Irish Translation Forum

I'm trying to translate my son's birthday to gaelic but need some help. The date is May 26, 2010. Any help is appreciated. I've done some rough translations on my own but I'm positive it's not correct.

Todd

26 May 2010 - 26 Bealtaine 2010

I'm actually looking for the spelling of the words of the date.

"The twenty-sixth of May, two thousand and ten" would be "An séú lá is fiche de Bealtaine, dhá mhíle 's a deich" I think.

An séú lá fichead de mhí na Bealtaine/de Bhealtaine, dhá mhíle is a deich.

The genitive singular form here "fichead" (literally "of twenty") is the norm for numbers 21-30 in the ordinals.

Note carefully how the preposition "de" lenites a following consonant "de Bhealtaine".

In speech, "de" is almost always pronounced the same as "do".

You will also hear forms such as "an fiche séú lá", under the influence of English, from younger Gaeltacht speakers.

Thanks for all the help. One last question. Within this actual date is na Bealtaine or de Bhealtaine correct?

An séú lá fichead de mhí na Bealtaine/de Bhealtaine, dhá mhíle is a deich

You need

an séú lá fichead de mhí na Bealtaine...
or
an séú lá fichead de Bhealtaine....


The construction for the 26th that michealwalkerr gave you,

an séú lá is fiche...

is also fairly common.

Well, I've checked Corca Dhuibhne (Ó Sé), Cois Fhairrge (de Bhaldraithe) and Teileann (Wagner) and all seem to agree that "fichead" is the form to use in the ordinals from 21-30.

Now that is interesting, I honestly didn't know that there was an agreed and standard way to say this.

an séú lá is fiche...
an séú lá fichead....
an séú lá ar fhichid....

would all sound fine to me.

(but then again I would also say aondéag fichead. )

Thanks for the info Carmanach. I'll have a look at the authors you mentioned.

I am not saying that these are all standard forms. The Official Standard is one thing and was devised solely for written official documents and the like. The forms I give reflect actual Gaeltacht speech which should be favoured whenever possible.