Lowland Scots/Lesson01

Lowland Scots Lesson One: The Basics

Articles

English has the words "the", "a" and "an". These words are called "articles" and are used to refer to concepts which are specific (the, which is definite) or general (a and an, which are indefinite).

A man. The man. A group of men. The men.

Some languages will have one but not the other. Some languages have neither. Scots has both, and the rules are slightly simpler than in English.

The

The Scottish word for "the" is also the (pronounced more like "theh" instead of how we pronounce it "thuh") and it almost exactly like in English. The only difference is that it is also used before the names of seasons, days of the week, many nouns, diseases, trades, occupations, sciences and academic subjects. It is also often used in place of the indefinite article and instead of a possessive pronoun: the hairst (autumn), the Wadensday (Wednesday), awa tae the kirk (off to church), the nou (at the moment), the day (today), the haingles (influenza), the Laitin (Latin), The deuk ett the bit breid (The duck ate a piece of bread), the wife (my wife) etc.

Scots: The hoond. The tree. The waw.
English: The dog. The tree. The wall.

A

The Lowlands word for "a" and "an" is simply "a".

Scots: The hoose. A aiple. The loanin an a tree.
English: The house. An apple. The field and a tree.

Am, Is, are, was, were

"Am", "is", and "are" are the same in Scots, but "was" and "were" are simply "wis", though "were" is sometimes "war" in the language.

Scots: A am, she is, we are, he wis, thay wis/war.
English: I am, she is, we are, he was, they were.

Pronouns

Words like "he" and "she" are pronouns. The Scottish system has a few differences over English, as you will see below:

A¹ I
me² me
ma³ my
ye⁴ singular "you"
he he
his his
she she
her her
him him
it⁵ it
we⁶ we
us⁷ us, me
thay they
thaim them
thair their
yese⁸ plural "you"
yer⁹ your

The most recognizable difference is the distinction between singular and plural "you". English used to have the same distinction; it used "thou" for singular "you" and "ye" for plural "you". However, "thou" fell into disuse, and "ye" took its place and became modern "you". "Yese/Youse" would be used in a sentence such as, "A lue¹⁰ yese/youse", which translates to, "I love you all". "Ye" would be used in all other cases, like "Wha are ye?", meaning "Who are you?" Scots:

Hou¹¹ are ye?
Hou are yese?

English:

How are you? (Friendly)
How are you? (More than one person) or How are you all? or How are all of you?

¹: Also "I" when used to emphasize.
²: Also "us" or "hus".
³: Also "ma certes".
⁴: Also "you".
⁵: Also "hit".
⁶: Also "oo".
⁷: Also "hus", "us".
⁸: Also "youse".
⁹: Also "your".
¹⁰: Also "amour" or "love".
¹¹: Also "whitwey".

Prepositions

Prepositions, like the name suggests, describe positions and the relationships between things. Some language courses choose to describe these in more advanced lessons, but it's difficult to form sentences without them. Here we will introduce a few basic prepositions, but we will discuss them in greater depth in a future lesson.

amang among
in in
on¹ on (as in I put my books on my desk)
unner under (very similar to the English word)
ahint² behind
atween between
wi with
neist tae³ next to
forbye besides

The number of sentences which you can now build with a minimal vocabulary has increased dramatically.

Scots: We are in the hoose.
English: We are in the house.

¹: Also "ontae".
²: Also "aback" or "hinder".
³: Also "til".

Vocabulary list

This is a vocabulary list. Some of these words have appeared previously in this lesson and some are new.

aiple apple
tree tree
door door
eat eat, to eat
hair hair, a small portion
dug¹ dog
cat² cat
meat³ food
lassie⁴ girl
ken know
moose mouse
hoose house
kirk church
waw wall
fowk people
reid red
leid language
laddie⁵ boy
son son
bairn child
tuith tooth
sit sit, to sit
sleep sleep, to sleep
the toun city
chyre chair
black black
table⁶ table
hackit⁷ ugly
loanin⁸ field, paddock, lane
bide to reside, live at, lodge, stay

¹: Also "duggie", "hoond", or "tike".
²: Also "baudrons", "cheetie", "pous", or "pousie".
³: Also "farin", "leevin", "mealtith", or "fuid".
⁴: Also "lassie" or "quean".
⁵: Also "callant", "lad", "boy", or "loun".
⁶: Also "buird".
⁷: Also "grugous", "ill-farrant", "uggsome", or "ougly".
⁸: Also "lea".

Practice

Translate these sentences into English.

Ye are John.
The hoose is reid.
She bides in the toun.
The lassie wi black hair.
The dug sleeps unner a tree.
The cat eats the meat.
A sit on the chyre neist tae the table.
Yese are ahint the door in the waw.

Translate these sentences into Lowland Scots.

I am Jack.
It is under the table.
The door is in the red wall.
The mouse lives under the house.
A dog is sleeping behind the chair.
The tree is in the field.
The boy with food.
You eat an apple.

Answers

Answers to the above exercises.

You are John.
The house is red.
She lives in the city.
The girl with black hair.
The dog sleeps/is sleeping under a tree.
The cat eats/is eating the food.
I sit/am sitting on the chair next to the table.
You are behind the door in the wall.
A am Jack.
It is unner the table.
The door is in the reid waw.
The moose bides unner the hoose.
A dug sleeps ahint the chyre.
The tree is in the loanin.
The laddie wi the meat.
Ye eat an aiple.

End of lesson one

That concludes the very first Lowland Scots lesson, and by now you should already be able to form simple sentences. Use the vocabulary you have learned to form your own sentences!

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