Lessons for English speakers
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.
13 core sections · ≈ 33 min + 4 optional lookups · ≈ 51 min with everything
5
Letter lookup: open this when a word will not come apart
Optional lookup · ≈ 6 min
What you'll learn
- Open this when a word blocks you; the next story does not need any of it.
- The eighteen letters first, then the nine consonant-plus-h pairs, then the vowel groups.
- Several pairs land on the same sound: bh and mh are identical, and so are dh and gh.
- th and sh are both just h, and fh is silent.
- The last block takes apart the words that most often stop a beginner dead.
You do not need this section to finish. Open it when a word will not come apart — when a letter pair refuses to make a sound, or a vowel group looks like nothing you have met. The two stories at the end use only what the earlier sections taught.
The thirteen consonants
- bb as in bedbánbawn“white”
- calways k, never s. There is no soft c in Irish at allcatkat“cat”
- dd as in dog beside a, o, u — but closer to the j in jam beside e, idorasDUR-us“door”
- ff as in fishfearfar“man”
- galways the hard g of got, never the g of gemgormGUR-um“blue”
- hh as in hat. It is barely a letter of its own — its main job is to change the letter in front of ita haonuh HEEN“one”
- ll as in look beside a, o, u — beside e, i it leans towards the lli in millionlálaw“day”
- mm as in moonmórmohr“big”
- nn as in no beside a, o, u — beside e, i it leans towards the ny in canyonnanuh“the — more than one”
- pp as in penpáistePAWSH-tchuh“child”
- ra tapped r, nearer to Spanish than to Englishrithrih“run”
- ss as in sun beside a, o, u — but sh as in ship beside e, iséshay“he”
- tt as in top beside a, o, u — but closer to ch in church beside e, itátaw“is”
Two of these — the letters c and g — are more reliable than in English: they never go soft the way English c and g do in “city” and “gem”.
The five vowels, short and long
- ashort a, somewhere between cat and cotcatkat“cat”
- áaw as in lawThe long mark stretches the vowel: “cat” pulled out into “law”.lálaw“day”
- ee as in bedleleh“with”
- éay as in dayThe same mark, and the same stretch, that English borrowed in “café”.séshay“he”
- ii as in sitsinshin“that”
- íee as in seeStretched i: “sit” pulled out into “seat”.síshee“she”
- oshort o, often closer to the u in butdorasDUR-us“door”
- óoh as in goStretched o: “cot” pulled out into “coat”.mórmohr“big”
- uu as in putmucmuk“pig”
- úoo as in moonStretched u: “put” pulled out into “pool”.tútoo“you”
Type a fada by holding the vowel key down, or with the apostrophe key on an Irish keyboard.
A consonant plus h — the nine pairs
- bhw beside a, o, u — v beside e, iA b said through a w: the h blows the b open.bhívee“was”
- mhexactly the same two sounds as bh: w beside a, o, u — v beside e, iThe same trick on an m. bh and mh land in the same place.mhaithwah“good”
- chnever “ch” as in church. Beside a, o, u it is the rasp in Scottish “loch”; beside e, i it is a strong hThe rasp you already own: “loch” is this letter pair, borrowed into English whole.chatkhat“cat, after mo”
- dhbeside a, o, u, a voiced version of that same rasp — beside e, i, a plain yThe ch rasp with the voice left switched on.dhághaw“two”
- ghidentical to dh: a voiced rasp beside a, o, u, y beside e, idh and gh are twins — say one and you can say the other.an ghrianun YREE-un“the sun”
- thjust h. Never the th of think or of thisThe t has been blown away and only the breath is left.thithitch“fell”
- shalso just h — not sh as in shipSame again: the s blown away, only the h left standing.shiúilHOO-il“walked”
- phf, the same as in EnglishThe one pair an English eye gets right for free: “phone”.a pháisteuh FAWSH-tchuh“child! — calling one”
- fhsilent. The f simply vanishes and you read the rest of the wordThe f has gone silent out of politeness — read the word without it.fheicimEK-im“see, after ní”
Learn these nine and you can read most of an Irish page. They come up constantly, because Irish changes the front of a word for grammatical reasons.
Vowel pairs and trios
- aoeea and o agreeing to say “ee” — neither letter gets its own way.gaothgee“wind”
- aoiee — same as ao; the i is only a labelnaoinee“nine”
- aeayGaeilgeGAYL-guh“Irish — the language”
- éaay — the fada wins, the a is a labelWherever a fada sits in a vowel pair, that is the vowel you say.béarbayr“bear”
- éiay — same, with the label on the other sideféidirFAY-jur“possible”
- eaa as in cat; the e is a label onlyfearfar“man”
- aia; the i is a label onlycailínKAL-een“girl”
- eie as in bedfeicimFEK-im“I see”
- ioi as in sit — but u before nn; either way the o is a labelsionnachSHUN-ukh“fox”
- uii as in sit; the u is a labeluisceISH-kuh“water”
- iúoo — the fada wins againsiúlshool“walking”
- oíeeoícheEE-huh“night”
- uaoo-a, said as one slideOne slide, not two syllables — the same move English makes in “wow”.chualaKHOO-uh-luh“heard”
- iaee-a, said as one slideiascEE-usk“fish”
- eooh — except in the very common seo and anseo, where it flattens to uhseoshuh“this”
- abh / amhow as in how — a vowel plus a softened b or m fusing into one soundThe bh or mh has melted into the vowel: say “how”, not “ab-huh”.tabhairTOW-ir“give”
Do not memorise this grid. Read it once, then come back to it the first three times a word ambushes you.
Spelling is not the sound
Niamh“brightness; a common name”
NEE-av
Five letters, three sounds. ia is the “ee-a” slide, and mh is a v here because the vowel beside it is slender.
oíche“night”
EE-huh
oí is “ee”, ch is a breath, and a final e is a weak “uh”.
bhfuil“is, in questions”
wil
Six letters, three sounds. bhf is a single w, and the u is a label for it.
seachtain“week”
SHAKH-tin
s is slender so it is “sh”; ch is the rasp; the final ai is just “i”.
gaoth“wind”
gee
Four letters, two sounds: ao is “ee” and th is a breath so faint you may not hear it at all.
go raibh maith agat“thank you”
guh roh MAH AH-gut
Four words, and the one that looks longest, raibh, is the shortest sound in the phrase.