Learn to read Irish
A short, active path into reading Irish: sound out eight real words before the alphabet, learn to undo séimhiú and urú on sight, put the verb at the front of the sentence, and read a story whose pronunciation and English begin hidden.
Who — and the two words for “is”
- Seven pronouns, said out loud.
- There is no word for “it”: every noun is a “he” word or a “she” word.
- On the receiving end, sé, sí and siad lose their s.
- tá is for how or where something is; is is for what it is — the label, and the label comes first.
- A verb can swallow the pronoun: feicim is “see” and “I” in one word.
The pronouns
| English | Irish | Said |
|---|---|---|
| I | mé | may |
| you — one person | tú | too |
| he, it | sé | shay |
| she, it | sí | shee |
| we | muid | mwid |
| you — more than one | sibh | shiv |
| they | siad | SHEE-ud |
On the receiving end, sé, sí and siad drop their s — éay, íee, iadEE-ud: sí sees, í is seen.
The two words for “is”
| Word | Said | Used for | Rule of thumb |
|---|---|---|---|
| tá | taw | how or where something is | if you could say “there is”, use tá |
| is | iss | what something IS — the label on it | putting a thing in a box: is |
A dog is a dog forever — a label, so is; a dog being here is passing — tá. Not the real rule, but it gets you through a book.
It is a dog. — the label on it: dog.
Is madra é.
iss MOD-ruh ay.
Word for word: is dog it — the label first, then the receiving-end é.
I see the dog.
Feicim an madra.
FEK-im un MOD-ruh.
Feic- is the seeing and -im is the I. Adding mé would be like saying “I sees I”.
Which “is”, and who?
- Is madra é.
A label, so the labelling verb — and it comes first.
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“It is a dog”, said “iss MOD-ruh ay”. Word for word: is dog it. - Which of the two verbs would you use for “the water is here”?
Where something is, not what it is.
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tá — Tá an t-uisce anseo.taw un TISH-kuh un-SHUH - Feicim an bhean.
One word is doing two jobs, and one word has an h to delete.
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“I see the woman”, said “FEK-im un van”.