MISE arís—Me again! Tá súil agam go raibh Seachtain na Gaeilge nó Lá Fhéile Pádraig den scoith agaibh uilig, cibé ceann a cheiliúrann tú. I hope you all had a brilliant Irish Language week or St Patrick’s Day, whichever takes your fancy. Bhuel, cad é mar atá an aimsir? So, how’s the weather?
Last time we had a go at talking about the weather and thankfully, the weather looks to be brightening up a bit since I last wrote, which gives us even more to talk about! I want to build on those foundations before launching into a new topic. All pronunciation shared is in the Ulster dialect.
Ceacht 2
| fine | go breá | go brah |
| nice | go deas | go jass |
| good | go maith | go my-h |
| night | an oíche | an ee-ha |
| morning | an mhaidin | an mad-jean |
| bad | go dona | go dawn-a |
| beautiful | go hálainn | go hal-een |
| wonderful | go hiontach | go hain-tock |
| The day isn’t good | Níl an lá go maith | nail an lah go my-h |
| The weather isn’t good | Tá an aimsir go dona | tah an aym-shir go brah |
| The night is fine | Tá an oíche go breá | tah an ee-ha go brah |
| The morning isn’t good | Níl an oíche go deas | nail an ee-ha go jass |
| now | anois | an-ish |
| today | inniu | in-you |
| It’s beautiful now | Tá se go hálainn anois | tah shay go hal-een an-ish |
Now, instead of answering “Cad é mar atá an aimsir inniu?” simply with “Tá sé geal’/’dorcha’/’tirim,” you can elaborate with “Tá an lá geal, tá sé go hiontach.” I have kept all answers in present tense so as not to over-complicate, but for anyone with a bit more experience, you could try: ‘Bhí.’
Mar shampla (For example)
The morning was wet, but it is lovely now.
Bhí an mhaidin fliuch, ach tá sé go hálainn anois.
(Vee an mad-jean fil-yuck, awk tah shay go hal-een an-ish)
Try making your own two-part sentence using this format:
Bhí + time of day + state of weather (1), ach tá sé + state of weather (2) + anois.
| Time of day | State of weather 1 | State of weather 2 |
| an oíche (an ee-ha) | go breá (go brah) | go h-olc (go hulk) |
| an mhaidin (an mad-jean) | go dona (go dawn-a) | go maith (go my-h) |
| an lá (an lah) | fliuch (fil-yuck) | an-tirim (ann-chir-rim) |
| an tráthnóna (an trah-no-nah) | tirim (chir-rim) | an-fhliuch (ann-l-yuck) |
Next time we’ll be describing people. It turns out that lots of learning a language is just describing things. (GOA—Gáire os ard/LOL—Laugh out loud)
Lean oraibh!
Clíodhna Campbell is a teacher, language enthusiast and mother. If you would like to get in touch with her with any linguistic queries, e-mail: cliodhnamorgan@live.co.uk
PIC: AARON BURDEN VIA UNSPLASH
