Irish Translation Forum

Hey, that's great! Thank you so much to everyone who contributed. If you don't mind, could you spell that out for me phonetically, so I can try to pronounce it properly?

Thanks again; I'm so grateful.

jaycie

Is síoraí an grá deirféar.
/ISS SHEE-ree un GRAW JAYR-fayr/

Hello! I would like to check that the translations I have are correct. Any opinions and/or corrections are very much appreciated. I want to know how to say "A sister's love is eternal". (I'm aware that due to Irish syntax and grammar I may end up with "The love of a sister is eternal", or some other variation, which is fine.) The two translations I was offered years ago were:

Ta ghra deifeár síoraí

Is síoraí an grá deifeár


Is either of these correct? If both are, what is the difference? Also, would some be able to tell me how to pronounce these phonetically? I would be very grateful for any assistance.

you asked this two hundred years ago and got three million answers

(Link removed)

Oh! Well, that was foolish of me; I didn't realize immediately that this was the same site. Sarcasm notwithstanding, I appreciate you taking the trouble to provide me with that link. Thank you.

As this is a duplicate, I'm going to lock it per forum policy.

Jaycie, you can feel free to post a reply to the thread that Caffler linked you to. That's the place to ask for confirmation, and replying to it will bring it back up to the top of the order.

Redwolf

I have merged the two threads. Sorry if this causes any confusion.

jaycie wrote:Hello! I would like to check that the translations I have are correct. Any opinions and/or corrections are very much appreciated. I want to know how to say "A sister's love is eternal". (I'm aware that due to Irish syntax and grammar I may end up with "The love of a sister is eternal", or some other variation, which is fine.) The two translations I was offered years ago were:

Tá grá deirféar síoraí

Is síoraí an grá deirféar


Is either of these correct? If both are, what is the difference? Also, would some be able to tell me how to pronounce these phonetically? I would be very grateful for any assistance.

I've fixed some errors above.

Of the two, the one with the copula is has more impact. If you need both, it might be an idea to put the article into the first one for consistency.

Is síoraí an grá deirféar
iss SHEE-uh-reen GRAW JER-ri-fayr
/s´i:əri:_əN grɑ: d´erəf´e:r/

So, which one is correct? I really like this!

There's more than one way to say something in any language. Tim, myself and Breandán agreed on Is síoraí an grá deirféar. Personally, that's my favourite.

Another one you were offered is Is buan an grá deirféar. That's OK, but it really means "A sister's love is permanent". You asked for "A sister's love is eternal", which to my mind is a more powerful statement, perhaps even suggesting that a sister's love is some sort of entity that may even have some sort of existence after the death of both parties. Whether or not you believe that to be the case, I think that's a bit more poetic.

Another one that was offered is Tá grá deirféar síoraí. This is OK, but as Breandán noted, it's a bit weak. It sounds like you're casually offering a bit of information. I'd avoid it for this purpose.

Ultimately, it's your choice.