How to say hello?

Hi Dale, I thought I had answered this but for some reason it hasn't shown up on the site. No, glas smaragaide is right (green of an emerald). You could also put the two words together into one word smaragaidghlas but it's a bit of a mouthful. All the best, Seán.

Hi, Seán.

I had a question come up on the use of a variant of "tá", viz. "atá".  I have seen "How are you?" written as "Conas tá tú?" but also as "Conas atá tú?"  I have also seen "atá" used in other constructs.  The only thing I've noticed is that it seems to happen when "tá" is not the initial word in the sentence, but I also suspect that there's something more than that to the rule.  Could you please explain about this variant and how it works?

Dale D

Hi Dale, Yes, that's basically it. Atá is like "a dhéanann", "a bhriseann", "a shíleann". They are relative verbs, so "a dhéanann" means "who does" or "that does". So if you want to say, "the man who does the cleaning" it's "an fear a dhéanann an ghlantóireacht". And if you want to say "the man who is here", you would say "an fear atá anseo". Having said that, the convention of writing the a- with relatives but not when it stands alone must be quite recent, because in older poems and documents you often get Atá at the start of a sentence! Anyway, never mind about that! In the modern language, it should be Conas atá tú, an leabhar atá ar an tábla etc, but Tá sé anseo, just as you say. 

Hope this makes sense.

Hi, how would you pronounce Hora La brea, and Slan? I'm teaching myself Irish so the pronunciacion of these words are rather new still. Thanks!

- Seren

Hello, Seren.

First, I had to search a bit to find your first word; all four of the words you asked about have a "fada" mark over one of the vowels, which governs the pronunciation.

Hóra is apparently used as an interjection to say "Hi!" but it seems quite uncommon in my experience with the language.  In fact, I have never seen it before now, but I did find it on the teangleann.ie database.  I have seen some people use "Haigh" which is more of a transliteration of the English.  The Irish have a different idiom for "Hi" or "Hello" which has a definitive religious slant to it, so some object to using it.

Lá breá - roughly pronounced "Law braw" means "beautiful day" but again I have not seen that used independent of some verbal structure.  The Irish "roll" their "R" and there is a slight "hesitation" before the "aw" sound in "breá"  that sounds like short "e" sound is inserted there, which it is, essentially; that pronunciation is used in Connacht and Munster dialects.  In Ulster, it sounds more like "Brat" without the "t" at the end (and the "R" is rolled...).

Slán - pronounced "slawn" - is used to say "goodbye".

Hi Seren, Dale,

Hóra is a bit old timey but is still used by native speakers. Older speakers mostly I'd say. And you'll often come across it in dramas and short stories of a certian vintage.

It's also common to use expressions like lá breá, lá bog, maidin bhreá and other weather themed observations, as part of a greeting. Or sometimes as the sum total of a greeting without any hóra, haigh or dia dhuit included. Usually the verb is also left out. It's implied but because of the informal nature of the greeting, not spoken. So expressions like lá breá! or lá garbh! (or similar) are a fairly common greeting and substitue for actually saying hello or hi. This also carries over into English (as spoken by Irish people). Instead of saying hello, two people might just say grand day! or cowld (cold) out! as a greeting. It's impossible for an Irish person to get through the day without making some comment about the weather. Even if it's just as way of saying hello. It's our way :)

Thanks Dale. That clears up a lot of confusion for me. Are Gaelic and Welsh basicly the same, or would a Welsh speaking person not understand a thing a Gaelic speaking person says? (I'm actually writing a fiction-history book about a battle in Wales and I was going to put some Gaelic in it!)

Slán!

- Seren

Welsh is a completely different language in a completely different group, but probably in the same family.  Gaeilge is one of three languages in the Goidelic language group, the other two being Scots Gaelic and Manx, the language from the Isle of Man.  But I think Welsh is in the family of Celtic languages.  If anyone knows differently, feel free to comment....

Dale D

I might add that a Welsh speaking person and a Gaeilgeoir would likely not understand anything of the others language.  I do not know what historical period you are referencing, but the separation between those two languages and people goes pretty far back, I am sure.

Dale

Wow, I would never have guessed that. The time period is around the 1400's. I guess I'll have to change some things then... it's probably unlikely you'd find something written in Gaelic in Wales. Thank you!!

Seren

Rather than seeking to reform the greeting, you both should consider reforming your silly viewpoint. By your logic, you’ll need to stop saying “good morning or good day” if you are in Lisbon or Rio de Janeiro you’ll be appalled by “Buon Dia” , on your pilgrimage to Mecca you’ll be disgusted by “As-salamu alaykum” (yes, it’s terrifying and repulsive,but the Peace upon you offered is the peace of Allah) . If it wasn’t clear, and I’m sure it’s not,both the word “good “ and “day” have etymological connections to “God(how horrifying”),and the phrases origin is “God be with you”.  

While I’m sure your issues have as much to do with being Irish of the self hating variety as opposed to strictly hating religion, you need to cop on either way. These greetings have their origins in love and unity,well wishing, not religion, which is divisive . 

God and the Blessed Virgin be with You All

Padraic