Adapted from www.gaelicmatters.com. See also Irish Phrases and Expressions.
Each Irish word is presented in bold, followed by a rough pronunciation in italics and the meaning in normal roman type.
Quick prononciation tip: d with e or i (slender) is often pronounced like ‘j’; with a, o, or u (broad) generally like hard ‘th’. Slender t is often pronounced like ‘ch’; broad t generally like soft ‘th’.
It can be quite daunting at first, but it is nonetheless important to be aware that the form of a word in Irish can and does change, not only in the singular and plural forms, but also depending on whether, and how, it is used in, eg, the nominative, vocative, accusative, and genitive cases. For example:
| an fear
on far the man |
hata an fhir
hot-ah on ir the man's hat |
don fhear
dun ar to the man |
||
| na fir
nah fir the men |
hataí na bhfear
hot-ee nah var the men's hats |
do na fir
duh nah fir to the men |