How to say “must”

Irish is in many ways a more expressive language than English.

We have four different meanings covered by the English word ‘must’, and five ways to express them.

‘I absolutely must’ is Is éigin dom.

Is éigin dom mo thicéid a cheannach chun na laethanta saoire inniu, nó beidh sé ró-dhéanach.
“I must book my tickets for the holiday today, or it will be too late.”

The plain ‘I must, I have to’ is caithfead, caithfidh mé or ní mór dom.

Caithfead fanúint, caithfidh mé fanacht, sa bhaile anocht.
“I must stay at home tonight.”

Ní mór do dhaltaí gach ceist a fhreagairt.
“Students must answer every question.”

‘I morally must’ is Tá orm.

Tá orm bheith cróga nuair a thugaim cuairt chuig an dochtúir.
“I must be brave when I visit the doctor.”

‘It logically must be’ is Ní foláir nó go bhfuil sé.

Bhí sé ag stealladh báistí lasmuigh – ní foláir nó go bhfuil tú fliuch báite.
“It’s teeming rain outside – you must be soaking wet.”

How to say “can”

There are several ways to express this in Irish.

‘You can go there’ can be expressed as:

Féadann tú dul ann. (The older literary form, still in use).

Tá tú ábalta dul ann. (’You are able to go’ – perhaps the commonest Munster form).

Tig leat dul ann (’It comes to you to go’ – an Ulster expression using an older form of the word for ‘comes’ – tagann in Standard Irish.)

Tá tú in ann dul ann. (’It is in you to go’ – a common Connacht form).

Tá sé ar do chumas dul ann. (You are capable of going).

“Féidir” activates the le/do distinction seen throughout the language: le refers to opinion, do to objective fact:–

Is féidir leat dul ann (You think you can go there [but you might be wrong]).

Is féidir duit dul ann (You really can go there [whether you believe it or not]).

N.B. that the phrases with ‘ábalta’ and ‘in ann’ can be used with any of the tenses:

Bhíos/Bhí mé ábalta; Bhíos/Bhí mé in ann: I was able

Táim/Tá mé ábalta; Bhíos/Bhí mé in ann: I am able

Béad/Beidh mé ábalta; Béad/Beidh mé in ann: I will be able

Bheinn ábalta; Bheinn in ann: I would be able

N.B. that b’fhéidir means ‘perhaps’. It is followed by go + an indirect relative clause:–

b’fhéidir go bhfuil siad in ann imeacht (perhaps they’ll be able to go away)

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Literally, it means “I have love for you”. You can also say “Tá grá agam ort“, if you like.

Pronunciation for Tá grá agam duit

Say it something like: taw graw uh-gum ditch.

Now that you have the translation…

Dia Dhuit is a very common way of saying Hello in Irish. Literally, it means something like “God to you”.

Pronounce it something like this: jee-ah ghwit (that’s a throaty gh).

How are you? = Conas atá tú?

• Say it like this: cun-us ah-taw too.
• This is one way of saying it, there are also other ways such as Caidé mar atá tú?.

Now that you have the translation…

Saying “Thank you” in Irish depends on how many people you are speaking to. If you are
speaking to one person, you say Go raibh maith agat.

Pronounce it like guh rev mah ah-gut.

If you are speaking to more than one person, say Go raibh maith agaibh, pronounce like guh rev mah ah-gwiv.

You’re welcome = Tá fáilte romhat

Say it: taw foyle-cha row-ot. Again, this is when you are speaking to one person.

Now that you have the translation…

Pronounce neart like: nyart.

Strong = láidir

Say it like law-jir.

Now that you have the translation…

Pronounce Teaghlach like chai-lockh, giving the -ckh a throaty sound.

Clann

Another related word for family is clann. However, clann generally refers
to your offspring. Therefore, only a parent or grandparent would talk about their “clann“.

Some bonus words:

• Sister = deirfiúr
• Brother = déartháir
• Mother = máthair
• Father = athair
• Daughter = iníon
• Son = mac

Now that you have the translations…

Pronunciation of Grá

In Munster and Connacht Irish, pronounce the word as graw.

In Ulster Irish, it’s pronounce more like grah.

Now that you have the translation…

Here’s what’s written:

Míle buíochas do gach duine a chabhraigh liom! “Ar scáth a chéile a mhairimid”! Le grá go deo.

What it means is:

“Many thanks to everyone who helped me. “We live in each other’s shadows”! With love forever.”

“We live in each other’s shadows” is an Irish saying, or “seanfhocal.”

Contributed by Redwolf.