The Two ways to Say 'My'

[@jacobscheele1466]

I really love your videos! I took the Gaelic course on Duolingo, but you explain everything so much better!

[@GaelicwithJason]

Tapadh leat, a Jacob. :) Duolingo is a nice place to start and I'm glad my videos compliment it. If you have any questions, just ask. Enjoy your day!

[@shannoncailleach3975]

Seconded!! Honestly, this clears up so much that the duolingo app doesn't bother to teach. It's one thing to learn a language by repeating and memorizing phrases but to understand the language You need to know the principle rules of the language itself. English is a mushy mess and learning a new language without the grammar and usage rules for another language acts like a blocker coming from English. Thank You!

[@carmeltinnes3508]

very helpful distinctions!

[@garethjones6246]

When saying "My" the traditional way ...an-------agam, what happens when the noun starts with a vowel ? Is it just a straight process eg An obair agam, or is it like "his" and would appear as 'obair agam? It's much easier than Welsh by the way, using "my" is a huge learning curve involving "Fy" and the nasal mutation of the following noun. One of many ways our languages became so different when the cultures split. Still a lot in common though, Tŷ/taigh, cù/ci, cas/coes to mention a few. Love the lessons. Diolch yn fawr o Gymru

[@Mybassgruvin]

Gle mhath, tha sin cuideachail. (Very good, this is helpful).

[@blindside2338]

Tha seo an bhideo glè mhath, tapadh leibh. Tha Gàidhlig spòrsail ri ionnsachadh.

[@GaelicwithJason]

'S e do bheatha. 'S math ri cluinntinn, a charaid. 🙂

[@charlesdesmoulinsdefalaise3884]

Excellent. Your clear explanation are brilliant and so helpful. Thanks

[@GaelicwithJason]

My pleasure, Charles. Thank you for watching! 🙂

[@aaronpretzer1152]

Hey Jason. Like many here I have been really enjoying your channel. I find it helps a ton with what is left out by Duolingo. I started learning in December after finding out that my family is descended from the Dunbar clan of the lowlands. I had a question that popped in my head at work of all places. Lol. Hopefully you can clear it up for me. So what would be the distinction between the when to use agam/agad vs orm/ort. Example the Gaelic for I love you I beileive is “tha gaol agam ort”? Also on a different note, as an added bonus I have found that as a martial artist learning language has really increased the amount of material I am able to retain from classes as I prepare to get my black belt in a second art. Just thought it was an interesting connection between the mind and something physical. Language is somehow magical.

[@GaelicwithJason]

Hey Aaron! That is quite interesting about your martial arts studies. Language is indeed magical. As for agam/agad/etc, those refer to different people: I, You, He, She, They, etc: Tha gaol agam ort = I love you Tha gaol agad orra = You love them Tha gaol aice orra = She loves them Tha gaol aige orra = He loves them Tha gaol againn air = We love it/him Tha gaol aca oirre = They love her/it Does that help at all?

[@chrissherer2047]

language can structure the mind as much as the mind structures language

[@anniehallmark411]

'S toil leam gu mor an bhideo agad. Sin ceart? Very helpful distinction.

[@GaelicwithJason]

Tha mi toilichte sin a chluinntinn, Annie. :) Shift 'gu mòr' to the end of the phrase and you've got it 100% bang on. Glè mhath!

[@Chaomhainn]

Jason , at the end of your presenation on "" The Two Ways to Say"", " My " . Are you stating that instead of a verb tense at the beggining of a sentence , the current trend is more of a Pro noun " Mo = My " is now the usual speaking and possible written objective for the native speaker( Scottish gaelic ) compared to the Nova Scotia speaker ? Meaning the trending of more of an English form of Subject / Verb / Object language sentence structure ? Is the method of your teaching , Verb / Noun / Object ? Chaomhainn 04/11/2022

[@annc9850]

Brillant. If I wanted to express my attachement to Scotland in Gaelic, should I say “Mo Alba” ? Like “My (beloved-meaning) Scotland” ?

[@GaelicwithJason]

Hmmm, that's an interesting question. My instinct is to go with something like 'Alba mo ghràidh' (Scotland my beloved). 🙂

[@iloveejbgssnoopy]

this helps me so much Gle mhath.

[@GaelicwithJason]

Wonderful, Cynthia! I'm glad. :)

[@marilynhernandez8170]

Tapadh leibh a thidseir for this video! I've heard that using "an nighean agam" to say my daughter is preferred, rather than "mo nighean" because "mo nighean" is more akin to saying "my lass" (like when Jamie Fraser from Outlander refers to Claire as "mo nighean donn" (my brown haired lass). Funny how the words for my husband and my daughter use the "an--agam" way rather than using "mo." Do you know of any other instances of this?

[@GaelicwithJason]

'S e do bheatha! Yes, you're right. Technically speaking, 'mo' has a sense of being intimate in traditional Gaelic so saying "mo nighean" is usually reserved for one's beloved, just like you say. At the same time, it's very common for Scots to say 'mo' about anything: mo thaigh, mo chù, etc. I read a novel by the great Gaelic writer John Crichton Smith and he used 'mo' for everything. At this point, I get the impression that it's personal preference whether one uses 'mo' or 'an ___ agam'.

[@tabathawiltshire3571]

Just discovered your channel and it is fantastic! Unfortunately I cannot roll my r's (or at least haven't learnt to yet) which makes it very difficult. Sorry ancestors :(

[@GaelicwithJason]

Hello and welcome, Tabatha. Thank you for your kind words. R rolling takes some time to develop. Just do what you can and one day you might surprise yourself with a finely rolled R.

[@therealdonnawagner]

@Tabatha Wiltshire I'm teaching Scottish Gaelic to my children and already knew how to roll my r's, but didn't really know how to communicate to them to how do it. One thing I found worked really well was telling them what I heard a woman say awhile ago, that it's like the "tt" sound you make when you say "butter". While I wouldn't say that's exactly true, it at least kind of gets the mouth doing what it generally needs to in order to successfully roll those r's! 😄 It worked for my kids because they can now roll them properly after fine tuning the sound/form, so maybe it will help you, too. 😊

[@GaelicwithJason]

@@therealdonnawagner That's quite interesting, Donna - training the muscles in a somewhat similar way. I could see it.

[@cbrown1232]

Thanks for this, very helpful! One question though when using agam, wouldn’t in your examples the full sentence for “I have the cat” be “Tha an cat agam” and not just “an cat agam”? As far as I know for “I have A cat” it’s “Tha cat agam” - so wouldn’t “the cat” follow the same principle?

[@GaelicwithJason]

Great to hear! Yep, if you're saying "I have the cat", you'd add in the THA: Tha an cat agam. But, if you're talking about 'my cat' (not necessarily that I have it but just my cat in general), then go with 'an cat agam'. Some examples: *Chaidh an cat agam dhan chidsean (my cat went into the kitchen) *Tha an cat agam aig an uinneag (my cat is at the window) *Tha an cat agam air a' sofa (I have the cat on the sofa - she's over here!) Does that help at all?

[@MaireCeann]

Where can we find your videos on meditation? Sorry I am not as good as the others with gaelic to write yet.

[@GaelicwithJason]

No worries, Maire. I have some free recordings up on the Insight Timer app just now. I'm in the process of reworking my website and online meditation resources and will happily share more info about them once they're ready. :)

[@cameronjohnmacdonald293]

Halò, a-Deasan. Tha mi a' faicinn daoine a’ sgrìobhadh “an duine agam.” (meaning “my husband”). A bheil seo ceart?

[@GaelicwithJason]

Yep, sin ceart. Traditionally, 'my husband' is 'an duine agam' while 'my wife' is 'mo bhean'. The latter uses mo, which is quite intimate ownership or relationship - like the video pointed out.Not too long ago, wives could be considered possessions in many western European cultures, which could have influenced the difference between these two phrases. Perhaps there's another side to it - a husband being more impermanent due to the dangers of traditional occupations, ie: fishing or soldiering? That's just my own thought, by the way. I haven't heard a native speaker verify it.

[@Seumas-MacDhaibhidh]

Glè mhath, a 'Dheusain! A 'bhidio (is very useful)!

[@beccastrang]

Tha a’ bhideo glè feumail! (I think)

[@GaelicwithJason]

Nice, Daoine. Glè would lenite there actually: glè fheumail. :)

[@GaelicwithJason]

'S e do bheatha!

[@Seumas-MacDhaibhidh]

@@GaelicwithJason So would the lenition for "useful" (fheumail) be pronounced like a "v"?

[@jasonbond204]

@@Seumas-MacDhaibhidh 'Fh' is either silent or an H sound. In this case, it's silent so it would be something like 'ay-mul'.

[@rkozakand]

I thought that 'agam' meant something like 'at/by me'. This construction is used in other languages, French, Ukrainian, Finnish. where you don't say "i have a car", but rather "there is a car by[at] me'. Il y a un auto chez moi. U mene mashyna.

[@GaelicwithJason]

Yep, you got it: "at me". That's quite interesting that it pops up in other languages too. It seems like you're quite linguistically gifted, a charaid. :)

[@philipbarrett3151]

Would "Is toil leam mo tidsear Gàidhlig gu mòr" be correct then?

[@GaelicwithJason]

You could, although that would imply a close relationship with one's teacher. Personally, I'd lean towards *an tidsear agam*. 🙂

[@mauricegioseffi7623]

Curious, Tongan has a similar grammatical distinction, what is inherently yours, and what is merely in your possession, and intimate clothing apparel is in the first group my shirt, but exchangeable accessories, like my flipflops, are in the second. How does gaelic deal with clothing?

[@GaelicwithJason]

Interesting! More conservative speakers may lean towards 'An còta agam' but I've certainly seen 'mo chòta' used a lot. I think this is partly due to the evolution of Gaelic in such close proximity to English. I could also see the idea of something you wear being somewhat intimate, despite the clothing itself being somewhat temporary. 🤔

[@kalinadesseaux8011]

Question: So if you live your sheep and see it as part of your family, using "mo" is correct?

[@GaelicwithJason]

That's a bit of a grey area. I don't see any harm in that if you have a personal connection to the sheep but then again, I'm a Yankee and we sometimes have different attachments to animals over here. :)

[@genr8ion]

I think that the reason the some sounds are the same or similar to French is not because it was hybridized from the French. I believe the French language comes from the Gaelic mothers and their Roman husbands combining their languages with the resulting French language years later.

[@cathyscribner7798]

Tha e inntineach gu bheil sùilean' 'agaibh' ach..gu bheil tha fàlt 'oirnn'..that hair is 'on' us. I'm just learning, but continuously fascinated by the various degrees of 'intimacy'/ontology implied in Gàidhlig 'ownership'..which Beurla lacks.

[@nevem5010]

👪🐕🐱🏡🚗❤️

[@GaelicwithJason]

🙂

[@jadacra]

Jason, what would you say is the most difficult Scottish gaelic word to pronounce and why?

[@GaelicwithJason]

Hmmmm, that's a fun question. For me, it took a while to come to grips with this gem: a dh'aithghearr. I found it hard to get all 4 main sounds into the same phrase and have them flow from one to another. I had to hear it many, many times and it was incredibly satisfying when it just clicked. What about yourself? What's challenging for you to say?

[@jadacra]

@@GaelicwithJason not sure, i used to practice sentences in gaelic and one was "tha lùdag mhath aig Calum air a' bhucas " which i can pronounce perfectly now but for some reason the first few times i tried to say it i just couldn't, it's so simple to pronounce so i dont really remember what i found difficult

[@GaelicwithJason]

@@jadacra After awhile, things just click. It's a wonderful feeling when they do. :)

[@dustinmichel7608]

Mo bheagha bhan cahla? Sorry my spelling is horrible