Hope ye don't mind- hard weekend (banjo festivals!!) and I need to fall back on my English tonight.

I heard on the radio the other say 'leath i ndiaidh a naoi' spoken by a fine Donegal speaker. Up to then I have only encountered 'tar éis' or 'théis' etc. as I am trying to get the hang of Conamara Irish..

So I was wondering what other expressions are out there for describing what time it is? Be they any dialect. I'm just interested in hearing of any variations really.

The other little question I have is to do with Conamara pronunciation. Do you pronounce the 'n' in 'an' when you are saying 'tá sé leathuair théis an hocht', 'théis an naoi', or is it just in spelling you see that they use 'an' in Conamara in this case?

In Ulster Irish we say:

Tá sé ceathrú i ndiaidh a cúig
Tá sé ceathrú go dtí a cúig
Tá sé leath i ndiaidh a naoi

for past, to & half past

I was in Dún Lúiche (Dunlewey, Co Donegal) recently for the weekend & bought my daughter a book as she is learning to tell the time in school and it had:

Tá sé ceathrú tar éis a cúig
Tá sé ceathrú chun a cúig

I had never seen these before.

Damian

Hi Damien agus go raibh maith agat as an eolas sin.
In Ó'Siadhail's Learning Irish (Conamara Irish) he has: ceathrú don seacht.
I wonder is it in Munster they say 'chun a cúig' for quarter to, etc.

It's odd- in Conamara Irish they use the article whereas the other dialects don't seem to, but it seems you only hear the N in 'an' when you are saying 'tá sé an seacht', but when it's say 'deich théis an seacht' you only hear the 'a' in 'an'.

I don't think the word "an" as in "leath uair tar éis an hocht" is used in any dialect. I always understood the word was "a" not "an". So its "leath uair tar éis a hocht" spoken and written. It's the same word as preceeds numbers when you are actually counting them. Eg "A haon, a dó a trí" and so on and so forth.

Am I right or what!

Funny, I had also problem with telling time recently. Does anyone know how to say "It is noon" in Irish? I mean, I know "meán lae" and "meán oíche", but "Tá sé meán lae" cannot be right!

Meadhon lae atá ann?

Seosamh: See Ó'Siadhail 'Learning Irish' under Lesson 24- the 'an' is written in all cases even 'leathuair tar éis an hocht' and 'tá sé an haon' but it is pronounced as 'a' or 'n' depending on context. mostly as 'a' as we hear the most often.
It was a surprise to my own little system when I came across it :)

It is also visible in 'ceathrú don hocht' in 'don'. Must be only in Cois Fharraige Irish.

(Message edited by sineadw on September 29, 2009)

quote:

In Ulster Irish we say:

Tá sé ceathrú i ndiaidh a cúig
Tá sé ceathrú go dtí a cúig
Tá sé leath i ndiaidh a naoi

for past, to & half past

I was in Dún Lúiche (Dunlewey, Co Donegal) recently for the weekend & bought my daughter a book as she is learning to tell the time in school and it had:

Tá sé ceathrú tar éis a cúig
Tá sé ceathrú chun a cúig

I had never seen these before.

Although you bought it in Dún Lúiche (I guess in Ionad Cois Locha ;-) ), obviously that's Standard Irish (borrowed from Munster, I'd say, but with "tar éis" although few people pronounce it like that, normally it's more like tréis, théis, léis etc), and not what people say in Dún Lúiche. They'd say just what you said at the beginning, with i ndiaidh and go dtí a (you'd hear "go dtína" too).

When it's 1 o'clock, you say a haon. If the preceding word was an , it would be an aon. I have never heard an used in telling time. Why would you say It's the !o'clock, etc?

I don't think the expression "It is noon" is very common in English. It sounds a bit odd to my ear. Usually, if one is being precise about time, you state the time i.e. "Its twelve o'clock. If you are not so sure of the time you might say, "Its about mid-day" or "It's around noon".

Likewise in Irish as follows. "Cén t-am é?". "Tá sé thart fá meánlae tá me ag ceapadh" or words to that effect.

Anyone else have an opinion?

I'd say:

tá sé ar bharr an mheán lae

Re. an: Cuckoo- the 'an' is everywhere in Ó'Siadhail's Learning Irish. He himself was a lecturer in Irish and a native speaker so you can't argue with what he says re. Cois Fharraige Irish. That's part of the reason I started this thread as I found it very interesting when I came across it.

And re. an haon should be an aon, normally yeah but again he specifically explains in a footnote that in this dialect it is 'an haon', with the h prefixed.

Strange but out there!

quote:

I guess in Ionad Cois Locha ;-)

correct you are, great place to bring the kids, been there a few times now. And its great all the staff are native speakers Irish and had conversations in Irish with my children when they were paying for gifts at the till. I would recommend the place to anyone visiting.

T was easy, in what other place would you find books in Dún Lúiche anyway? :-D Not in Mac Geady's nor in the Youth Hostels anyway :-)

Maidir le "meán lae", seans go bhfuil eolas agaibh ar an leagan cainte seo "bolg an lae" - nó mar a d'fhoghlaim mise é, "boilg an lae" (e.g. "bhí sé thart ar bhuilg an lae an uair sin"). Is í an chiall atá leis, de réir de Bhaldraithe, "lár an lae", agus is é "middle of the day" a deirtear leis i mBéarla, de réir an Dónallaigh.

Anois, seo í an cheist atá agam ar lucht an eolais, cén t-am baileach atá i gceist leis sin? Ar "meán lae" é seo?

Is dóigh liom go bhfuil meán lae níos cinnte - nóin atá i gceist.