04.Teach Yourself Complete Irish

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Contents Meet the author v vi Onlygot a minute? vill Onlygot five minutes? Introdudion xii 1 Is mise... My nameis ... Usesomesimplegreetings Introduceyourself number Giveyourqddress ondtelephone Bepolite Is miinteoir m6 / om a teacher 15 Stoteyournotionolityond occupotion Checksomebodyelse'snotionqlityor occupotion Soywhereyou work An bhfuif t0 p6sto?Areyou married? 30 Tolkoboutyourfomily Askoboutsomeoneelse'sfomily Seo... Thisis... 4A Introduceotherpeople Offerond qccepto drink Explointo otherswhereyou liveond work Seodo sheomrqThisisyour room 60 Welcomesomebodyto o house Tolkoboutthe differentroomsond their locotion T6 s6 go bre6inniu lt is fine today 78 Tqlkqboutthe weother C6nt-om 6? What time is it? 97 Tolkoboutthe octivitieswhichmokeup yourdoilyroutine Stqtethe timesot whichyou do them C6 leis € seo?Who doesthisbelongto? 115 Tolkoboutyourpersonolpossessions (clothes,books,records, etc.) people Describe other Express likesond dislikes

Contents

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135 C6ncqitheqmhqimsirec bhionnogot? What pastimedo Youhave? Tqlkqboutleisureoctivities 150 1 0 Ar mhoith leot cupdn toe? Wouldyou likea cup of tea? Offerqnd occepthospitolitY 16q 11 C6orda chosnoionns6 seo?What doesthis cost? howto including for shopping, Thebosiclonguoge expresspricesond to mqkecomporisons 178 12 C6ordo rinne tt? WhatdidYoudo? Tolkobout Postevents TolkoboutyourworkexPerience 190 13 Ni fhocc m6 thfi le tomoll I haven'tseenyou for awhile Commentfurtheron Postevents Formirregulorverbsin the posttense 14 T6 m6 og foghloim Goeilgele dh6 bhlioincnuos 203 I havebeenlearninglrish for the pasttwo years in leorningIrish Tolkoboutyourprogress Copewhenyou orestuckfor o word,or whenpeople tolk too quicklY 216 i gCorcoighm6I wosbornin Cork Rugodh 15 histories people's life post including events, Describe 233 16 Leonort leothmhileKeepgoinghalf a mile qnd directions understond Ask ond distqnce IndicoteProximitY 251 qn 17 Tiro oifig thuos stoighre Hisoffice is upstairs qrrqngements trovel Tqlkoboutoppointmentsond oboutlocotionwithino building Enquire 256 18 Buoiffidhm6lect og o hochtI'llmeetyouateight Tolkoboutfutureevents Mokeplonsond oPPointments intentions Express 19 Cecpoimgo bhfuil on boncd0nto I thinkthe bankis closed 286 Reportwhot Youhoveheord oPinions Express probobilitY Express 302 20 C6orda dh€onf6?What wouldYoudo? Mokerequests OfferhosPitolitY

IV

Persuode Giveodvice Referto thingswhichore likely,possibleor proboble 21 Bhiodhm6rdn le d6onomhogom I usedto havea lot to do Totolk obouteventsthot hoppenedregulorlyin the post Takingit further Keyto the exercises Appendices GIossaryof gramm atical terms I rish-Englishvocabulary English-Irishvocabulary Grammarindex

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327 329 345 361 36tl 375 385

Me'etthe outhor DiormuidO 56 I am a lecturerin Irish at University College,Dublin. I haveworked as a secondaryteacherand languagelaboratory instructor and was for many yearsa researcherat the LinguisticsInstitute of Ireland in Dublin. I havepublishedon variousaspectsof Irish grammarand phonetics.

Meettheouthor

V

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sqa minute? 4ffi*

erstondIrishhistoryondcultureyou

h1.9% of the totol populotion(ogedthreeyeorsond qs competentIrishspeokers. over)regordthemselves Of these32.5% cloimto speokIrishon o doily bqsis. of Irish is now restrictedto q hqndfulof Monolinguqlism elderlywithin moreisolotedregionsqnd omongthose

hugelysignificontin Irishnotionqlidentityond isthe key of chqrqcteristics to the mostimportqntdistinguishing Irishculture. Irishis the Accordingto the IrishConstitution, notionolqnd first officiqllonguogeof the Republicof Irelond.It is on officiqllonguogeof the EuropeonUnio minoritylonguoge ond olsoqn officiqllyrecognized in NorthernIrelond.The longuogeis usuollyreferred There to qs 'Goeilge'in Irishond os 'Irish'in English. orethreemoindiolectsin modernIrish,whichroughly coincidewith the provincesof Munster,Connqchtqnd Ulster.

of Irishunderschoologe.In NorthernIrelqnd speokers 10.4%hqve'someknowledge of Irish'.Combined, this meonsthot ot leostone in threepeopleon the islqndof Irelondcon understondIrishto someextent. Currentlyo renoissqnce is tokingplocein the Irishlonguoge.Recentyeorshqveseeno significont increosein printedmedioin Irish- books,newspqpers, mogozines - ond in non-printmediq.Irishis now eosily occessible throughvoriousrodiostotions,the television qnd on the internet.It is becoming chonnelTG4 increosingly eosyto leqrnto speokIrish! Mdire Mhic Ruoiriond

of Irish ronge Estimqtesof nqtivespeokers from 40,000to 80,000people.WhileIrishis the moinspokenlonguogeof only3 % of the populotion,

ta

north of the Alps to have an extensive

t and medievalliterature.It is, therefore,studied at many maior universitiesthroughout Europe and somein North America and Australia. Ireland also has the world's largest collection of folklore and proverbs' the vast malority of which is in the Irish language. The earliestidentifiedform of Irish is known as Primitive lrish. This is primarily known through fragmentsinscribedin the ogham alphabet,which have beenfound throughout Ireland and the *.rt .o"tt of Great Britain. Thesefragmentsare mainly personal namesinscribedon stone.PrimitiveIrish evolvedinto Old lrish during the 5th century.This is the earliestform of Irish for which there are extensivewritten sources.Old Irish first appearedin its written form as glossesand marginaliain Latin manuscripts written in the great monasteriesof Ireland such as Clonard, and Glendalough.By the roth centuryOld Durrow, Clonmacnoise Irish, which was spokenthroughout into Middle had evolved Irish Man. Middle Irish displaysa slight Isle of the and Ireland,Scotland due to Viking attacks is undoubtedly which Norse, influencefrom the rzth century From areas. in these settlement and subsequent Irish in lreland, modern inro evolve onwards Middle Irish beganto languagein Manx the into into ScottishGaelicin Scotland,and language literary the the Isle of Man. Modern Irish emergedfrom known as Early Modern Irish in Irelandand as ClassicalGaelic in Scotland.Early Modern lrish, alsoknown as Classicallrish, linguisticallyrepresentsa transition betweenMiddle and Modern Irish. The rTth centurysawgreatpoliticaland religiousupheavalin Ireland and the resultingbreakdownof the native Gaelicsystem and culture.Despitethis upheavalthe Irish languageremained

vIII,*

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the main spoken language of the vast majority of the population of Ireland until the rgth century. During the nineteenth century, the Great Famine (r8+S-+g) wiped out a disproportionately high number of lrish language speakers,who were the poorest and most vulnerable in society. It is estimated that one million people died during the famine and that another million emigrated as a result; the majority of these were Irish speakers,and this contributed greatly to the rapid decline of the language.The use of Irish was also prohibited in the primary education system until r87r, which further contributed to its decline. Initial efforts to preserveand protect the Irish languagewere made by Irish Protestantssuch as'lfilliam Neilson and Robert McAdam in Belfast at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The major movement, however, was initiated in 1893 with the founding of The Gaelic Leagwe (Conradh na Gaeilge)which coincided with the national cultural revival of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. This growing interest in the Irish language coincided with other landmark events in Irish cultural history such as the founding of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in r884.

The Goeltocht The parts of Ireland where Irish is still spoken as a native language are collectively known as 'the Gaeltacht'. It is in these areas that the Irish language continues to be the usual language of communication of the general population. The Gaeltacht regions are on the west coast of County Donegal, in County Galway, in particular Connemara, the Aran Islands, Carraroe and Spiddal, and

the Dingle Peninsulain County Kerry. There are smallg Gdracftt areasin CountyMayo, County Waterford,County"!&iathandss$F-e*-

countYcor k'

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,- - ,- -areas - - - - Lhave - ,.,M t Almost all of theseGaeltacht Irish Xfffrtguage summer colleges which are attended by thousands of le*q1ners,teenage.s irt

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X

4

. Thesestudentslive with local lrish-speaking classesand other cultural events.One

inspiredand ish, tg

rt#ffitaspectsof thesecoursesis that Irish must iut&b.Thesesummercollegeshave undoubtedly many Irish people,whosefirst languageis uency in Irish and to appreciate the importance the language in a predominantly English-speaking

country.

m educqtion Irish-mediu The growth of Irish-medium education in recent years, particularly in Northern Ireland, has made a very significant and positive impact on the number of Irish speakersand so has helped ensure the continuity of the language. This movement has led to an unprecedented growth in the Irish language in the north through a whole range of community initiatives, in primary, secondary and rcrtiary education, legislation, media and other areas.

Diqlects There are three main dialects in modern Irish, which roughly coincide with the provinces of Munster, Connacht and Ulster. The Munster dialect is spoken primarily in the Gaeltacht areas of County Kerry, Ring in County'$(aterford and Muskerry and Cape Clear Island in County Cork. A strong Connacht dialect can be heard in Connemara and the Aran Islands. The dialect spoken in northern Mayo in Erris and Achill is fundamentally a Connacht dialect but has some similarities to Ulster Irish. The Connemara dialect is also spoken in the Gaeltacht area of R6th Cairn in County Meath. This is becausethe Gaeltacht here was established in the r93os by a group of mostly Connemara Irish speakerswho moved there as a result of a land reform campaign. The Ulster dialect is spoken in County Donegal, in Teelin and Glencolmcille in south Donegal, in Fintown and its surrounding area in central Donegal and in the Rosses,Gweedore, Clochaneely and Downings in northwest Donegal. Ulster Irish is also spoken by many people in Northern Ireland who have acquired Irish as a second language but who use it as their main spoken language. This is due, in the most part, to attendanceat the Irish language summer collegesin Donegal and the use of Ulster Irish in Irishmedium education in Northern Ireland.

x

*;",

Irishlonguogein the medio As in Irish-medium education there has been significant growth in the use of Irish in the media in all of its forms in recent years. This was an essential development, not only for those speakers of Irish who already exist, but for those who are learning the language. Irish language speakers now have their own television station TG4 ftSS6l which has almost Soo,ooo people tuning in each day. TG4 has a wide range of programmes which cater for all agesand tastes. BBCz Northern Ireland also produces a limited number of Irish languageprogrammes. Irish public broadcaster RTE broadcastssome Irish language and bilingual television programmes. One of the more significant is RTE Nuacht (news). RTE News Now is also particularly useful as it is a z4-hour live news service available on the RTE website which features national and international news. It usesa mix of

Irish language,Englishlanguageand Irish signlanguagg*W6{ rs ' - -' TV newsbulletinsand politicalprogrammes. ;,, _-.$*

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Introduction The aim of this book is to teachyou to understandbasic,everyday Irish. It is suitableboth for the completebeginnerand for Irish peoplewho havelearnedsomeIrish at school,but who havehad little opportunity of speakingit. This is a functionalcourse,basedon the kinds of situationsin which Irish is used,eachof which is dealtwith in a separateunit. In Unit r, for example,you learn somesimplegreetings,and how to give and understandpersonalinformation suchasname,address and telephonenumber.In Unit z, you will learn to saywhat you do for a living, and, in Unit ,, to talk about your family. Until you reachUnit rz the emphasiswill be on very immediateand daily situations:so Unit 4 dealswith socializing,Unit 6 the weather,and Unit ro shopping.From Unit rz on you moveto lessimmediate things,suchastalking about past and future eventsin more detail, and making suggestions. The first half of the book includesmuch of what you would expect to find in a phrasebook,and enoughIrish for you to get by in simplesituations.Do not be put off at this stageby hearingor seeingsomethingwhich you cannotunderstand.An Irish proverb saysBionn gachtosi lag (Euerybeginningis weak). The secondhalf of the book will prepareyou to be more adventurous,and at this stageyou can make more useof the Appendicesat the back of the book. Rememberthat a languageconsistsof two things:words and ways of combiningwords, You cannottalk about thingsunless you know the words for them. In this book we giveyou basic vocabularyin eachunit, but from an early stageyou will find it helpful to havea short dictionaryin which you can locatethe words which you want to use.Someinternationalpublishersof

XII

dictionarieshaverecentlyproducedpocket dictionariesof Irish, in the early stagesof and any of thesewill be of greatassistance learningthe language.If you are in a position to obtain or order it, we suggestthe bilingual An Focl6ir Scoile(ISBN t8579t-rzt-ol (which means'The schooldictionary'),or the shorterAn Focl6ir P6ca(ISBN r-8579t-o47-8) (whichmeans'Tbe pocketdictionary'), publishedby An Grim, the publicationsbranchof the Department of Educationin Dublin. Thesegive recommendedpronunciations for all words. Somemajor publishers,particularlyOxford and Collins,haverecentlyproducedbilingualpocket dictionarieswhich are very usefuland contain lots of modernterminology.As for combiningwords, we havelimited this courseto the simplestand most straightforwardways of sayingthings.Learhersmay want to move on to more advancedcoursesoncethey hayesatisfactorily completedthis. !7e hopeyou will find that learningIrish from this and rewardingexperience. book js an interesting

Howto usethis book Each unit has: one or more dialogues; a vocabulary for each dialogue; questions about the dialogues; some cultural information in the early units; usually also a section dealing with important areas of vocabulary, such as numbers, names of days and months, etc.; a grammar section; exercisesand a 'Test yourself' section, in which you should get the most before progressing to the next unit. First study the dialogues with which each unit begins. If you have the recording, which we strongly recommend, Iisten and look at the book at the same time. Remember that the context is an important guide to the meaning, and as these dialogues are meant to be as realistic as possible you will be able to guessa certain amount o{ what is going on. Phrase-by-phrasetranslations are given beneath the dialogues, but these get shorter as the course progresses.At first you will be dependent on them, but you should find that many things which you already know reappear and you will have lessneed of translation. Satisfy yourself that you know what each

Introduction

XIII

r

sentencemeans,and how it meanswhat it means.The grammar sectionswill givethe necessary explanations.Most important of all, read eachdialogueout loud until you feel familiar with it. You may be in a position to usesomeof thesephrasesbeforelong, so the more naturally they fall from your lips the better.Most dialoguesare followed by a coupleof simplequestionswhich will help to confum that you havegraspedwhat is going on. Resist any temptationto bypassthe practiceexercisesat the end of each unit. They havebeenput togethercarefullyso that you will get the maximum benefirfrom the courte.

Historyond bockground Irish belongsto the Celtic family of languages,which hastwo branches.The Gaelicbranchconsistsof Irish, ScottishGaelicand Manx, which are rather similar to one another.Welsh,Breton and Cornishmake up the other branchof the Celtic languages,but they differ too much from the Gaelicgroup for mutual understanding. Irish is calledGaeilge(r.e.Gaelicl by its speakers,but the English word Gaelic,unqualified,normally refersonly to its sisterlanguage in Scotland.Until the twelfth centurythe socialposition of Irish was not seriouslychallenged,and eventhe Vikings who settledrn Ireland about a thousandyearsago tendedto learnIrish. However, the arrival of the Anglo-Normansin rt69 markedthe beginning o{ a period of four centuriesduring which the country gradually becamesubjectto the Englishcrown. From the late seventeenth centuryIrish beganto giveway to English. The disastrouspotato famineof r845-9 causedthe deathsof a million peopleand the emigrationof a further million. Most of these wereIrish speakers, and a nearfatal blow was sufferedby a language which was alreadyin decline.By the time an independent Irish state was established in r92z the processof anglicizationwasalmost complete,and the languagewasconfinedto enclaveson the western and southerncoasts.Irish speakers then numberedsometensof thousandsin a populationof nearlythreemillion.

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However, the new statesetout to rescuethe languagefrom extinction districts. and favourablepolicieshavemaintainedthe Irish-speaking people as daily language in these areas, jo,ooo use Irish a Up to collectivelyknown asthe Gaeltacht.In the rgzos Irish wasintroduced in schoolsasa compulsorysubject,and all primaryand secondary althoughnot necessarily pupilsare still requiredto studythe language, required to show any deepknowledgeof it. As a result a substantial number of peopleoutsidethe Gaeltacht(perhapsroo,ooo) havea good knowledgeof Irish. Thesesupport a network of Irish-mediumschools which are highly regardedand do much to sustainthe language. Despitethe small number of fluent speakers,Irish hasan important symbolicrole in the life of the nation. The Constitution, adoptedby in 1937,declares Irishto be both the nationaland the referendum institutions and officersof the State official language. Various first are known by IrishJanguagetitles in both official and daily usage. The lower houseof parliament is calledDinlFiureann(lit. Assembly of lrelandl or simplythe Driil, and the upper houseis calledSeanad Ereann \Setwteof lreland), The term for a parliamentarydeputy is TeachtaDdla lDelegateof tbe Ddil), wvlly abbreviatedto TD. The prirne ministeris calledTaoiseach(an old word for chieftainor badcr) and the deputyprime minister is calledT6naiste (which originally meantszccessor).The police force is An Garda Siochina (lit. rlze guard of the peacel,commonly known asthe Gardai or the Guards. The governmentministry responsiblefor cultural mattershas a section concernedwith promoting the languageboth in the Gaeltachtand throughout the country. There is a partly electedand partly appointed Gaeltachtauthority (Udaris na Gaeltachta),a stateagencyestablished to promote the language- Bord na GaeilgelThe Irisb Language Boardl - and.a radio servicefor Irish-speakingareas- Raidi6 na Gaeltachta- which can be picked up throughout the country. Some Irishlanguageprogrammes are broadcaston nationalradio and television.An lrishJanguagetelevisionservicebeganbroadcasting in 1996.After a recentnamechangeit is now known asTG4. There are also departmentsof Irish in the main universitiesand collegesof education.ln 1999, aspart of the British-lrish agreement,Forasna Gaeilgewas establishedwith responsibilityfor the promotion of the Irish languageon the island of Ireland.

Introdudion

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Irish is, however,largelyabsentfrom suchimportant domainsas commerce,transportand popular entertainment.It survivesas the daily languageof a subcultureand asthe symboliclanguageof the state,which seeksto ensure,through the educationalsystem,that all citizenshaveat leastsomepassiveknowledgeof lrish.

(seeizg).Thesetwo featuresof written Irish are explainedin the next section.

guide Pronunciotion