Food and Sickness

Dialogue

Seán: Tá ocras orm. Ar mhaith leat itheadh liom?

Síle: Ba mhaith.

Seán: Cén sort bialann ar mhaith leat?

Síle: Is cuma liom, ithim gach cineál bia.

Seán: Ceart go leor, ní ithim feoil.

Síle: Ar mhaith leat deoch?

Seán: Ba mhaith, caife dubh le do thoil.

Síle: Cé mhéad sin?

Freastalaí:Trí euro le do thoil.

Seán: I'm hungry. Would you like to eat with me?

Síle: I would

Seán: What type of restaurant would you like?

Síle: I don't mind, I eat every type of food.

Seán: Ok, I don't eat meat.

Síle: Would you like a drink?

Seán: I would, a black coffee, please

Síle: How much is that?

Waiter: Three euro please

Tá ocras orm - I'm hungry

This phrase literally means 'Hunger is on me'. In Irish, to express an emotional state, the preposition on is used.

Examples

Tá tart orm - I'm thirsty

Tá fearg air - He's angry

Cuireann sé brón uirthi - It makes her sad (lit. It puts sadness on her)

Na hUimhreacha - Numbers

Numbers on their own are called ordinal numbers, e.g. one, two three. In Irish, the numeral partical 'a' is placed in front of the number when using the number on its own.

Examples:

A hAon - One

A Dó - Two

A Trí - Three

A Ceathar - Four

A Cúig - Five

A Sé - Six

A Seacht - Seven

A hOcht - Eight

A Naoi - Nine

A Deich - Ten

When we use numbers with a noun, however (e.g. four cups, two euro), we don't use the numeral particle, and we use a different form of one and two. Also, the numbers 1-6 lenite the next word (add a h), while the numbers 7-10 add an urú. Also, ceathar becomes ceithre and you use the singular form of the noun, not the plural.

Examples:

Aon chupán amháin - One cup (the 'aon' here is optional)

Dhá chupán - Two cups

Trí iasc - Three fish

Ceithre phrátaí - Four potatoes

Cúig ghloine - Five glasses

Sé deoch - Six drinks

Seacht bhfreastalaí - Seven waiters

Ocht mbiachlár - Eight menus

Naoi euro - Nine euro

Deich mbialann - Ten restaurants

On top of this, their is a different form of the numbers used when counting people, as follows.

Duine (amháin) - One person

Beirt - Two people

Triúr - Three people

Ceathrar - Four people

Cúigear - Five people

Seisear - Six people

Seachtar - Seven people

Octhar - Eight people

Naonúr - Nine people

Deichniúr - Ten people

Dialogue

'Seán: Níl mé ag mothú go maith

'Síle: Cad é atá ort?

'Seán: Tá pian i mo bholg agam.

'Síle: A chréatúir, suigh síos ansin.

'Seán: Go raibh maith agat

'Síle: An bhfuil sé níos fearr?

'Seán: Tá, go raibh maith agat.

'Seán: I don't feel well

'Síle: What's wrong?

'Seán: I have a pain in my stomach

'Síle: You poor thing! Sit down there

'Seán: Thanks

'Síle: Is it better?

'Seán: Yes, thank you

Níos fearr - Better

To compare something to something else, we use the words 'níos' and 'is', for example, 'níos fearr' means better as we saw above and 'is fearr' would mean 'best'. Another example is bright, which is 'geal' in Irish. This becomes 'níos/is gile' - 'brighter/brightest'. 'gile' here is the feminine genetive form of the adjective. We will discuss nouns and adjectives and their cases more in the next lesson, but the genetive will not be dealt with until later modules. For the moment, here are some examples of adjectives and their comparative forms.

Examples:

Deas - Níos/Is deise - Nice - Nicer/Nicest

Mór - Níos/Is mó - Big - Bigger/Biggest

Beag - Níos/Is lú - Small - Smaller/Smallest

Olc - Níos/Is measa - Bad - Worse/Worst

Ard - Níos/Is airde - Tall - Taller/Tallest

Sean - Níos/Is sine - Old - Older/Oldest

Óg - Níos/Is óige - Young - Younger/Youngest

Álainn - Níos/Is áille - Beautiful - More/Most beautiful

Mall - Níos/Is moille - Slow. - Slower/Slowest

Mo - My

The words 'my, your, his, her, etc' are called possessive pronouns. In Irish they are as follows:

Mo - My

Do - Your (singular)

A - His

A - Her

Ár - Our

Bhur - Your (plural)

A - Their

Mo, Do and A when it means 'his' are all followed by lenition (adding 'h' to the following word). 'A' when it means her does not modify the following noun and Ár, Bhur and A when it means 'their' are all followed by eclipsis (adding an urú to the following word).