The Irish Law of the Letter

The sounds of L and R are considered among the loveliest of human speech.  
The Alphabet  p. 216 

Could that be the reason that the letters L, N and R are treated as special and perfect in themselves in the Irish language? L, N and R are not subject to lenition or eclipse - they remain unchanged regardless of their grammatical context. Even when there is a question of gender confusion (e.g. a lámh- could refer to his, her or their hand) these letters are left alone. They are Loners!

There are 17 letters* (26 in English) listed in the Irish alphabet- five vowels (a,e,i,o,u) and twelve consonants.

Like Jose Marino some of these consonants are considered the ‘special ones’. You know them as d, l, m, n, r, s, t. 

(m/link ‘dull men rest’ )

If you looked at Irish as a code of sounds you would have to pay particular attention to how certain letters are consistent ‘rule-breakers’. There is not necessarily any logical or esthetical reason why these Irish letters do not follow the rules. However, one thing is certain and that is - these ‘rule-breaking’ letters cause a lot of confusion and uncertainty for those who want to learn ‘an Ghaeilge cheart’. 

If language is seen as a code and as a means of protecting the tribe from infiltration by ‘outsiders’, then these rules and exceptions to the rule make some sense. The many  grammatical mutations that words undergo in Irish  make passing oneself off as a native speaker of Irish a daunting task. The would-be infiltrator would have a difficult task to identify why some letters in Irish are subject to change while others are left alone.

Certain consonants or groups of consonants are not subject to grammer rules that usually cause ‘lenition’ and ‘eclipsis’.  If you know these ‘rule-breakers’ you will find  grammar rules much easier to apply correctly and consistently.

As a result less hair and less sleep will be lost.

Many words connected with school fall into the category of exceptions-to-the-rules: 

e.g. scoil, rang, scrúdu,  máistir, seomra, ceardscoil, ar scoil,  sport, lón, leabhar, ar an rang, leis an máistir scoile 

Unfortunately, these are among the first words students of Irish learn, so the preferrred option of hammer-home-the-rule and then note the exceptions can pose problems to implement. 

 Recognizing how Irish treats these special ‘rule-breaking’ letters builds confidence in speaking and writing Irish correctly.

Here are some tips to deal with those Magnificent 7 consonants.

 No Change!

L + d   When two words are joined by the letters ‘l + d’ to make a new word there is no grammatical change. 

e.g. ceoldramaíocht, opera

N + d  When one word ends and the other word begins with Dental or Loner consonants there is no grammatical change.

e.g. an doras, aon drochscéimh, an-tapa

 YES Change!

  M   The letter ‘m’ is in a category all by itself: It  is affected by ‘lenition’,  but it is not affected by ‘eclipsis’

   e.g.      An-mhealltach, very attractive

‘S’ is for special

‘S’ + vowels a, e, i, o, u,  = no change but use ‘san’ 

e.g.     san oíche

‘S’+ Loner cononants = yes  change  put ‘t’ in front

e.g.  sa tslí, sa tsneachta, sa tsron,

‘S’ + c, m, p, or t = no change

No ‘t’ and no ‘h’  ever with  sc, sm, sp, or st. 

(m/link ‘spot scam’ )

e.g.  sa scoil, sa smig, sa spéir, sa stair, drochscéimh, priomhsprioc, dátstampa

Note that ‘mar’ usually causes lenition but does not do so when followed by ‘spot scam’ consonants:

e.g. Mar scribhneoir agus mar mhúinteoir, as a writer and as a teacher

You can see from the above example with ‘mar’ how frustrating it might be for anyone learning Irish who knows the rule that ‘mar’ causes lenition but is unaware that ‘spot scam’ consonants are the exception to the rule. All languages are codes and if you enjoy cracking codes Is maith an buachaill an Ghaeilge a thabhairt faoi. 

Hearing the language and repeating what you hear is an essential ingredient to learning a language. Music and song provides an excellent and enjoyable way to listen repeatedly to phrases in Irish. Find songs you like on topics that interest you. ‘Mar focal scor,’ I leave you with a link to a video of Sinéad O’Connor singing her version of Óro 'Sé Do Bheatha 'bhaile: 

Note to Guitarists If you would like the tab/chords or a guitar arrangement of the song contact me here: guitarlessonsdundrum.com

Fun Differences between English and Irish: You say ‘tomato’, ‘mo dhuine’ says ‘tráta’

   An breac sa bhainne, the fly in the ointment,

    (The trout in the milk)

An important step to learning another language is asking the question ‘How do you say this in…? Irish teacher and activist Colm O’Gara complains in his book  Mise of being plagued by a more colourful variant of that question.  Ba í an chéad cheist a chuiridís i gcónaí orm ( The first quetion they would always ask me was ) : “How would you Irish the two ends of a stick for me ?”.  It is fascinating and often amusing to compare how other languages express the same ideas and emotions but use totally different words, phrases, images, metaphors and proverbs to do so. Translating even ‘the two ends of a stick ‘ can prove sticky. In school Irish the word ‘ceann’ is mostly translated as ‘head’ but ‘ceann’ has many meanings including ‘end’ depending on usage and context. If we want to say ‘from one end of the village to another’ we use ‘ó ceann ceann an bhaile’. Google Translate fails miserably with Irish because it 'thinks' like a dictionary and selects the first listed meaning of words isolated from context. Let’s look at an example sentence with ‘ceann’ in it.

e.g. Nuair a bhí mo dhá cheann i dtalamh, dar liom go gcuala mé ceol píob i bhfad ar shiúl. Shil mé i dtús báire nach rabh ann ach aisling… from Rotha mór an tSaoil p.195

When my two were in, I feel like I gcuala pipe music far away. I thought initially that it was only a dream - Google Translate

Suggested translation: When I had my two feet (not heads) firmly planted on the ground, it seemed to me I could hear someone playing the bagpipes. At first I thought it was only an illusion…

 If you want to ‘think’ in Irish you must learn the ‘Irish Way’ of saying things and avoid the ‘dul an Bhearla’.

Here are a few helpful insights into the Irish ancestral mind.

Ní mór a mheabhrú, afách,  you must remember, however,…

Cherries for Grapes

Silíní searbha, for sour grapes

Cat for Dog

Dog’s-ear, cluaisín cait.      cluaisín , little ear, lobe, tab, tag,

West-east  for back to front

Back to front, taobh thiar aniar.   (West, thiar: East, aniar)

Rub for Tear

Wear and tear, caitheamh agus cumuilt

In Irish ‘foghlaim’ can mean both ‘learn’ and ‘teach’

‘Learn’ and ‘teach’ are two different verbs in English.

Confusing one with the other is often used in a fun context:

 e.g ‘He learned me all  that I know’ might bring a smile to a native English speaker and also the thought that the speaker still had more to learn about correct English.

But in Irish you can ‘rud a fhoghlaim do dhuine’ .

Is breá an foghlaim a thug tú dó, You taught him well; What a fine thing you taught him! (with a sense of irony)

Tá a fhoghlaim déanta aige, he has learned his trade, he is experienced.

He is well-educated.

Tá foghlaim air, it has to be learned.

Chuir mé romhainn an teanga a fhoghlaim.

I set myself the task of learning the language.

You can even ‘foghlaim an bás’ in Irish, a way of saying s.o. is dying!

In Irish you need only promise the ‘sun’ and ‘moon’. The ‘stars’ are ignored.

Ach ní raibh gar dó a bheith ag labhairt, a gheall an ghrian agus an ghealach di.

But it was no use him talking, promising her the sun and the moon.

Bhí sé sin rud gar! ‘That was a near thing’ is an expression in English meaning a ‘close escape’.  Irish has a number of ways to use ‘gar’ including this one:

Tá sé an-ghar dó féin.

In school Irish this could well be translated nonsensically as, ‘He is very near to himself’.  But if you know some other meanings of ‘gar’ then this sentence makes a lot more sense. ‘Gar’ can also mean ‘convenience’ , use, service, good turn, favour, ‘mean’, ‘stingy’,  etc.

‘He is very selfish’ is Ó Dónaill’s translation of ‘Tá sé an-ghar dó féin’. 

Think also of ‘self-interest’.

Cad é an gar! What’s the use!  

 Exaggeration is part of the Irish psyche.

Tá dhá croí uirthi. (lit. There are two hearts on her)

She is over the moon. (Here English also tending toward exaggeration!)

Lie for stand

it stands to reason         luíonn sé le ciall  (lit. It lies with sense)

In for out

Ní raibh mí Lúnasa istigh nuair a fuarthas an dara corp.

Before the month of August was out a second body was found

Under for up

Faoi shoilse, lit up

Down up for up down

Tá an áit síos suas acu, they have the place turned upside down

Back of the world for face of the earth

Dá bhfeicfeá in aon áit ar dhroim an domhain mhóir é, d’aithneofá gur Sasanach a bhí ann.

 No matter where in the wide world you might see him, you would know he was English

Cheek for head

De leiceann, by a short head (horse race)

Offence for an eye

Cion sa chion, (offence for offence) an eye for an eye, tit fot tat,

Centre  for bottom of heart

Ó cheartlár mo chrío, from the bottom of my heart

Head for heart

Ghoil sí uisce a cinn, she cried her heart out.

Head for end

Rachaidh sé ó cheann ceann na tíre chuig imeachtaí cultúir agus ealaíne

Head for back

Ag caint orm ar chúl mo chinn, talking behind my back

Irish puts death before life!

Cursaí báis(death) is beatha (life) Matters of life and death

Soul for life

Dá mbeadh m’anam air, if my life depended on it

Thug sé a anam slán leis, he escaped with his life (i.e. unharmed)

Irish puts smooth before rough!

mín agus garbha, the rough and the smooth

Black for blue

Tá dath na ndaol air( le fuacht), he is blue from the cold

Daol, m. Black beetle

Leaf for hat

Coinnigh faoin duilleog é, keep it under your hat, (i.e. secret) 

                          (leaf)

Or

Backteeth for mouth shut

Coinnigh an méid sin faoi do chúlfhiacla, keep your mouth shut abot that!

Road for stream

Bhí bóithre fola, allais, leis,  he was streaming blood, sweat

Road for possession, on (her) person

Bhí céad punt ina bóthar, she had a hundred pounds in her possession.

Teeth for face

Abair lena dhraid é, tell it to his face (lit. Teeth, open mouth)

Eyes melting for mouth watering

Nuair a fheiceas duine bia nua, go háirithe, má bhíonn confadh ocrais air, bíonn a shúile ar leá chuige.

When people see fresh food, especially if they are ravenously hungry, it tends to make their mouths water.

from Béal Beo p. 197

Belly for Back

Ar a tharr in airde, lying on his back.

        (Belly up)

If you want to really know how to ‘think’, understand and speak in a natural Irish way, níl an dara dul suas agat ach, you have no alternative but to learn and add to the above store of phrases. Beir Bua!

Spoken Irish:The Do's and Don'ts

“Letters are highly specialised images and we have always read words as images. Words are perceived as silhouette image-shapes; the letters they are made from are actually little pictures, and writing is a highly evolved and specialised form of drawing.”   

  Preface  Shapes for Sounds 

“Ah, naboclish,” sez I.                                                                   

In the beginning was the word… or rather the sound of it. Attempting to write down sounds produced by human vocal cords is a daunting task because it requires agreement that certain combinations of letters suggest definite sounds that the listener  recognises as a meaningful word. G.B.Shaw liked to point out that ‘ghoti’ was an equally valid alternative way of writing ‘fish’.  Take the ‘f’ sound from ‘gh’ in ‘tough’, the ‘i’ sound from the ‘o’ in ‘women’, and the ’sh’ sound of the ‘ti’ in ‘nation’ and you get the sound of ‘fish’ from ‘ghoti’. Building up sound associations of the spoken word  to the written word can be difficult and even today many people leave school illiterate. Speaking one’s mother tongue comes naturally through osmosis but reading and writing one’s mother tongue must be acquired through study.

Like many Irish people I learned to speak English first and then I learned to read and write it at school. But that natural order of the spoken to the written word was reversed when it came to learning Irish.  Learning a language word by word and it’s associated approximate sound from the printed word is a long process, but here are some tips to get you going toward understanding a native speaker. 

Swallowing letters galore (go leor).

Ag ta’see ‘mac… (girl radio announcer on RnG)      i.e. Ag tosaigh amach… to start off …

I remember listening to a recording of the novel Cré na Cille and trying to figure out the meaning of what I heard as the word ‘brastahint’. After repeated listenings I finally admitted defeat and found the recorded passage in the book. ‘Brastahint’ turned out to be ‘B’fhurasta a aithint… Cré p216. (You can easily tell...that's obvious)

My aural illusion of one word could be found in a dictionary as four separate words  i.e. ‘Ba’, ‘furasta’, ‘a’, and ‘aithint’. In the recording, the actress slams ‘b’ and ‘r’  together, the ‘f’ and ’t’ are silent because of lenition (the ‘h’ letter in Irish) and all the ‘a’ sounds are sounded as one mighty ‘aaaa’. Peo! (Phew!)

Obliterating the letter ‘f’ and 'n' is a constant feature in spoken Irish.

Watch how the 'f' disappears in 'dheirfiúr' and 'fhriafraigh' in the following Irish phrases (See also treatment of 'f' in song lyrics in accompanying video)

e.g Is fíor duit, a dheirfiúr ó.  (S/L a yeh’ruiro)  (S/L = Sounds Like)

Right on, brother!

Níor fhriafraigh siad díom an raibh béal orm. (Lit.) They didn’t ask me whether I had a mouth on me.

S/L - Near’reera shee’deem a’row bail uhrim. 

Meaning - They didn't offer me anything to eat or drink - their hospitality was found wanting.

The 'H' letter (lenition), + 'N' letter + putting 'g' before 'c' (eclipse) can cause an aural nightmare for the unwary 'Gaeilgeoir'. 

Casadh an chorcán leis an gciteal, the pot calling the kettle black

Ka’sa norcahn lesh’ a’ git’il.

In 'casadh' and 'chorcán' lenition wipes out the 'd' and 'c' sound The 'n' of 'an' is then grafted onto what's left of the word (i.e.'orcán') resulting in what sounds like the headword 'norcahn'. The 'n' of the little Irish word  'an' is very often reduced to 'a' as happens here with 'an gciteal'. 

The greatest difficulty with Irish in trying to imagine words as shapes or pictures is that the front, back and middle of words often change according to a complex set of rules.

In English the headwords (as entered in the dictionary) never change. The first letter of the word remains fixed. But let's look at what happens to an English sentence if I apply the rule of 'eclipse' (an Irish technique of disguising the real identity of headwords) to this sentence:

    e.g., Be cool dude favor green policies and save taxes 

            mbe gcool ndude bhfavor ngreen bpolicies and tsave dtaxes

  (S/L)  me   gool   nude vavor    nreen    bolicies and  tave   daxes 

Tip: If you learn the above sentence you now know all 8 letters of the Irish alphabet that are affected by 'eclipse' and how they can be 'eclipsed'.

In Irish it is not simply a question of associating one sound with one 'picture' of the written word.  Words that require lenition and eclipse have 3 sound 'pictures' or 'shapes' that your ear must be aware of. For example, the sound picture of 'bus' is not just 'bus' in Irish. You must learn the holy trinity of bus, mbus, and bhus.

A great way to get the rhythm and flow of the Irish language is to listen to songs 'as Gaeilge' while reading the lyrics.  Repetition is a key factor in hammering home sound pictures of words and phrases.  Building up a collection of songs you like to listen to over and over again can help enormously with your aural recognition of  Irish words and leads to greater fluency in spoken Irish . Gaelchultúir publish a song a month (Amhrán na míosa) with the Irish lyrics and an English translation.  Here is a taste of what they offer:

Song:  An Ciarraíoch Mallaithe                The Cursed Kerryman           

 Liricí                                                     Lyrics    

Má leanaim go dian tú siar chun Cairibreach,	If I follow you diligently west to Carbary,
Caillfead mo chiall mura dtriallfair abhaile liom,	I’ll lose my mind if you don’t go home with me,
Óró, bead ag sileadh na ndeor.	Óró, I’ll be shedding tears.
Ná tar im dheoidh gan mórchuid airgid,	Don’t come after me without plenty money,
Stampaí Rí Shacsain go cruinn i dtaisce agat,	The real stamp of the king of England in your keeping.
Óró, i gcomhair chostais an róid.	Óró, for the costs of the journey.

Ní bheidh cloig ar ár ndornaibh ó rómhar na ngarraithe,	There won’t be blisters on our fists from digging the fields,
Ná ó chruachadh na móna ná an fómhar a leathadh orainn.	Nor from heaping the turf nor the autumn sun shining on us.
Beidh rince fada againn más é is fearra leat,	We’ll have a long dance if that’s what you like best,
Ór is airgead, ól is beathuisce.	Gold and silver, drink and whiskey.
Óró, fad a mhairfimid beo.	Óró, as long as we live.

Nuair a bhraith an aoileann an oíche tagtha,	When the maid noticed that the night had arrived,
Is ná fuair sí istigh ná amuigh sa gharraí mé,	And she didn’t find me inside or out in the garden,
Óró, do chas olagón.	Óró, she sang a lament.
Do phreab sí ina suí, ag caoineadh a cuid airgid,	She jumped up and lamented the loss of her money,
Dá rá gur mheallas-sa a croí lem’ chleasannaibh,	Saying that I wooed her heart with my tricks,
Óró, fad a mhairfidh sí beo.	Óró, for as long as she lives.

Éirígí a chairde, ní foláir nó go leanfam é,	Arise my friends, I must follow him,
Cuardóm na bánta ‘gus ard na ngarraithe,	I’ll search the grasslands and the hillock with the fields,
Don gCiarraíoch Mallaithe, a mheall mo chuid airgid,	For that cursed Kerryman, who attracted my money,
Lena bhréithre bladair, ag diúgadh an chnagaire,	With his flattering words, while draining the naggin,
Óró, is ná feadar cá ngeobhad.	Óró, and I don’t know where I’ll find him.

Tip for guitarists: Tune 6th string to 'D', place capo on 2nd fret
play in key of 'D' shapes: 
Intro D, Em7, D/F#, G, A7sus4 || D, Em7, D/F, Em7/B, A7sus4, D || Em7, D, A7sus4, Bm || D, G, D, Em7/B, D, Em7/B, A7sus4 || D

More music at:www.guitarlessonsdundrum.com

Is é do lá fómhar é,* It’s your lucky day!

Don’t just be a St. Patrick’s week ‘Gaeilgeoir’! Become an all-year-round-bi-lingualist by using short Irish colloquial geetings, exclamations, encouragements, congratulations, humourous sayings, etc. Here are a few to get you going and annoy your friends with the ‘breacaireacht Ghaeilge’ (smattering of Irish) you have.

Let’s start off with a couple of words every Irish school kid should know but never perhaps realized that ‘cailc’ (chalk) could have other interesting meanings and uses.

An spéir an chailc! The sky’s the limit!

Cuir cailc leat féin! Control yourself!

(Drink buddy or sexual caution situation)

Praise is always good! Be positive in Irish!

Go deo thú!

Good for you!

As go deo leat!

Off you go!

 Irony in Irish

Tá mórán éirimí aige, he is very versatile    éirim oibre, aptitude for work

Is mór is fiú …, it’s just as well

Despair in Irish

Is beag is fiú punt anois, a pound is worth little now

Phrase For Panic Situations:

Faichill a thóna féin ar gach fear, every man for himself (lit. Every man mind/take care of his own arse)

For back-seat drivers on the way to Paddy’s parade:

Comhairle uaimse duit, let me give you some advice

Tiomáin go faichill,  drive carefully

Is fada a bhíonn ag smaoineamh air,  I wouldn’t dream of doing it

Or:

Is lag lom é a dhéanamh, I  am loathe to do it

Saor agus fóir sinn ó olc, save and deliver us from evil

After the car crashes:

Níl ann ach gránú, it’s only a scratch.

Is fada as! Far from it!

Good for St. Patrick’s Day masked balls:

Thug mé tuarim aithne dó, I guessed his identity

Níl tú ach ag caitheamh tuarimí, you are only guessing/speculating

Tá na seacht n-aithne agam air, I know him only too well. (Intimately)

And if you’re feeling confused at the end of the St. Patrick's day festivities:

Cén lá den tseachtain é?, what day of the week is it? 

*The meaning of Fómhar is most often associated with the months and season of autumn i.e. Fómhar( autumn) and méan Fómhar (September).

 If we translate the phrase word-for-word we get ’It is your September day!’. The chain of events leading to the translation ‘lucky day’ could go something like this:

‘Fómhar’ also means ‘harvest time’, leading to other meanings and connotations like  ‘reaping rewards’, ‘season of plenty’, ‘bumper year’, etc. Luck plays a part in a good harvest and so we eventually arrive at  ‘It’s your lucky day!’ (Is é do lá fómhar é!)

Try your hand at this way of tracking word-meanings with the English words ‘wind-fall’ and let's see what you come up with. 

Rud saor in aisce/Free Stuff

Type in any of these Irish Phrases on the free app at www.abair.ie and hear how a maschine posing as a ‘cainteoir ó dhúchas’ (native speaker) might utter the above ‘cúpla focal’. 

You can also download the recording of the phrases entered for repeated listenings on your computer or mobile phone.