Irish Translation Forum

Hello, my name is Nicole Getridge and I am an author who needs assistance on some Gaelic translations. I need to know how to say Good morning, You are beautiful and I love you. I think I already have the translation for I love you but need to know the other two. Thank you for you assistance.

Nicole Getridge
Author of Shielded Heart and Captured Heart
www.nicolegetridge.bravehost.com

Sweetpea wrote:Hello, my name is Nicole Getridge and I am an author who needs assistance on some Gaelic translations. I need to know how to say Good morning, You are beautiful and I love you. I think I already have the translation for I love you but need to know the other two. Thank you for you assistance.

Nicole Getridge
Author of Shielded Heart and Captured Heart
www.nicolegetridge.bravehost.com

Good morning: Dia dhuit ar maidin

You are beautiful: Tá tú go hálainn

I love you: Tá grá agam duit

Redwolf

P.S. I don't know what you already have for "I love you," but if it's "Gráim thu," don't use it! It's considered archaic at best and crass at worst.

Actually Graim thu is what I have.....I guess I'd better E-mail my editor and make sure she makes that correction in my book before it's in print! LOL! Thank you for your reply!

Nicole Getridge
Author of Shielded Heart and Captured Heart
www.nicolegetridge.bravehost.com

Sweetpea wrote:Actually Graim thu is what I have.....I guess I'd better E-mail my editor and make sure she makes that correction in my book before it's in print! LOL! Thank you for your reply!

Nicole Getridge
Author of Shielded Heart and Captured Heart
www.nicolegetridge.bravehost.com

Yes, definitely. "Grá" isn't generally used as a verb in Modern Irish and that particular phrase kind of comes off in Irish sounding as "ain't" would in Contemporary English.

If you want it a bit shorter than "Tá grá agam duit," and particularly if it's a passionate situation, you can use "Mo ghrá thu."

All of these assume you're talking to one person, by the way. For example, if you're saying "good morning" to a group, it would be "Dia dhaoibh ar maidin," and it you want to say "I love you" to more than one person at a time, it's "Tá grá agam daoibh."

Redwolf

It's just basically the main male character talking to the main female character....when he says good morning to her it's the morning after they..well you know....and then later on in the book he will tell her he loves her in Gaelic. Thank you for your help!

Nicole Getridge
Author of Shielded Heart and Captured Heart
www.nicolegetridge.bravehost.com

Quick P.S.:

You can also do "Dia dhuit ar maidin" and "Dia dhaoibh ar maidin" without the "h" in "dhuit" and "dhaoibh." Some dialects put the "h" in and some don't...I learned it that way originally, so that's how I tend to write it.

Also, don't forget the fadas (accent marks) in words such as "grá" "tá" and "tú." The words are misspelled without them (and some words radically change both pronunciation and meaning when the fadas are left off or misplaced...for example "Seán" (a man's name) and "sean" (old), or "seans" (chance) and "séans" (seance).

Redwolf

Thank you for all your help! I need an Irish dictionary! LOL!

Nicole Getridge
Author of Shielded Heart and Captured Heart
www.nicolegetridge.bravehost.com

Sweetpea wrote:Thank you for all your help! I need an Irish dictionary! LOL!

Nicole Getridge
Author of Shielded Heart and Captured Heart
www.nicolegetridge.bravehost.com

No prob. I used to work as an editor in my pre-mommy life, so it feels like coming home!

To be honest, a live translation forum such as this is better than a dictionary. Irish is a very highly inflected language, so words change significantly depending on how they're used in a sentence (note the difference in spelling of the word for "love" between "mo ghrá thu" and "tá grá agam duit," or the difference in the word for "you" between "mo ghrá thu" and "Tá tú go hálainn), and it's constructed along totally different lines from English. In a place such as this, you can get several eyes on a difficult translation (and some of the shortest, seemingly most simple, are actually the most difficult) and you can be sure you'll ultimately end up with something that's grammatically correct. Feel free to come here for any Irish translations...we're always glad to help!

It's also a good idea to get two or three confirmations on a translation. These are common ones, so I'm not too worried about them, but if you don't have to get back to your editor right away, I strongly recommend waiting for confirmation (most likely in the morning, as most of the Europeans are getting ready to toddle off to their beds, if they aren't there already).

Redwolf

Thank you soooo much for your help. Won't have to let my editor know about my correction for I love you in the book I'm waiting to be released just yet....she's just getting to it so no biggie. Could you tell me how to say good morning beautiful? Thanks!

Nicole Getridge
Author of Shielded Heart and Captured Heart
www.nicolegetridge.bravehost.com

Dia Dhuit ar maidin, a chailín go h-álainn

I've never seen "Beautiful" successfully translated as a pet name, so I put in "beautiful girl"