Gaelic guide for learners

Basic Gaelic phrases

After a few months of more advanced Gaelic, we are going back to some basic phrases. Halò ‘hello’. Madainn mhath ‘good morning’. Feasgar math ‘good afternoon/ evening’ (between noon and bed time). Oidhche mhath ‘good night’. Ciamar a tha thu? ‘how are you?’ (thu is the informal form for ‘you’ and is used to speak to a friend or someone younger.) Ciamar a tha sibh? (sibh is used to speak to someone older than you, someone you don’t know or someone in authority, or to more than one person.) Tha gu math ‘I’m fine’. Tapadh leat ‘thank you’ (informal). Tapadh leibh ‘thank you’ (formal or plural). Ciamar a tha thu fhèin? ‘how are you yourself?’ Is mise Ailean ‘I’m Allan’. Dè an t-ainm a th’ ort? ‘what’s your name?’ ’S e Ailean a th’ orm ‘I’m called Allan’ Tha i brèagha an-diugh ‘it’s beautiful today’. T ìoraidh an-dràsta ‘bye for now’.

Most of these phrases can be found with sound files on the learngaelic.net website under ‘Little by Little’, ‘Quick Fix’ or ‘The units’. Practise them with a Gaelic speaker or learner. lsabhal Mòr Ostaig offers Gaelic learning on site and by distance www.smo.uhi.ac.uk