Gaelic guide for learners

An t-sìde ‘the weather’

Last week we looked at saying how we are and today we will use some of the same words to speak about the weather. When starting to learn a language, the most important things can be greetings, saying how you are and one or two things about the weather. With very few phrases you can make yourself look very proficient.

Tha i brèagha an-diugh ‘It is beautiful today’ Tha i fliuch ‘It is wet’ Tha i gaothach ‘It is windy’ Tha i fuar ‘It is cold’ Note that i is the Gaelic for ‘she’, and the word sìde ‘weather’ is feminine, so i is used to express ‘it’. Tha i teth ‘It is hot’ Tha i àlainn ‘It is beautiful’ Dìreach àlainn ‘Just beautiful’ Chan eil i dona ‘It’s not bad’ Tha an t-uisge ann ‘It is raining’ Abair latha! ‘What a day!’ Abair latha brèagha! ‘What a beautiful day!’

Abair latha grod! ‘What an awful day!’

To ask what the weather is like, you say Dè an coltas a th’ air an t-sìde?

Tha turadh ann ‘It’s dry’ (between showers)

Bidh i nas fhèarr a-màireach ‘It’ll be better tomorrow’

You can use bidh instead of tha to speak about the weather in the future tense. lsabhal Mòr Ostaig offers Gaelic learning on site and by distance www.smo.uhi.ac.uk