Basic Scottish Gaelic grammar Linden MacAoidh Pentecost People a' mhàthair – the mother an t-athair – the father an piuthar – the sister am bràthair – the brother an gille – the boy a' chaileag – the girl an seanair – the grandfather an t-seanmhair – the grandmother an t-uncail – the uncle a' bhean – the wife/lady an duine – person, man an neach-saidheans – the scientist an sagart – the priest an tìdsear – the teacher an neach-siubhail – the traveller an t-oileanach – the student an sgrìobhadair – the writer an dealbhadair – the artist an neach-eachdraidh – the historian
landscape an tìr – the land an loch – the lake a' bheinn – the mountain an sliabh – the hill/mountain am muir – the seal an t-sruth – the stream an t-allt – the stream an sealladh-tìre – the landscape am monadh – the moor/range of moorland an cnoc – the hill an abhainn – the river an caisteal – the castle an lochan – the small loch an t-òb – the bay, lagoon an gleann – the valley a' chìr – the ridge an tràigh – the beach am bàgh – the way an t-uisge – the water a' choille – the forest an creag – the crag an ceann – the head/summit an càrn – the cairn an t-aonach – the high ridge an leitir – the ridge a' mhòinteach – the moor an tamhnach – the field, farmed field am mullach – the summit an druim – the ridge an coire – the coom an raon – field/area of land am bràigh – the brae
an t-achadh – the field
plants am feur – the grass an luibh – the herb am plannt – the plant a' chòinneach – the moss a' chraobh – the tree an raineach – the fern an tàchair – the seaweed an fheamainn – the seaweed am flùr – the flower a' bhlàth – the blossom an darach – the oak tree an giuthas – Scots pine tree a' bheith – the birch tree a' bhoglach – the swamp/marsh an gàradh – the garden
animals am fiadh – the deer a' mhac-tìre – the wolf a' chaora – the sheep an eun – the bird an t-iolair – the eagle an cù – the dog a' bhò – the cow an cat – the cat an t-each – the horse an nathair – the snake an iasg – the fish an giomach – the lobster am partan – the crab an t-solastar – the starfish an sgeoldair – the jellyfish
colours ruadh – dark red dearg – light red, crimson dùbh – black geal – white liath – grey glas – blue uaine – green buidhe – yellow
food am biadh – the food an t-aran – the bread an fheòil – the meat an t-ugh – the egg a' bhracaist – the breakfast an toitean – the steak/meat slice an toradh – the fruit a' bhagaid – nuts/grapes an amhach f – the bacon na glasraich – vegetables an coirce – the oats
am bradan – the salmon am bòrd – the table an t-sgian – the knife an fhorc – the fork an salann – the salt an sùbh – the berry
The Otherworld an t-sìthiche – the fairy an dà-shealladh – the second sight. This was believed to be an inherited ability to see things before they happen. Not equivelant to seeing the future or reading the future, second sight usually involves seeing dream like images of objects and people in places before they are really there. an taibhsear – a seer of the second sight an rìbhinn – the mermaid, serpent, nymph an t-suire – the mermaid an t-eòlas – the knowledge. Has a modern meaning of 'science' but traditionally meant knowledge in a spiritual sense too. an ceaba-sìthe – the fairy stone clach a' chrùbain – a natural rock which cured artheritis an spiorad – the ghost, spirit an fear liath – the grey man. A dangerous nature spirit which lured people off mountains an clach-nathrach – the serpent stone. A special charm made from adders. Dia – God a' bhean-nìghe – the washing woman, a type of fairy a' bhuidseach – the witch (generally unfriendly)
conjuncted prepositions in Scottish Gaelic Like other living Celtic Languages, Scottish Gaelic makes uses of prepositions by conjuncting them for person and number. For example: aig agam – at me agad – at you aige – with him aice – with her againn – with us agaibh – with you aca – with them air orm – on me ort – on you air – on him oirre – on her oirnn – on us oirbh – on you orra – on them do dhomh – to me dhuit – to you dha – to him dhi – to her dhuinn – to us dhuibh – to you dhaibh – to them ann an annam – in me annad – in you
ann – in him innte – in her annainn – in us annaibh – in you annta – in them Examples: tha taigh mòr agam – I have a big house a' chroabh agam – my tree dè an t-ainm a' th'ort? - what is your name? Is e duine laidir a' tha annam – I am a strong man is iad eaglaisean mòra a' tha annta – they are big churches!
Scottish Gaelic prepositions: a – preposition in the vocative case, for example a Sheumais! - Seumas! a – his/her, causes lenition when meaning 'his', e.g a mhuir – his sea, but a muir – her sea, a fhiadh – his deer, a fiadh – her deer. a – another way of saying 'to', instead of do. a – functions as a preposition before verbs or verb nouns when they take on the function of being infinitives, e.g. feumaidh mi a dhol – I have to go, or bu toil leam a choisich – I would like to walk. à – out of/from. Tha mi à Glaschu – I'm from Glasgow. Causes following noun to become dative. aig – [ek], - at, with. This is combined with personal pronouns to create prepositional pronouns, for example agam, aga etc. In a more general sense this preposition can be used to talk about the location of something, tha sinn aig an tràigh – 'we are at the beach', or to indicate possession, for example an taigh aig Seumas – Seumas' house. This can put nouns into their genitive form. ann an – in. air – on. This is normally followed by the dative form of a noun, e.g. Air na mara, air a' bhrat-ùrlair. This can be combined with pronouns to express a different type of possession, for example dè'n t-ainm a' th'ort? - what is your name? Air causes the following noun to become genitive. bho – from. Causes lenition, for example: bho chlach – from a stone, bho Bharraigh – from Barra. Causes following noun to become dative. chun – to, towards. Causes no mutation. Causes following noun to enter the genitive case. de – of, causes lenition. For example de thìre – of a land. Causes noun to become dative and not genitive. do – to/for. Chaidh sinn do Ghlaschu – we went to Glasgow. Before vowels an extra dh is insirted. Tha am bàta a' dol do dh'Uibhist a Deas. Thèid sinn do dh'Èirinn a-màireach. eadar – between. Causes no mutation. Tha an sabhal eadar lochain – the barn is between lochs. fo – under. Fo ghrèine – under the sun. fo-thalamh – underground. Causes noun to become dative. gu – to, til, until. Doesn't cause lenition. Causes noun to become dative although less common now. gun – without, causes lenition. Gun chridhe – without a heart. le – with. Le biadh – with food, le craobh – with a tree. Causes the noun to become dative, as in bha an leabhar le caileig – a girl had the book. mar – like. Causes lenition. mu – about. Causes lenition, for example: bha iad a' bruidhinn mu phìob – they were talking about a pipe. Causes noun to become dative. ri – against, to, with. Causes no mutation. Bha mi a' bruidhinn ri Seumais – I was talking with Seumas. This causes the following noun to become dative. ro – too/before. Causes lenition. Bha am biadh ro theth – the food was too hot. Tha an loch ro dhomhainn – the loch is too deep. When having the meaning of 'before' this causes the following noun to be put into the dative case. tarsainn – across. Causes following noun to become genitive. thar – over. Causes following noun to become genitive. troimh – through. Causes lenition. Troimh choille – through a forest, troimh chaolas na locha – through the narrows of the loch. Causes the following noun to become dative. Some of these prepositions cannot be used with the definite article. We don't say le a' chaora. Le caora means 'with a sheep', but alongside the definite article, le has to be replaced by leis. For example: leis a' chaora – with the sheep leis na craobhan – with the trees às a' bhaile – out of the town
anns na coilltean – in the forests
'in' The prepostions corresponding to the English 'in' are more complex in Gaelic. This depends on if the noun is definite or indefinite and if the noun is singular or plural. .When the noun is definite, anns is placed before the definite article. For example: bha an tìdsear anns a' choille – the teacher was in the forest. After air, aig, anns, etc, masculine nouns undergo lenition after the definite article. For example: bàta – boat anns a' bhàta – in the boat am muir – the sea anns a' mhuir – in the sea bocsa – box anns a' bhocsa – in the box creag – crag air a' chreag – on the crag The feminine forms remain more or less the same. After anns masculine nouns can be said to behave like feminine nouns. The word ann is used to mean 'in' before indefinite nouns. This can be confusing to learners because ann is followed by the definite article of that noun, even though the noun isn't definite. ann am bàta – in a boat ann am muir – in a sea ann am bocsa – in a box air an creag – on the crag The word sa translates as 'in the' and can be used alongside anns an. For example sa bhàta – in the boat, sa ghaineamh – in the sand.
Dream characters are perfect reflections of self, but nothing is really permanent in dreams, things change so quickly that the true embodiment and commitment to love cannot be learnt. Strangers on the other hand, reflect us less purely. Sharing that looses the specialness and individual, personal connection.
Different dialects of Gaelic have different treatment of the traditional case-system. We will focus here on 'standard Minch Gaelic', which has the nominative, dative, genitive and vocative cases. The infliction of these nouns depends on the syllables of the individual noun, but also upon gender of course. In some dialects of Gaelic, the case is no-longer indicated by slenderisation of the final syllable of the noun, and is only shown in the definite article and subsequent consonant mutation. .The definite article 'the' is an in most masculine nominitive nouns. E.g. an loch (the loch) .But becomes am before b, f, m, p. For example: Am bàta – the boat .It is an t- before vowels. E.g. an t-òran – the song .The definite article for most feminine nominitive nouns is a' for example a' chaileag – the girl. This causes mutation of the following consonant. This causes mutation of b, c, m, p, g where the definite article appears as a'.
.Before f the definite feminine article in the nominitive is an. But this also causes lenition of the following word, so an fhirinn – the truth? .An t- is used before feminine nominitive nouns beginning with s. For example An t-sròn – the nose. Nomitivie plural forms: .Masculine nouns: na in all cases .Feminine nouns: na in all forms, but na h- before vowels. Genitive forms: Masculine: a' plus lenition before b,c,g,m,p. For example fear a' bhàta – man of the boat. An plus lenition before f. Eclipsis in Gaelic: Although not written in the language, eclipsis, a different type of mutation occurs after the definite article. Northern areas, and certain Hebridean islands such as Lewis, have a different form of this than southern areas. For example: an cuan (the sea) sounds like a guan in most areas, but ang uan in Northern areas. An taigh (the house) sounds like a daigh in most areas, but a thaigh in Northern areas. Am bàta (the boat) sounds like a bàta in most areas, but a màta in Northern areas. An Grian (the sun) sounds like a grian in most areas, but a ngrian in Northern areas. An t-ochdamh (the eighth) sounds like a d-ochdamh in most areas, but a th-ochdamh in Northern areas. An doras (the door) sounds like a doras in most areas, but a noras in the North.
