UniLang

Tha e teth.
Tha sinn blàth.
Tha iad mòr.
Tha mi tinn.
Tha thu sgìth.

Sorry I'm late! But i'll join!!!

Hallò Irina!

Irina,

Hello! Good to know you want to learn this beautiful ancient language too!

Hmm.. what do you mean by "reading"? If you mean the pronunciation then I can explain here now:

PRONUNCIATION

The rules of Gaelic pronunciation is very complicated. But don't worry, once you have learned the rules you will find that it's much regular than English!

Gaelic has what you called slender and broad consonants and vowels. Slender and broad are the two groups that take certain vowels:

SLENDER: e and i
BROAD: a, o and u

Consonants become slender or broad depending on the surrounding vowels because they change the sound of the consonants. So rule is if the consonant is broad then the surrounding vowels must be broad too. Look at the Gaelic words carefully and you'll see how they are always spelled like that:

caileag, balla, gille, daoine, baga, pàipear, Seumas, Màiri, brògan.

BROAD CONSONANTS:
b - like b in BAD at the beginning of a word; otherwise, like p in CAP.
p - like p in PAD.
g - like g in GOOD at the beginning of a word; otherwise, like k in COOK.
c - like c in CAT.
d - like d in DO at the beginning of a word; otherwise, like t in CAT. The tongue must touch the upper teeth.
t - like t in BEAT.
l, ll - like a hollow l as in FULL with the tongue touching the upper teeth.
n - hollow, in the same way as above, at the beginning of a word; otherwise like n in NEED.
nn - hollow, like above.
r - no equivalent in English. Like rolled r in Spanish at the beginning of a word; otherwise, like r in READ.
ng - like ng in SING.
s - like s in SIT.

SLENDER CONSONANTS:

All slender consonants are PALATALISED. This means that these consonants are softened by the 'y' sound added to them. (NOTE: Palatalisation is often easier for Russian speakers as many Russian consonants can be softened by the use of palatalisation)

b - like b in BEAUTIFUL at the beginning of a word; otherwise, like p in LOOP.
p - like p in PEW.
g - like g in ARGUE at the beginning of a word; otherwise, like c in CUE.
d - like j in JUMP at the beginning of a word; otherwise, like ch in CHEW.
l - like lli in MILLION at the beginning of a word; otherwise, like ll in DULL.
n - more like the French gn or Spanish ñ; approximate sound in English is the ni in ONION at the beginning of a word; otherwise, like n in NICE.
nn - like above.
r - no equivalent in English. In some dialects, it is like th in THIN.
ng - like ng in SING.
f - like f in FEW.
h - like h in HAM.
m - like m in MULE.
s - like sh in SHOE.

OK this is enough for now. There will be more on pronunciation later.

---

Irina and Sou, your answers are 100% correct!! Well done!

Daniel wrote:
Here are the new words you've just met in the above:

sgìth - tired
math - good
fuar - cold
tinn - ill
toilichte - happy
làidir - strong
beag - small

And here are the new ones:

dona - bad
mòr - big
teth - hot
blàth - warm

Now try and write the following sentences into Gaelic! If you want, type out your answers in the private message and send it to me!

1. It is hot.
2. We are warm.
3. They are big.
4. I am ill.
5. You are tired.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Daniel

1. Tha e teth.
2. Tha sinn blàth.
3. Tha iad mòr.
4. Tha mi tinn.
5. Tha sibh sgìth.



I'm reading again the lessons of your course (now I'm reading lesson 2) and I'll try to ask you about the doubts I may have. See you!

A website that has helped me a lot in "deciphering" the Gaelic spelling was http://www.akerbeltz.org/fuaimean/fuaimean.htm—though I can't deny knowing IPA was quite handy, despite the audio files. But I believe it's a good one anyway.

Hallo a-rithist Dan! Direach faighnich dhomh ma tha thu ag iarraidh cuideachadh sam bith, chan eil mi airson gluasad a-staigh far a bheil thu a' deanamh obair gle mhath, ach ma tha thu ag iarraidh moladh sam bith bhithinn toilichte gad chuideachadh, le meas bho Ridseard

It's great work that Dan is doing. I am a fluent Gaelic speaker too, so I'm happy to help out. I think spelling is probably the biggest problem to confront the new learner of Gaelic, although as you gain fluency it becomes apparent how logical the spelling system is. I do not speak Russian, but can read the Cyrillic script and speak some Polish, and with slender vowels (e, i) in Gaelic, there is an inherent 'y' sound next to the consonant. Compare with the English words: beauty, cute, duty, fjord, llama, mute, newt, pure, sure and tune. Each has an inherent 'y' sound apart from 'd', 't' and 's', which are pronounced 'j', 'ch' and 'sh' respectively. This is exactly how slender consonants are pronounced in Gaelic. Here are some examples: bearn (gap), ceart (right, correct), dean (do, make), feart (quality as in an attribute), gearradh (cutting), leabhar (a book), meadhan (middle, medium), neart (strength), peann (a pen), a-rithist (again - pronounced with a rolled 'r'), seoladh (address), teine (fire)

byarn, cyarsht, jeean, fyarsht, gyarragh, lyower, myeyan, nyarsht, pyaun, arree-isht, shawlagh, cheyne/cheynye

Best wishes, Richard

Its been a couple .. okay a few years since I began to learn Scottish Gaelic, purely on my own. Ended up leaving it alone when I went back to university and didnt have time, but have recently stumbled on this site and renewed my interest to learn. Have also taken a year's worth of french, and its another interest of mine. Anyway, I've been reading up and refreshing my memory and its great to see someone(s?) actually teaching and offering lessons. I look forward to seeing more!

--Tamarae

Hi, I've began to read htlm lessons some time ago... Now I'm joining the Forum,
hoping to keep the pace...

Well, I'm back to reading more about Gàidhlig once again, so I guess you can expect me to be around from now on, Daniel.

And two questions, if I may —

1) I'm told that the Dative case is used less and less after prepositions governing it when it comes to feminine nouns in the oral language (though they're to be kept in writing). Is that really so?

2) When it comes to the Simple Past, English can be translated into, let's say, French, by both the Imparfait and the Passé Composé, so that I was ill. can be translated by both J'étais malade. and J'ai été malade. according to the context. Would it be the same with Gaelic Bha mi tinn., for instance?

1. Am bheil bràthair agus piuthar aig am balach beag?
Tha.

2. Am bheil am balach a' smaoineachadh gu bheil an tidsear aige glè ghòrach?
Chan eil. Tha e a' smaoineachadh gu bheil e glè mhath agus inntinneach.

3. Dè a tha e ag ionnsachadh ann an sgoil?
Tha e ag ionnsachadh Gàidhlig ann an sgoil.

4. Nach eil i doirbh?
Tha.

5. Am bheil i inntinneach cuideachd?
Tha.

6. An urrainn do bràthair a' bhalaich Spàinntis a bhruidhinn idir?
Chan urrainn. 'S urrainn dha Gàidhlig a bhruidhinn, agus 's urrainn da phiutar Spàinntis agus Gearmailtis a bhruidhinn.

Is it possible? Love at first sight with a language?
Although I am learning italian, I have printed the lessons, you have posted here, Daniel, ( 31 pages in MS Word ) and am going to learn them.
I hope, it won´t be to difficult to me....

queen wrote:Is it possible? Love at first sight with a language?
Although I am learning italian, I have printed the lessons, you have posted here, Daniel, ( 31 pages in MS Word ) and am going to learn them.
I hope, it won´t be to difficult to me....

It's possible indeed. It happened to me with Welsh.
I always want to congratulate you Daniel, you're a very diligent and good teacher!

Let's give a hand to the Celtic languages!
(speccially to Welsh, Cornish and Breton.... hehe)

Thanks, Daniel, for starting this off. I was just wondering, though, why you use the Ulster flag as your avatar. Are you from Northern Ireland?

These are great lessons Daniel! I've only just caught up now, but I'll work on some Scottish-Gaelic sentences and post them for you to have a look at later.

Cheers!

Hi,

I'm interested in if there would be again some lessons.
I'm only a beginner, but I hope to learn it more or less fast. But my problem is the pronunciation. Do someone have an idea for where I can here more gaelic? Scottland is a bit far

Greetz

Hi, Daniel!
It's such a great thing you're doing here! Great thanks
I'm only a beginner in Gaelic and it's rather difficult to find simple texts for learners (not easy to find Gaelic textbooks in Russia) - so I've found some here, thanks to you again
I hope you haven't stopped teaching here but just made a pause. As for me, I'd like some more texts. (Usually no problems with sentences but there's always something new and interesting in a text in terms of lexics and grammar).

Someone asked about audio in Gaelic, I hope I'm not breaking any rules by giving this address (I myself use it as Scotland is a bit far from me too ):
http://www.taic.btinternet.co.uk/taic.htm

You are certainly doing your bit to encourage the Gaelic language, its good to see it being promoted in such a positive way.
Tha mi toilichte

Hi!
As I joined you just some days ago, I'm only at the third page now. I have some questions on the text.
What is 'Is toil'? Is it a synonim to 'Is airson'?
And what does 'leòr' mean? I can't guess (thinking something like 'if 'ceart' is 'right' and 'ceart gu leòr' is 'all right' then...'). I thought 'gu leòr' must be an adverb and 'leòr' an adjective - or am I wrong?

And there are some sentences for translation after the text. Here is what I got:

1. Are you listening to me now?
Am bheil thu a'èisdeachd ruim a-nis?

2. Come with me.
Thig còmhla rium.

3. They write a letter to them.
Tha iad a'sgrìobhadh litir thuca.

4. He was reading fast. (fast - luath)
Bha e a'leughadh luath.

5. She doesn't play well with him.
Chan eil i a'cluich gu math leis.

Thank you very much for the corrections! Tapadh leat!
And I have to be more attentive. Especially that ui/iu thing, that's not the first time that I mix them.

Hi!

The more I learn Gaelic the more I like it

Here are my answers to the last exersice:

1. Tha an fhearg air oir tha an t-acras air.
He is angry because he is hungry.

2. Bha an cnatan orra.
They were cold.

3. Cha robh an sonas orm oir bha e an-seo.
I was not happy because he was here.

4. He is nostalgic because he is in Italy. (an Eadailt - Italy)
Tha an cianalas air oir tha e anns an Eadailt.

5. The young man is tired now because he was working.
Tha an sgìths air am fear òg a-nìs oir bha e ag obair.


It would be great if you proceed with the lessons. I was able to read two of the stories which are at Unilang stories section, but not everything is clear. And I have some more questions on the text you gave last.

Why do you put i or e twice in sentences like
Tha i a' bruidhinn i ris... ?

And could you please comment on the usage of ma tha (as in Tha mi a' dol còmhla ruibh ma tha)?

I think there is something wrong with Daniel at present as he is not answering emails, but please keep coming back and checking as this is an excellent site and his lessons are so well structured. I'm sure he will be back soon.
Margaret