Cúpla Focal: A couple of Irish Gaelic words
At Birmingham Irish, we feel that the beautiful language of Gaelic is an extraordinary gift that should be passed down from generation to generation with immense pride. This very reason is behind our language column, Cúpla Focal, meaning, a couple of Irish Gaelic words.
In our March column, we will be talking about your name and where you live and come from.
To find out more about our Birmingham Irish Online Language classes, please email terri@birish.org.uk
Lesson 2 – Ceacht 2
We start with ‘What is your name?’ ‘Cad is ainm duit?’ (Cod iss annam dhitch?)
The response to this questions is ‘My name is ___.’ ____ is ainm dom.’ (___ iss eyenem dom)
You could also use the simpler phrase, I’m ___. ‘Is mise ____’ (Iss misha ___)
Many Irish people living abroad will be used to explaining that they were born and brought up in one place but now live somewhere else, so let’s look into how to say this next.
We start with ‘Where do you live?’ ‘Cá bhfuil tú i do chónaí?’ (Kaw will thew i doh cone-ee?)
The response to this question is ‘I live in ______ now.’ ‘Tá mé i mo chónaí in ______ anois. (Tah may ih moh hohni in ____ annish)
You could also ask ‘Where are you from?’ ‘Cé as thu?’ (kay ass who?)
Where they would most likely respond ‘I’m from ____’ ‘Is as mé.’ (Iss ass may)
A very useful phrase to learn would be:
Rugadh agus tógadh mé i mBéal Feirste ach tá mé i mo chónaí in Sutton Coldfield anois.
I was born and brought up in Belfast but I live in Sutton Coldfield now.
Grammar tip:
In Irish Gaelic, we use the little word, ‘i’, before a place name in the Irish language (eg. i mBéal Feirste) but we use in, , before a place-name that is not translated into Irish (eg. in Sutton Coldfield).
March tip:
To find out Irish place names, check out
www.logainm.ie
