GAELIC LESSON 1

Seonaidh MacFhraing
Updated October 2015

Seonaidh MacFhraing
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 Topics
Characteristics of GAELIC
The Gaelic alphabet
How to aspirate consonants
How to slenderize consonants
Gaelic names
Asking & answering who you are
The Vocative Form
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 Characteristics of the Gaelic
Language
Gaelic has:
A different vocabulary
Long vowels
Aspirated consonants
Declension (words change form for grammar)
Gender (masculine and feminine nouns)
Aspiration as a grammatical marker
Slenderization as a grammatical marker
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 Continued...
And more:
Particles
Suffixes
Word order in sentences is different
Unique idioms
Phonetic spelling system

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 How to ask someone what their
name is.
C thusa?
koh oo-sa
Who are you?
D an t-ainm a thort?
jay an ten-uhm a hosht
What is your name?

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 How to say your name
Is mise (name)
is mishuh N
I am N (put your name in place of N)
Is ise (name)
is ishuh N
She is N
Is esin (name)
is esh-in N
He is N Seonaidh MacFhraing
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Some Masculine Gaelic Personal
Names
Alasdair
Dmhnall
Iain
Eoin
Murchadh
Seonaidh
Seumas
Tormod Seonaidh MacFhraing
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 Some Feminine Gaelic Personal
Names
Caitlin
Caitrona
Ealasaid
Iseabail
Mairead
Miri
Seonag
Sne Seonaidh MacFhraing
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 The Gaelic Alphabet
The Gaelic alphabet has only 18 letters.
Vowels (5)
Semi-vowels (3)
liquid l
nasal n
rolled r
Consonants (9 + h)
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 The Vowels
Broad vowels (3)
a, o, u
Slender vowels (2)
e, i
(The slender vowels are also called narrow
vowels.)

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 The Semi-vowels
The liquid l
The nasal n
The rolled r

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 The Pure Consonants
The labials (4)
b, m, p, f
The dentals (2)
d, t
The palatals/sibilant (1)
s
The gutterals (2)
c, g
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 Aspiration
Aspiration is part of Gaelic grammar.
(It is also called lenition.)
Certain words aspirate the next word following.
Only the first letter of the following word is
aspirated grammatically (however consanants
inside the word may already be aspirated as part of
the word itself).
The first letter is only aspirated if it is not a vowel.
For consonants h is written after the consonant to
show that it is aspirated.
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 How to aspirate consonants
b as in but bh = v as in van
c as in cat ch as in loch
d as in dog dh = g as in get or y as in yet
f as in fan fh silent (4 exceptions)
g as in get gh = g as in get or y as in yet
m as in man mh = v as in van
p as in pot ph = f as in fan
s as in sun sh = h as in him
t as in tin th = h as in him
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 The Golden Rule
The Golden Rule of Gaelic Spelling is:
Broad to broad and narrow to narrow.
This means that if a non-vowel letter in a word has a vowel
on both sides of it, then those vowels should be either both
broad vowels (a, o or u) or both narrow vowels (i or e).
A non-vowel letter can therefore be classified as a broad
letter or a slender letter.
Converting a broad letter to a slender letter is called
slenderization.

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 Slenderization
Slenderization is part of Gaelic grammar.
Slenderization only effects non-vowel letters.
A slenderized letter is indicated by having
slender vowels (i or e) next to the letter.
Clearly only broad letters can be slenderized.
Broad letters and slender letters sound
different.

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 How slenderized consonants
sound
Put a strong y sound after the consonant
sound.
Final ug sound becomes an ee sound
d effectively sounds as j (as in jelly)
g effectively sounds as y (as in yes)
s effectively sounds as sh (as in show)
t effectively sounds as ch (as in chop)
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 Addressing People

To call attention to somebody or address them directly in

conversation you must change the form of their name into the
Vocative case.
Masculine Names
Precede the name with the uh sound, aspirate and slenderize
the name.
Feminine Names
Precede the name with the uh sound and aspirate the name.
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 Greeting people
Hallo (name). Ciamar a tha thu?
Hello + VocativeName + kimmer a hah who
Hello N, How are you?
Tha mi gu math.
Hah me goo mah
I am well
Tapadh leat.
tuh puh lat
Thank you
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 More Greetings
Good day = Latha math. (lah-ah mah)
Welcome = Filte. (fahlt-chuh)
Good day to you. = Latha math dhut fhin. (lah-ah mah
goot hane)
Good evening. = Feasgar math. (fesgahr mah)
How are you? = Ciamar a tha thu? (kimar uh hah oo)
I am well. = Tha mi gu math. (hah mee goo mah)
Thank you. = Tapadh leat. (tuh puh lat)
Good bye = Beannachd leat. (be-un-ack lat)

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 Chit-chat
How are you yourself? = Ciamar a tha thu fhin? (kim-ar uh hah
oo hane)
Im not bad. = Chan eil mi gu dona. (khun yell mee goo
donna)
Come in. = Thig a steach. (hick uh st-yekh)
Will you have a cup of tea? = An gabh thu cupan teatha? (un guv
oo coofpun chay)
Yes. = Gabhaidh. (guv-ee)
Farewell. (Good health.) = Sln leat. (slahn lat)
Same to you. (Goodbye.) = Mar sin leat. (mar shin lat)

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