I thought this might be a fun way for people to practice their Irish. This is actually a game my niece showed me that she does regularly in her Spanish class...

It is pretty simple...

I will take sentences from an Irish source, and then using a random generator online...have the words mixed up. Try to put the sentences in a correct order.

I will write the sentences as they were originally written in the sources three days after the original posting. I hope this is enough time for people to look at them and try to work them out...

It might take a few rounds to get the bugs out of the system, but I think this could be a good way for some people to develop a little familiarity and confidence with Irish. I will not go out of my way to trick people. Here is a sample of how to do this.

sentence 1:

a) as / mé. / Conamara / Is

answer: Is as Conamara mé.

If a sentence is complex with multiple fragments separated by commas it will look like this:

sentence 2:

a) roimh / sin / chomórtas, / a / straitéiseach / an / dushlán / Mar / chuir / an / plean
b) méadaíodh / ná / an / duaischiste / thrí. / faoi / mó / níos

answer: Mar a chuir an plean straitéiseach sin dushlán roimh an chomórtas, méadaíodh an duaischiste níos mó ná faoi thrí.

*****NOTE*****

These sentences will be taken directly from the interviews in "Speaking Irish" by Siuán Ní Mhaonaigh and Antain Mac Lochlainn if you have the book and need help. I do not want to hear about correctness of grammar or dialects. The point here is to get people comfortable with Irish and its order of words. If this works out, perhaps this could be something that Daltaí adds to their website in the future.

So here we go:

Taken from Interview 1 of segment 1. Máirín Nic Dhonncha (page 2)

Trial run:

a) as / mé, / Conamara / Is
b) as / beag / Gaeltacht / tuaithe, / Chonamara-baile
c) Béal an Daingin, (name of a place)
d) Chuan an Fhir Mhóir. / suite / atá / mbéal / i

I will try just this for now. I know that this can be very trying, so I might use some very basic sentences also in the future for new learners. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome.

Níor mhaith liom féin an saghas so cleachtaidh riamh. Ní fhreagraíonn sé d'aon scil teanga atá úsáideach san fhíorshaol. Cad í a fheidhm ar chlár go bhféadaimíd Gaelainn a chleachtadh ann sa mhéid ná beimid ach dá labhairt?

Faoi mar a thuigimse é, tá an modh foghlama seo dírithe go príomha ar chomhréir na bhfocal. Agus chaithfí roinnt ama a chaitheamh le gach abairt freisin. Táim cinnte de gur modh torthúil a bheadh ann chun gnéithe éagsúla na teanga a chleachtadh. B'fhiú leanúint ar aghaidh leis agus triail a bhaint as, ar aon nós.

For those interested

a) as / mé, / Conamara / Is
b) as / beag / Gaeltacht / tuaithe, / Chonamara-baile
c) Béal an Daingin, (name of a place)
d) Chuan an Fhir Mhóir. / suite / atá / mbéal / i

Answers for the parts and the complete sentence is:

a) Is as Conamara mé,
b) as Gaeltacht Chonarmara-baile beag tuaithe,
c) Béal an Daingin,
d) atá suite i mbéal Chuan an Fhir Mhóir.

Is as Conamara mé, as Gaeltacht Chonamara-baile beag tuaithe, Béal an Daingin, atá i mbéal Chuan an Fhir Mhóir.

Perhaps now people can see what I am talking about, or trying to do here with this? The idea behind this type of exercise is that it helps people to try and think more in their target languages...

However, I think that easier sentences are in order.