)
rud mór buí (tomhas, dath)
lá breá samhradh (tuairim, aois/am)
droimeann donn dílis (dath,
gleann beag álainn (tomhas, tuairim)
iasc deas úr (tuairim, aois?)
bean ard tanaí (tomhas, tomhas)
duine grámhar gealgháireach (tuairim, tuairim)
sean-cheoldráma Iodálach (aois ceangailte le briathar, bunús)
bosca mór uaine ( tomhas, dath)
ornáid uaine phlaisteach/ phlaisteach uaine (dath ábhar nó ábhar dath}
sciorta nua Francach ( aois, bunús)

An féidir an t-ord a fháil as?
A dhiabhail, tá sé deacair.
Could this be a general rule?
Before the noun
1. number
2. age (old)
After the noun
3. size
4. age
5. material
6. color
7. opinion
8. time
9. origin


This needs more work ach tá sé spéisiúil.

Well, there's one anyway: replace
Briathar with Ainmfhocal above.
Gotta run

mór milteach
crosta cantalach
briste brúite
fite fúite

An t-ord
gearr, fada?
caol, leathan?

quote:

mór milteach

Tá an ceann seo suimiúil!

millteach / millteánach mór = terribly big

mór millteach = big, enornous

cat mór millteach = a big, huge cat

Sea, tá sé millteach mór. = Yes, he's awfully big.