Monday, June 27, 2011

''To have''

There is no verb 'to have' in Gaelic, so instead people say that things are 'at them'. Use the verb 'to BE' and the preposition 'aig' (= at).

Tha (noun) aig (noun/person).
BE (noun) at (noun/person).
(noun/person) has (noun).

ex. Tha cupa cofaidh aig Ruth. Ruth has a cup of coffee.

'Aig' (like most Gaelic prepositions) conjugates according to person. This means that if you want to say something such as 'She has a banana', you have to use the correctly conjugated 'prepostional pronoun'.

aig + i (she) = aice

Tha banana aice.
Be banana at-her.
She has a banana.

Conjugations for aig:
agam = at-me
agad = at-you (sing.)
aige = at-him
aice = at-her
againn = at-us
agaibh = at-you (plur. & polite)
aca = at-them

Other Examples:
Tha bean aige. bean = wife/woman
Tha duine aice. duine = husband/man/person
Tha leabhar againn. leabhar = book
Tha taigh agaibh. taigh = house

Some Expressions:
Tha fhios agam. = I know.
fios/fhios = knowledge

Tha gaol agam ort. = I love you.
BE love at-me on-you.
gaol = love, ort = on-you

Monday, June 20, 2011

Ciamar a tha thu?

Ciamar a tha thu/sibh? How are you?

Tha gu math. I'm well.
Glè mhath. Very good.

Tha gu dòigheil. I'm all right.
Ceart gu leòr. Right enough/not bad.
Chan eil dona. Not bad.

Tha gu dona. I'm bad.
Tha mi tinn. I'm sick.

Tapadh leat/leibh, ciamar a tha thu/sibh fhèin? Thank you, how are you yourself?

thu (you sing.)
sibh (you plural and polite)

leat (with-you sing.)
leibh (with-you plural and polite)

Check out Unit 1 of BBC's Beag air Bheag for sound recordings of some of the expressions:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/alba/foghlam/beag_air_bheag/units/unit_01/

Greetings/Goodbyes

Halò. Hello.
Madainn mhath. Good morning.
Feasgar math. Good afternoon/evening.

Chì mi a-rithist thu/sibh. See you again.
Chì mi a-màireach thu/sibh. See you tomorrow.
Chì mi thu/sibh Diluain. See you Monday.

Tìoraidh. Cheerio.
Mar sin leat. Goodbye.