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

Words

2 sections

Word lookup: people, animals, colours, describing words

Optional lookup · ≈ 5 min

What you'll learn

Open this when a word blocks you. The two stories ahead need only a dozen of these, and they are gathered again later.
A describing word — an adjective — comes after the noun in Irish, the opposite of English.
It softens after a “she” word: an luch bheagun lukh vyohg“the small mouse”.
seanshan“old” is the exception: it clamps onto the front of the noun and softens it — except a d, t or s, which resist.
Irish would rather put a feeling on you than describe you with it: Tá áthas ormtaw AW-hus OR-um for “I am happy”.
Gender is grammar, not biology: cailínKAL-een“girl” is a “he” word.

You do not need these lists to finish. Open this section when a noun or a describing word in a book stops you, or when you want more than the handful the two stories use. Nothing in the readings depends on it.

People

English	Irish	Said
mother	máthair	MAW-hir
father	athair	AH-hir
brother	deartháir	dra-HAWR
sister	deirfiúr	DER-foor
boy	buachaill	BOO-uh-khil
girl	cailín	KAL-een
man	fear	far
woman	bean	ban
child	páiste	PAWSH-tchuh
friend	cara	KAR-uh

deartháir breaks the “lean on the first syllable” habit and leans on its second, which very few Irish words do. And cailín is a “he” word: gender in Irish is grammar, not biology, and hunting for sense in it will cost you time you do not have.

Animals

English	Irish	Said
dog	madra	MOD-ruh
cat	cat	kat
bird	éan	AYN
fish	iasc	EE-usk
horse	capall	KAP-ul
mouse	luch	lukh
fox	sionnach	SHUN-ukh
bear	béar	bayr
rabbit	coinín	KUN-een
pig	muc	muk
owl	ulchabhán	UL-khuh-wawn
wolf	mac tíre	mok TCHEE-ruh

sionnach is the standard fox, but half of Connacht says madra ruaMOD-ruh ROO-uh, “red dog”, and you will meet it in books. mac tíre is two words meaning “son of the country” — a wolf, not a farmer.

Sky, weather, places

English	Irish	Said
sun	grian	GREE-un
moon	gealach	GYAL-ukh
day	lá	law
night	oíche	EE-huh
sky	spéir	spayr
rain	báisteach	BAWSH-tchukh
wind	gaoth	gee
snow	sneachta	SHNAKH-tuh
tree	crann	kran
forest	coill	kwil
house	teach	tchakh
door	doras	DUR-us
water	uisce	ISH-kuh
road	bóthar	BOH-hur

Weather refuses to translate word for word: Tá báisteach ann.taw BAWSH-tchukh awn“It is raining.” is “there is rain in it”, with annawn“in it; there” doing the job English gives to the empty word “it”.

Colours and describing words

English	Irish	Said
red	dearg	JAR-ug
blue	gorm	GUR-um
green	glas	glas
yellow	buí	bwee
black	dubh	duv
white	bán	bawn
brown	donn	dun
grey	liath	LEE-uh
big	mór	mohr
small	beag	byohg
old	sean	shan
young	óg	ohg
good	maith	mah
bad	dona	DUN-uh
beautiful	álainn	AW-lin
happy	sona	SUN-uh
sad	brónach	BROH-nukh

Irish has two greens: glas is the green of grass, trees and the sea, and uaineOO-in-uh is the green of paint. A green field is never uaine.

Where a describing word sits

a black cat

cat dubhkat duv

cat is a “he” word, so nothing happens — and the colour comes after the animal.

the small mouse

an luch bheagun lukh vyohg

luch is a “she” word, so beag takes an h.

the small pig

an mhuc bheagun wuk vyohg

Both words soften: the noun after an, the describing word after the noun.

fearfar“man”

seanfhearSHAN-ar“old man”

sean is the one describing word that clamps onto the front, and the f has gone silent under its h.

More than one

English	One → more	Said
dog	madra → madraí	MOD-ruh → MOD-ree
mouse	luch → lucha	lukh → LUKH-uh
cat	cat → cait	kat → katch
man	fear → fir	far → fir
horse	capall → capaill	KAP-ul → KAP-il

Three common endings — -í, -a, -anna — or an i slips in before the last consonant and slenders it. “The” for more than one is na: na madraí, na fir.