Translation question

Hi,

First of all, I want to congrats the website and the people involved. It's very useful and interesting. I've been looking for a proper translation for 'pet' or maybe for 'puppy'.

Can anybody help me?

thanks a lot,

Hugo

Hello,

Pet would simply be peata.

And according to english-irishdictionary website, puppy is coileáinín

Thanks!

It was exactly what I was looking for! You were very helpful

I'm eager to learn irish more quickly; I just love it.

Hello,

I love the website and MP3 Búntus Cainte lessons. I have a question about the gender of aimsir ( weather). Two books I have , list it as Ainmfhocal baininscneach (feminine). One book I havae lists it as firinschneach ( masculine). I imagine there could be some confusion with the Irish abbrev for masculine being f.   I have seen an t-úrlár, an t-arán, an aimsir., which makes me think aimsir is baininscneach.   Lesson One used Tá sé fuar, rather than Tá sí fuar,. I'd like to know which is correct or is it not that critical.

Go raibh maith agat.

Hi Mary, First of all, thanks for the positive feedback. Chelle and Mehdi and the team have worked very hard to make this into a great resource for Irish learning and it's always good to know that people are using and enjoying that resource.

Now, with regard to the word aimsir, as you rightly say, it is feminine - it has a genitive with na: réamhaisnéis na haimsire is the weather forecast. And you are also right about the f being confusing. One Celtic scholar (whose name escapes me) used to rail against the folly of using the f in dictionaries, calling it "f an mhearbhaill" (the F of confusion). As for the use of "sé" in phrases like "Tá sé ag cur", "Tá sé gaofar", "Tá sé préachtach fuar", it is always masculine in constructions like this, because the "it" in question is not the weather specifically but some abstract entity or state of affairs.

Incidentally, there are also cases in Irish where people use sí instead of sé for grammatically masculine nouns - the word carr is grammatically masculine but will often be "sí" in Irish (An bhfaca tú an carr nua? Tá sí gleoite, nach bhfuil?) Others would include bicycles (Flann O'Brien fans take note), boats, watches, books, etc.

Michelle,

Thanks so much for the explanation.  One Intro to irish Grammar had Tá sí fuar, so I was confused. I now see that sí is only  required to indicate the gender  of personal pronouns. She or he.        Thanks for the heads up on the various exceptions to look out for!   

Mary

 Hi Michelle,

  Comhghairdeas  on the Award! !!  I'm enjoying a slow, enjoyable and somewhat steady  pursuit of  an teanga gaeilge thanks to Talk Irish.  I'm having difficulty in posting a comment on the Word a Day.  It would be such good parctise.  I can view the comments, bu can find the spot to add my own.

Hello,

Questions on Jan 6 word of day, Páiste ( child )   Can you provide clarification on  referring to children in one's family, ie Clann for referring to family members, numbers used when referring to people (  duinne, beirt, triúr..), amháin  (just one).  Are these  all acceptable words to say  how many children are in a family?

Mary

I also had a question related to translation so I went ahead and attached it to here instead of create a new topic. Would it be correct if I said Níl ar chor ar bith if I wanted to say Not at all?

Hi, Well, that sort of depends how you use it. Not at all might be used in contexts like this:

You'd think he'd be sorry, but not at all!

Shílfeá go mbeadh brón air, ach is léir nach raibh!

He wasn't at all sorry!

Ní raibh sé brónach ná baol air!

Thank you so much! Not at all!

Go raibh míle maith agat! Ná habair é!

On the other hand, if someone asked you if you were cold, (An bhfuil tú fuar?) you might answer:

Níl, ar chor ar bith!

So yes, sometimes, but it depends on what you're saying. Hope this helps!

Speaking of familial terms....

For some time now, I've been curious about the term "páistí" ever since I found the Seanfhocal here on the website that went, "Ní hé lá na báistí lá na bpáistí."  (A rainy day is not a day for children.)  That was the first time I had encountered that term for "children".

My previous reading had introduced me to "leanbh" "child" and to the plural, "leanaí" "children".  Now I find out that there is not one but two additional forms for the word "children"; "clann" and "páistí".

So, what are the technical differences between these terms?  When are they used?  I found an Irish translation of the Bible online and have been doing some side-by-side reading with the KJV, and I've noticed the use of the term "clann" is exclusively used in phrases like "the children of Israel" "clann Iosrael".  Is there any connotative aspect of this term that applies it better when speaking of "descendants" than either of the other terms?

What would be the conditions where you would want to use the term "páistí" instead of "leanaí"?  Or is it a preference of personal choice?  Or are they perhaps regional terms, where one is favored in one area over the other?

I had a similar question regarding a term for "boy" that I found in "Teach Yourself Irish"; the term they gave was "garsún", which intrigued me since it is so close to the French "garçon", however all my other reading has shown "buachaill" to be far and away the preferred term, but again I don't know if I'm reading more into that than I should.  Are there regional preferences, or is one word perhaps more "formal" than another?  I know in some places the French term "garçon" is used for "waiter" as referring to a male person who waits a table.  Any such use for "garsún"?

Thanks for helping me keep my family terms straight!

Dale

Hi Dale, Now, this has opened a can of worms! It shows how important dialect is and how even basic things can be different in different parts of the country. Basically, páistí is the usual word for children in the North. In the south, leanaí is the more common term. Many words in Irish derive from Norman French, either directly or through middle English, and the word páiste is linked to the English page, as in page boy. Leanbh is a native word. Another borrowed word is garsún. This comes from French garcon, as you say. In some dialects, na garsúin means the children (in general), while in Ulster Irish, our version of it, gasúr, always refers to boys. Buachaill also means boy but usually refers to a teenage boy, while gasúr is a young boy. There is also a word stócach, which means a teenage boy but is very often used these days to mean "boyfriend". And then clann is used to mean "children". Cad  é mar atá do chlann? means "how are your children?" A lot of learners think that clann means family, but it doesn't. Family is teaghlach, while clann only refers to children. A very young child is a naíon, or babaí. Hope this clarifies it. The Bible is a good way of learning the language, especially if you learn passages off by heart. Ádh mór leis!