Irish Translation Forum

Hello!

I would really be grateful if you could translate this for me!

"Happy birthday to a very special person"

thank you so much!!!

Paola

Hi Paola

You could translate that as 'Breithlá sona do dhuine fíorspeisialta'. I have another version in mind which is more idiomatic.

For a man: 'Breithlá sona duit, a phlúr na bhfear'

For a woman: 'Breithlá sona duit, a phlúr na mban.'

Thank you!!

Those are good suggestions. Is it not "a phlúir" though, in the vocative? Or is there an exception based on the following genitive?

You don't slenderise affectionate words like that. It's 'A leanbh' rather than 'A linbh'. The same thing is happening here as in 'A stór mo chroí'. 'A stóir mo chroí' would be incorrect. Strange, but true!

An Lochlannach wrote:You don't slenderise affectionate words like that. It's 'A leanbh' rather than 'A linbh'. The same thing is happening here as in 'A stór mo chroí'. 'A stóir mo chroí' would be incorrect. Strange, but true!

Ah, I know that rule For some reason I didn't apply it to plúr above perhaps because it's not immediately as "affectionate" as the typical ones ie the ones you mentioned above. grma

I was just thinking that the other day. I saw Is tú mo ghaol and wondered if the vocative of gaol would be a ghaol or a ghaoil (thinking it would probably be a ghaol like a stór).

But a phlúr na bhfear does make me wonder about the vocative of compound phrases (when terms of endearment aren't involved, that is). Does the phrase operate as a block and just the first consonant get lenited? or does the first word in the phrase get processed as a vocative?

(Which leads me to the next question: what has happened to kk lately?)

A Bhreandáin, a chara

You're quite right that the initial word (and its adjectives) of a compound phrase would be slenderised:

A fhir mhóir na céille bige.

A Chathaoirligh an Choiste Pleanála.

And so on. The key thing is the affectionate, or even honary, nature of the epithet.

We're well off the subject now, but sure what harm?

Sin mo lá oibre thart. Slán tamall.