What is the most correct way to say, "I love you." Several books have several ways. The sentence itself is what I'm looking for, but all the books have are phrases of sentences like, "mo chroí".

Go raibh maith agat.

I like "Tá grá agam duit"

Is tusa mo rún! (And I hope your mother doesn't find out.)
Á stóirín ó mo chroí is tú an ghrian is an ghealach agam. Is tú réalt an eolais ag dul romham is i mo dhiaidh thú. Murach thú bheinn i mo dhúramán ar nós na n-aingleafóin nach dtuigeann a dhath. I gcochall mo chroí tá grá agam duit. Ó a chuidín! Ó a mhúirnín! Ó a thaisce! Ó mo sheacht ngrá thú as éisteacht liom. Tá daoine eile a rithfeadh ar luas mótair uaim dá gcloisfidis Gaeilge. ...

I came across "Do Ghradus í" several times and in several versions of an 18th Century Waterford poem but never heard it spoke or seen it written in contempory irish.

quote:

I came across "Do Ghradus í" several times and in several versions of an 18th Century Waterford poem but never heard it spoke or seen it written in contempory irish.

The verb "gráigh" is still used and I have examples from Clear Island and Corca Dhuibhne. In the example you give above, this should be "do ghrádhus í" (note lenition of d, which would be d with a ponc or dot above it in the old script). Today, we would write this as "do ghrás í".

Well, in PUL's translation of the gospels, "love thy neighbour as thyself" is:

Grádhuigh do chómharsa mar thu féin.

But I think he may have had a special reason for wording it like that, eg wanting each Greek word in the New Testament to correspond to one Irish word (dynamic equivalence???)

So in the modern spelling:

gráigh do chomharsa mar thu féin

/grɑ:gʹ də xo:rsə mɑr hu fe:nʹ/

(Message edited by corkirish on January 10, 2011)

An Bíobla Naofa has:
37Dúirt sé leis: “‘Gráóidh tú do Thiarna Dia ó do
chroí go hiomlán agus ó d’anam go hiomlán agus ó d’aigne go hiomlán’ –38is í sin an aithne mhór agus an phríomhaithne. 39Agus is cosúil léise an dara ceann: ‘Gráóidh tú do chomharsa mar thú féin.’ 40Ag brath ar an dá aithne sin atá an dlí ar fad agus na fáithe.”

(Matha 22)

29D’fhreagair Íosa: “Seo í an chéad cheann: ‘Cluin, a
Iosrael, an Tiarna ár nDia is aon Tiarna ann 30agus gráóidh tú do Thiarna Dia ó do chroí go hiomlán, agus ó d’anam go hiomlán agus ó d’aigne go hiomlán agus ó do neart go hiomlán.’ 31Seo í an dara ceann: ‘Gráóidh tú do chomharsa mar thú féin.’ Níl aithne eile is mó ná iadsan.”
(Marcas 12)

But this is the imperative: Thou shalt love....

Romans 13 has a different usage:
9 Na haitheanta “ná déan drúise,” “ná déan marú,” “ná déan goid,” “ná santaigh,” agus aon aithne eile dá bhfuil ann, tá coimriú déanta orthu go léir san abairt seo: “Gráigh do chomharsa mar thú féin.” 10Ní dhéanann an grá aon olc ar an gcomharsa, agus, dá bhrí sin, is é an grá
comhlíonadh an dlí.

However, to say I love you, one of the versions Taidhgín suggested would be commoner.

You would also say "Tusa grá mo chroí" and other expressions.

'Mo chroí thú' and 'Tá mo chroí isteach ionat' are in Ó Dónaill and he gives 'I love you dearly' as the translation.

To go back to the original question:

quote:

What is the most correct way to say, "I love you." Several books have several ways.

That is because, as we have confirmed for you, there are several ways, all of them correct.

The simplest thing, if you want to use the word "grá" is something like:

Tá grá agam duit

But beware: that is not an exclusive love; you could have other loves.

That is probably why other forms such as

Is tú mo ghrá geal

are more popular.

Here is a fun love song from Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin (with translations)

http://www.futafata.com/Gaeilge/lirici/Is_tu_mo_Chiarog.pdf

quote:

'Mo chroí thú' and 'Tá mo chroí isteach ionat' are in Ó Dónaill and he gives 'I love you dearly' as the translation.

That should be "tá mo chroí istigh ionat". "Tá mo chroí isteach ionat" literally means "My heart is going inside you" as though you were talking about a heart transplant operation! Lovely expression nonetheless.

Sorry 'Mo chroí isteach ionat' I meant to write!

Heard it said by Blathnaid Ní Chofaigh the other night when she was saying how much she loves one of her acts on rte show :) She phrased it 'mo chroí isteach'. It's not one I've heard that often really so I checked it up in Ó Dónaill afterwards to see what he had for it. That's why I said I'd post them up here as they are relevant to translating 'I love you' and might be helpful to someone, even if not the OP.

Yep, tá mo chroí istigh ionat is a lovely phrase for someone you're very fond of.

(Message edited by sineadw on January 11, 2011)

"Mo chroí isteach ionat!" and "Tá mo chroí istigh ionat" aren't quite the same thing. The first is like a wish, "may my heart go into you!". The second is saying "My heart IS in you". Note the difference in meaning between "an duine isteach" and "an duine istigh" for example.

I'm okay with the difference between them Carmanach...

ag dul isteach but tá mé istigh ann... and all that :)

You'll have to give me the benefit of the doubt and realise that my adding 'tá' was a typo earlier.

(Message edited by sineadw on January 11, 2011)

Fair enough, Sinéad but there are many people here who will not know the difference between "isteach" and "istigh" for example. I mentioned the point just to be sure that you and everyone else can see the difference.

Grand Carmanach, sounds like you are on a mission :) Anyway just so you know I learned the difference between isteach and istigh when I was 13/14.. 1st/2nd year. I had my dad for my Irish teacher in secondary school. It would not be right to be letting him down now :)

(Message edited by sineadw on January 11, 2011)

I was told in the Gaeltacht that traditional Irish people don't like all this "I love you" thing. The same thing in China. While 我爱你 is correct Chinese, you'll find the phrase embarrassing and highly personal to Chinese, who will rarely use it...

Let's combine Carmanach's form and Sineadw's:

Mo ghrá im chroí istigh thu!

The Chinese say 爱屋及乌 aiwujiwu - literally, love my house and the crows (on the roof). This means "love me, love my dog". Is there any idiomatic way of saying "love me, love my dog" in Irish?

http://www.consolatio.com/2005/02/lament_for_art__1.html

quote:

Mo ghrá go daingean tú!
Lá dá bhfaca thú
ag ceann tí an mhargaidh,
thug mo shúil aire dhuit,
thug mo chroí taitneamh duit,
d'éalaíos óm charaid leat
i bhfad ó bhaile leat.

(Caution: that link has a number of typos in the text)

Aonghus, I am dubious that the original text said "mo ghrá go daingean tú" - surely tu, with no fada? I understand "mo ghrá go daingean tu" as meaning "I will always love you".

quote:

Is there any idiomatic way of saying "love me, love my dog" in Irish?

"An té a bhuailfeadh mo mhadra bhuailfeadh sé mé féin"

taitneamh a thabhairt do dhuine/rud = take a liking/fancy to someone/something

Corkirish, you are correct.

"tu" is written "tú" today; so I over corrected.

http://www.asti.ie/uploads/media/0071-2010_Leaving_certificate_Irish_syllabuses_effective_from_1.9.10.pdf

Two other versions.



(Message edited by aonghus on January 11, 2011)

yes, tu is written tú today. And it is doubtful if such poems have a canonical form, as they circulated in manuscript for decades before they were published in book form