Irish/Unit 2/Lesson 4

Lessons

Unit One: 1 2 3 4

Unit Two: 1 2 3 4 5 6

Unit Three: Lesson Index

Language Reference

Spelling and Pronunciation - Grammar

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Buanna agus Obair - Talents and Work

Dialogue

Seán: An bhfuil Fraincís agat, a Síle? Síle: Níl Fraincís agam, ach táim ag foghlaim Iodáilis. Seán: An-mhaith. Conas atá ag eirí leat? Síle: Tá sé an-deacair ach tá ag eirí liom. Cé mhéad teanga atá agatsa? Seán: Dhá cheann: Is í Gaeilge mo mháthairtheanga agus tá Béarla líofa agam. Síle: Gabh mo leithscéal, ní thuigim, cad é a chiallaíonn 'líofa'?

Seán: Can you speak French, Síle? Síle: I can't speak French, but I'm leaning Italian Seán: Very good. How is it going? Síle: It's very hard but I'm succeeding. How many languages do you have? Seán: Two: Irish is my mother tongue and I'm fluent in English Síle: Sorry, I don't understand, what does 'líofa' mean?

An bhfuil X agat? - Can you do X?

In Irish, you ask if someone can do something by saying 'An bhfuil (task or skill) agat?'. This literally means 'Do you have (task or skill). In the dialogue Seán says 'An bhfuil Fraincís agat?' - Can you speak French?, but French here can be replaced by any skill, for example:

An bhfuil clóscríobh agat? Can you type?

An bhfuil ceol agat? Can you play a musical instrument?

An bhfuil snámh agat? Can you swim?

The response is: Tá X agam or Níl X agam.

Here is some more vocab to expand your answer:

cuibheasach maith - fairly good

measartha maith - quite good

réasúnta maith - reasonably good

furasta - easy

deacair - difficult

ró- - too (e.g. ródheacair, rófhurasta, etc)

Ag - At

agam - at me

agat - at you (singular)

aige - at him

aici - at her

againn - at us

agaibh - at you (plural)

acu - at them

Conas atá ag eirí leat? - How are you getting on?

In Irish, Tá ag eirí liom means I am succeeding and the question 'conas atá ag eirí leat?' means 'how are you getting on?' or 'are you doing well?'. 'Leat' literally means 'with you'. In Irish a personal preposition like 'leat' or, as we saw above 'agam' goes at the end of the sentence. Where in English we would say 'How are you getting on?' in Irish we say 'Conas atá ag eirí leat ' or 'An bhfuil Fraincís agat? ' Here is some further vocab:

Tá ag eirí go maith liom - I am doing well

Maith go leor - Well enough

Go dona - Badly

Níl ag eirí rómhaith liom - I am not doing too well

Dialogue

Seán: Cén obair a dhéanann tú?

Siobhán: Is tiománaí bus mé. Agus tusa?

Seán: Tá mé féinfhostaithe.

Siobhán: An mhaith leat do phosta?

Seán: Is maith. An post lánaimseartha é do phostsa?

Siobhán: Ní hea. Oibrím nuair a chuireann mo cheannasaí glaoch orm.

Seán: What work do you do?

Siobhán: I'm a bus driver. And you?

Seán: I'm self-employed

Siobhán: Do you like your job?

Seán: I do. Is your job full-time?

Siobhán: No. I work when my boss calls me

Ceisteanna - Questions

Gaeilge (Irish)	Béarla (English)
Conas	How
Cá / Cá háit	Where
Cathain	When
Cad / Céard	What
Cén	Which
Cé	Who
Cén fáth	Why
Cé mhéad	How many

Examples:

• Cé mhéad teanga atá agat?

  How many languages can you speak?

• Cá bhfuil sé?

  Where is he?

• Cén áit a bhfuil tú ag obair?

  Where are you working?

  Cé hí do cheannsaí?

  Who is your boss?

  Cathain a oibrínn tú?

  When do you work?

I - In

The word 'i' means 'in'. Before a vowel, an 'n' is added and it becomes 'in'. After i, an urú is added to the start of the next word, but we will deal with that fully in a later lesson.

Examples:

Oibrím i dteach tábhairne - I work in a pub

in ostán - in a hotel

As with most other prepositions, 'i' is combined with the personal pronoun as follows:

ionam - in me

ionat - in you (singular)

ann - in him

inti - in her

ionainn - in us

ionaibh - in you (plural

iontu - in them

Irish Lessons

1 — 2 — 3 — 4 — 5 — 6 — 7