Comparison of Scottish and Irish Gaelic
English Gàidhlig Gaeilge
------- -------- -------
I am Tha mi Tá mé
You are Tha thu Tá tú
He (or it) is Tha e Tá sé
She (or it) is Tha i Tá sí
We are Tha sinn Tá muid (or Táimid) (or Tá sinn)
You are Tha sibh Tá sibh
They are Tha iad Tá siad
I am not Chan eil mi Níl mé
Are you? A' bheil thu? An bhfuil tú?
Aren't you? Nach eil thu? Nach bhfuil tú?
I am (habitual) Bidh mi Bím
You are (hab.) Bidh thu Bíonn tú
I will be Bidh mi Beidh mé
I won't be Cha bhi mi Ní bheidh mé
Will you be? Am bi thu? An mbeidh tú?
Won't you be? Nach bi thu? Nach mbeidh tú?
I was Bha mi Bhí mé
I was not Cha robh mi Ní raibh mé
Were you? An robh thu? An raibh tú?
Weren't you? Nach robh thu? Nach raibh tú?
I would be Bhithinn Bheinn
You would be Bhiodh tu Bheadh tú
I am drinking Tha mi ag òl Tá mé ag ól
I drink (hab.) Bidh mi ag òl Ólaim
He drinks (hab.)Bidh e ag òl Ólann sé
I am going Tha mi ag dol Tá mé ag dul
I go (hab.) Bidh mi a' dol Téim
You go (hab.) Bidh thu a' dol Téann tú
Eclipsis:
Impossible looking combinations of consonants at the beginning of Irish Gaelic
words (mb, gc, nd, bhf, ng, bp, dt)
strike terror in Scottish Gaelic speakers, but they are really very simple. They
just mean that the preceding word historically used to end in an n or m,
which often survives in the Scottish Gaelic spelling, but in Irish Gaelic only
only survives as a modified pronounciation of the first letter of the following
word. To get at the basic dictionary headword, just strip off the initial
consonant. e.g.:
| Latha nam paistean |
Lá na bpáistí (look up "páiste") |
| Tha fhios agam gum bi e ann. |
Tá fhios agam gu mbeidh sé ann. |
| Pairc nan caoraich |
Páirc na gcaorach (look up "caorach") |
| nam biodh airgead agam |
dá mbeadh airgead agam |
The spelling revision in Irish Gaelic about 40 years ago did away with a lot
of letters in the middle or at the ends of words which were no longer
pronounced. They may or may not be still pronounced in Scottish Gaelic. e.g.:
| saoghal |
saol |
| ceartachadh |
ceartú |
If you can't find an Irish Gaelic word in a Scottish Gaelic dictionary, try
changing unvoiced consonants (c p t) to the corresponding voiced
consonant g b d (which may actually be pronounced unvoiced in Scottish
Gaelic too), and try changing unstressed a or o to u. e.g.:
| sgian |
scian |
| sgoil |
scoil |
| uisge |
uisce |
| agad |
agat |
| comunn |
comann |
| gu |
go |
Here is a Scottish
Gaelic - Irish Gaelic phrase list.
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