Irish/Unit 2/Lesson 5
Food and Sickness
Dialogue
- Seán: Tá ocras orm. Ar mhaith leat itheadh liom?
- Síle: Ba mhaith.
- Seán: Cén sort bialann ar mhaith leat?
- Síle: Is cuma liom, ithim gach cineál bia.
- Seán: Ceart go leor, ní ithim feoil.
- Síle: Ar mhaith leat deoch?
- Seán: Ba mhaith, caife dubh le do thoil.
- Síle: Cé mhéad sin?
- Freastalaí:Trí euro le do thoil.
- Seán: I'm hungry. Would you like to eat with me?
- Síle: I would
- Seán: What type of restaurant would you like?
- Síle: I don't mind, I eat every type of food.
- Seán: Ok, I don't eat meat.
- Síle: Would you like a drink?
- Seán: I would, a black coffee, please
- Síle: How much is that?
- Waiter: Three euro please
Tá ocras orm - I'm hungry
This phrase literally means 'Hunger is on me'. In Irish, to express an emotional state, the preposition on is used.
Examples
- Tá tart orm - I'm thirsty
- Tá fearg air - He's angry
- Cuireann sé brón uirthi - It makes her sad (lit. It puts sadness on her)
Ar - On
- orm - on me
- ort - on you (singular)
- air - on him
- uirthi - on her
- orainn - on us
- oraibh - on you (plural)
- orthu - on them
Na hUimhreacha - Numbers
Numbers on their own are called ordinal numbers, e.g. one, two three. In Irish, the numeral partical 'a' is placed in front of the number when using the number on its own.
Examples:
- A hAon - One
- A Dó - Two
- A Trí - Three
- A Ceathar - Four
- A Cúig - Five
- A Sé - Six
- A Seacht - Seven
- A hOcht - Eight
- A Naoi - Nine
- A Deich - Ten
When we use numbers with a noun, however (e.g. four cups, two euro), we don't use the numeral particle, and we use a different form of one and two. Also, the numbers 1-6 lenite the next word (add a h), while the numbers 7-10 add an urú. Also, ceathar becomes ceithre and you use the singular form of the noun, not the plural.
Examples:
- Aon chupán amháin - One cup (the 'aon' here is optional)
- Dhá chupán - Two cups
- Trí iasc - Three fish
- Ceithre phrátaí - Four potatoes
- Cúig ghloine - Five glasses
- Sé deoch - Six drinks
- Seacht bhfreastalaí - Seven waiters
- Ocht mbiachlár - Eight menus
- Naoi euro - Nine euro
- Deich mbialann - Ten restaurants
On top of this, their is a different form of the numbers used when counting people, as follows.
- Duine (amháin) - One person
- Beirt - Two people
- Triúr - Three people
- Ceathrar - Four people
- Cúigear - Five people
- Seisear - Six people
- Seachtar - Seven people
- Octhar - Eight people
- Naonúr - Nine people
- Deichniúr - Ten people
Dialogue
- 'Seán: Níl mé ag mothú go maith
- 'Síle: Cad é atá ort?
- 'Seán: Tá pian i mo bholg agam.
- 'Síle: A chréatúir, suigh síos ansin.
- 'Seán: Go raibh maith agat
- 'Síle: An bhfuil sé níos fearr?
- 'Seán: Tá, go raibh maith agat.
- 'Seán: I don't feel well
- 'Síle: What's wrong?
- 'Seán: I have a pain in my stomach
- 'Síle: You poor thing! Sit down there
- 'Seán: Thanks
- 'Síle: Is it better?
- 'Seán: Yes, thank you
Níos fearr - Better
To compare something to something else, we use the words 'níos' and 'is', for example, 'níos fearr' means better as we saw above and 'is fearr' would mean 'best'. Another example is bright, which is 'geal' in Irish. This becomes 'níos/is gile' - 'brighter/brightest'. 'gile' here is the feminine genetive form of the adjective. We will discuss nouns and adjectives and their cases more in the next lesson, but the genetive will not be dealt with until later modules. For the moment, here are some examples of adjectives and their comparative forms.
Examples:
- Deas - Níos/Is deise - Nice - Nicer/Nicest
- Mór - Níos/Is mó - Big - Bigger/Biggest
- Beag - Níos/Is lú - Small - Smaller/Smallest
- Olc - Níos/Is measa - Bad - Worse/Worst
- Ard - Níos/Is airde - Tall - Taller/Tallest
- Sean - Níos/Is sine - Old - Older/Oldest
- Óg - Níos/Is óige - Young - Younger/Youngest
- Álainn - Níos/Is áille - Beautiful - More/Most beautiful
- Mall - Níos/Is moille - Slow. - Slower/Slowest
Mo - My
The words 'my, your, his, her, etc' are called possessive pronouns. In Irish they are as follows:
- Mo - My
- Do - Your (singular)
- A - His
- A - Her
- Ár - Our
- Bhur - Your (plural)
- A - Their
Mo, Do and A when it means 'his' are all followed by lenition (adding 'h' to the following word). 'A' when it means her does not modify the following noun and Ár, Bhur and A when it means 'their' are all followed by eclipsis (adding an urú to the following word).