Addressing people in Irish - An Tuiseal Gairmeach

When we address people in Irish, we have to put the letter 'a' before their names. This causes some changes if the name is in Irish.

Traditional male names: we add a 'h' after a consonant and an 'i' to the end, if we can. If the name starts with a vowel, we don't add a 'h'.

Colm -> a Choilm / Pádraig -> a Phádraig / Cathal -> a Chathail / Oisín -> a Oisín

Traditional female names: we add a 'h' after a consonant, if we can. If the name starts with a vowel, we don't add a 'h'. We don't add an 'i' to the end of any female names.

Máire -> a Mháire / Siobhán -> a Shiobhán / Síle -> a Shíle / Orla -> a Orla

Names in other languages: the name stays the same

Jane -> a Jane / Etienne -> a Etienne / Pablo -> a Pablo

Comhrá 3 - Conversation 3

First listen to the audio. Read the conversation and listen at the same time. Then write out your translation. Scroll down to correct your work!

Listen here:

Aoife: Dia dhuit* a Thomáis!

Tomás: Dia is Muire dhuit a Aoife! Conas atá tú?

Aoife: Táim go maith, go raibh maith agat. Tá sé grianmhar anseo (here).

Tomás: Ar fheabhas! Tá sé ag cur sneachta anseo!

Aoife: An bhfuil?

Tomás: Tá! Pé scéal é (anyway), an bhfuil Seán go maith?

Aoife: Tá sé an-mhaith, go raibh maith agat.

Tomás: An bhfuil sé sa bhaile? (at home)

Aoife: Níl sé sa bhaile, tá sé ag snámh. 

Tomás: Ar fheabhas! An bhfuil Máire ag snámh freisin? (too / also)

Aoife: Níl sí ag snámh, tá sí anseo sa bhaile.

Tomás: Ceart go leor, slán go fóill (bye for now) a Aoife.

Aoife: Slán a Thomáis!

* The standard Irish spelling is "dia duit" but we spell it and pronounce it as "dia dhuit" in Munster. You have a choice here.

English translation

Try to translate it yourself before reading the translation here

Aoife: Dia dhuit a Thomáis! / Hello Tomás!

Tomás: Dia is Muire dhuit a Aoife! Conas atá tú? / Hello Aoife! How are you?

Aoife: Táim go maith, go raibh maith agat. Tá sé grianmhar anseo. / I’m good, thank you. It is sunny here.

Tomás: Ar fheabhas! Tá sé ag cur sneachta anseo! / Wonderful. It is snowing here!

Aoife: An bhfuil? - Is it?

Tomás: Tá! Pé scéal é (anyway), an bhfuil Seán go maith? / It is! Anyway, is Séan good?

[notice the words in bold above linking up, this is why it's very important to learn an bhfuil / tá / níl as a trio. We don't have words in Irish for yes or no, but we use the verbs in their positive or negative form to mean yes or no]. This will be explained in more depth in the next video]

Aoife: Tá sé an-mhaith, go raibh maith agat / He is very good, thank you.

Tomás: An bhfuil sé sa bhaile? / Is he at home?

Aoife: Níl sé sa bhaile, tá sé ag snámh. / He is not at home, he is swimming.

Tomás: Ar fheabhas! An bhfuil Máire ag snámh freisin? / Wonderful! Is Máire swimming too?

Aoife: Níl sí ag snámh, tá sí anseo sa bhaile. / She isn’t swimming, she is here at home.

Tomás: Ceart go leor, slán go fóill a Aoife. / Alright, bye for now Aoife.

Aoife: Slán a Thomáis! / Goodbye Tomás!