Summer Irish Language Phrases for Festivals and Shopping in Ireland

Conas atá sibh? Tá súil agam go bhfuil sibh go maith.

Summer is flying by, hopefully, you’ve found time to make it to a festival or two and used your cúpla focal. There are still a few great festivals ahead and Mary, the hounds and I will be at a couple of them. Stop by and say hello, in Irish of course!

A couple of months back (May 2024), we featured vocabulary and phrases that would be useful when visiting a pub or restaurant. Many of the phrases from the lesson on “Bia agus Deoch” would be applicable here as well.

Greetings

Let’s do a quick review on greeting someone in Irish. A simple haigh (hi) works in most instances, or the more formal Dia Duit (dee-uh gwit), God to you, can be used.

Remember to use Dia’s Muire Duit (dee-us morra gwit), God and Mary to you, as the proper response. You can also use Conas atá tú? (kun-as ah-taw too) How are you? as a greeting. That example would be in the Munster dialect.

Refer back to the May issue for the other two dialects – all past issues are online at iIrish.us.

There are many ways to reply to that question: Tá mé go maith, (taw may guh mah) – I am good, is easy to remember and pronounce.

How much is that?

Cá mhéad atá air sin? (kah vayd ah-taw air shin) How much is that?
Cá mhéad atá air seo? (kah vayd ah-taw air show) How much is this?
Cá mhéad atá orthu seo? (kah vayd ah-taw or-huh show) How much are these?
Cá mhéad atá orthu sin? (kah vayd ah-taw or-huh shin) How much are those?
Cad é an luach atá air? (ka-jay ahn loo-ach ah-taw ayr) What price is it?

Tá sé saor. (taw shay sayr) It’s cheap.
Tá sé an-saor. (taw shay ahn sayr) It’s very cheap.
Tá siad daor. (taw shee-ud dare) They’re expensive. Lit. they are dear.
Tá siad an-daor. (taw shee-ud ahn dare) They’re very expensive.
Tá sé ródhaor. (taw shay roegare) It’s too expensive.
Tá siad i bhfad ródhaor. (taw shee-ud ih wahd roe-gare) They’re far too expensive.
Níl mé acmhainn, tá sé ródhaor agam. (neel may ach-whynn taw shay roe-gare ah-gum) I can’t afford it.
An bhfuil briseadh agat? (ahn will brish-ah ah-gut) Do you have change?

Tá (taw) Yes
Níl leathphingin rua agam! (neel leh-fin-gihn roo-ah ahgum) I haven’t got a red half-penny.

Counting Things

We’ve talked before about different ways of counting in Irish. We have basic numbers, used for addresses and phone numbers and things like that. A separate set of numbers just for counting people and a number system for counting things.

The numbers from one to six will cause lenition or a softening to occur; from seven to ten they cause eclipsis if you are counting a thing that starts with certain consonants.

aon (ayn) one
seacht (shakht) seven
dhá (ghaw) two
ocht (awkht) eight
trí (tree) three
naoi (nee) nine
ceithre (keh-ruh)
deich (jeh) ten
cúig (kooig) five
amháin (uhwoyn) alone
sé (shay) six

Currency

£1 aon cheann amháin euro (ayn kyann ah-wahn euro) one euro
£2 dhá euro (gah euro) two euros
£3 trí euro (tree euro) three euros

To count from eleven to twenty we start with aon, then the thing we’re counting and then a version of the number ten déag (jay-ug).

£11 aon euro déag (ayn euro jayug) eleven euros
£15 cúig euro déag (kooig euro jay-ug) fifteen euros

To count above twenty, we follow the same pattern but we add the word “and,” agus, (ah-gus) but in a shortened form which is written ‘s (iss).

£23 trí euro ‘s fiche (tree euro iss fih-huh) twenty-three euros
tríocha (tree-och-ah) thirty

£2.10 dhá euro deich chent (gah euro jeh cent) two euros and ten cents
£2.20 dhá euro fiche chent (gah euro fee-ha cent) two euros and twenty cents
£2.30 dhá euro tríocha chent (gah euro tree-khuh) two euros and thirty cents

To pay for things you might want to use a cárta creidmheasa (karta kred-vah-sa) credit card or íoc le hairgead tirim (eek leh hare-agahd teer-um) to pay in cash.

Shopping

siopadóireacht (shup-a-dor-acht) shopping
siopa (shuhp-ah) shop
a cheannach (ah kuh-nohk) to buy
maragadh maith (mara-goo mah) a good bargain

Fuair tú maragadh maith ansin. (foor too mara-goo mah ahn shin) You have a good bargain there.
Ar mhaith leat rud éigin a cheannach? (ar vah lyat rud aygin ah kuh-nohk) Would you like to buy something?
Ba mhaith liom rud éigin a cheannacht. (bah vah lum rud aygin ah kuh-nohk) I would like to buy something.

Tá an léine sin go deas. (taw ahn lee-na shin guh jess) That shirt is nice.
Taispeáin ceann eile dom. (tashpan kyunn ella dom) Show me another one.
Ní maith liom an ceann seo. (nee mah lum ahn kyunn sho) I don’t like this one.
Ní maith liom an dath atá air. (nee mah lum ahn dah ah-taw ayr) I don’t like the color of it.
Is fearr liom an ceann seo. (iss far lum ahn kyunn sho) I prefer this one.

Cád é a cheannaigh tú? (kuh-jay a khyanee too) What did you buy?
An maith leat é? (ahn mah lyat ay) Do you like it?
Cad a mholfá? (kahd ah voll-fa) What do you recommend?
An bhfuil … agat? (ahn will …. ah-gut) Do you have …?

Essential phrases

Go raibh maith agat (gorra mah ah-gut) thank you
Go raibh míle maith agat (gorra meela mah ah-gut) thank you very much
Le do thoil (leh duh hull) please
Tá fáilte romhat (taw fahl-cha roe-it) you’re welcome
Gabh mo leithscéal (gaw muh lesh-shkale) excuse me

An bhfuil Gaeilge agat? (ahn will gway-la-guh ah-gut) Do you speak Irish?
Tá beagáinín Gaeilge agam. (taw bee-ah gahneen gway-la-guh ahgum) I speak a little Irish.

I hope you have the chance to use some of our lesson in the shops of Ireland, or with some of the vendors at the festivals. Have a safe and wonderful summer.

Our next Speak Irish Cleveland classes, with a new format, starts September 10th. Hope we will see you there.