WTF!? Common mistakes in Irish (Gaeilge)

Some common mistakes when learning Irish. Hoping to help some fellow learners by pointing them out :-)
I left a fada out over the u in 'dúshlán' and only noticed now... fadas are important, úps, mo leithscéal!
⭐️Welcome to 'What the Focal!?' where Ciara Ní É answers your questions about the Irish language. If YOU have a question about Irish, leave it in the comments! You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook.
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[@craigsurf90]

"Us trying to express ourselves in the language of the oppressors" you don't know how many times I've had to explain this while travelling abroad. Excellently put!

[@miseciara]

Hehe :-P thanks a million! :D

[@taylorbrown9235]

Thank you so much! As a Canadian with Irish heritage on both sides of my family tree who is studying Gaeilge (via DuoLingo), this was immensely helpful with solidifying my pronunciation.

[@aguy4247]

"Us struggling to express ourselves in the language of the oppressors"!!! Is breá liom seo!!! haha

[@miseciara]

Grmma 🤠

[@casperkasparov302]

I listen to you on 106.5 all the time!

[@hannahbevan7055]

I’ve seen “á dhéanamh” frequently enough, but I was never quite sure of what it meant or when to use it. Good to know!

[@cigh7445]

I think it's a contraction of 'ag a dhéanamh'. But don't quote me.

[@conor1506]

C C no. It means ‘to do’. For déan, the ag form is the same, so it would be ag déanamh or a dhéanamh. The a takes a h

[@puca1595]

@@cigh7445 I not sure either but I do speak Irish really well and I say ag deanamh and a dheanamh I can't put the fada on the e sorry and the difference is the h and the start i can't remember how to explain it but I know how it works

[@ciardhubh9281]

Hey, I know this is from a few months ago but I I'm just coming across the vid now, point a few things out the (Á) in Á dheanamh is a combo of the words do + a and can be used in a few ways. tá mé á dhéanamh - I am doing it, like in the vid can also be used refering to him/her (e.g) tá mé á bhualadh - I am hitting him/her or the Á could mean 'being' e.g tá arán á dhéanamh inniú - Bread is being made today. táim á ciúin - I am being quiet :^)

[@elduderoni7630]

This is not what I was looking to learn but, I'm sooooo glad I let it play and finish. Very enlightening. Also, in literally every video I watch of Irish people teaching their language, I can hear rain in the background.

[@jasmadams]

I loved it in IT Crowd when Roy said “I’m always using the disabled.”

[@EverlastingHobnocker]

Úps! I like that spelling of oops, I mean eeeewps

[@clumbus894]

I have a running joke where I spell "Welp" as "Bhuelp" with friend. It gets fun when other people start using it too.

[@miseciara]

hehe :P

[@pauloneill5875]

Tá an físeán seo iontach! Tá sé an-úsáideach domsa. Tá mé ag foghlaim na Gaeilge faoi láthair agus cuirtear fáilte roimh cheartúcháin! Is aoibhinn liom do chuid físeáin a Ciara! Go raibh míle maith agat! 👍

[@PeterPeadar]

Wonderful video! Well done! Please, keep them coming. You're a superstar!

[@debbieosullivan4600]

Brilliant info and told in a very engaging way. Well done 👏

[@unaminhkavanagh]

Déanaimse dearúid an t-am ar fad chun 'ooosawd' seachas 'yew-sawd' a rá XD

[@miseciara]

Ah yeah rud fíor-bheag atá ann agus ní chuireann sé isteach ar an gcumarsáid den chuid is mó... ach nuair a dúirt duine liom é den chéad uair bhí mé ar mire gur ligeadh dom dul timpeall á rá mar sin ar feadh na mblianta!

[@conor1506]

What’s déanaimse? Is it just your dialect? I’m from Munster btw

[@djkeogan]

@@conor1506 Irish verbs have forms where the pronoun is attached to the verb itself (synthetic form), for example, tá mé -> táim. In addition to this you can add -se or -sa to add emphasis, again using tá, tá mise -> táimse. So déanaimse is just another way of saying déan mise. Which form folks use just depends on dialect.

[@conor1506]

Danny Keogan ok I didn’t know you could add the emphatic ending to a pronoun already linked to a verb thanks

[@valeuudiste4664]

Úna-Minh Kavanagh bhí stróc agam ag léimh é sin

[@JohnzzzView]

Another Brilliant video. Grmma Ciara.

[@paulJkiely]

Interesting 🤔 and helpful!

[@johnnalls385]

I'm currently learning the possessive tenses with lenition/eclipsis in my courses, so good to know that I should be paying extra close attention to learning it properly the first time!

[@sayurikitamura7109]

Looking forward to you coming to Berlin 👍💋💗 (what a cute cóta chart, grma for showing)

[@miseciara]

Go raibh maith agat. See you in Berlin! Come say hello :-)

[@lizzardnannerzz]

I loved this video. Happy to know I haven't yet made those pronunciation mistakes although I'm sure I make a few others. (: love your videos

[@miseciara]

Thanks 😊 teanglann.ie is great for checking pronunciation. It had the 3 main dialects for a lot of words 🤠

[@lizzardnannerzz]

@@miseciara go raibh maith agat for the resource! 😁

[@Jamestele1]

Awesome video, and the teacher looks like the lady of my dreams, aside from my beautiful redheaded Irish wife that is!

[@RoseKB22]

It finally makes sense why folks say "I be" or "they do be" in sentences! I had no idea that speech pattern had Irish roots! Amazing! The more I learn about Gaeilge the more I learn about my ancestry. Thank you so much for making videos about the Irish language! Seriously my mind is blown and it makes me love that sentence structure thing even more

[@geroutathat]

Whats even cooler is african americans and caribbean africans have the "do be" in their speech pattern too, because the Irish taught them English when the Irish were slaves/indentured servants over there. It has evolved in Ireland into a full tense. I do be, He does be, She does be, we do be, they do be. It is a tense as it allows you to articulate a complicated concept easily. "Where is your dad?", "He does be walking in the park". What you have really said is "I am not sure where he is right now, but often at this time, he is commonly going for a walk in the park"

[@RoseKB22]

@@geroutathat That is so cool!

[@slickstache3035]

It really do be like that in Irish

[@diarmuidbreatnach5482]

Ba bhreá liom (I loved) the way you explained the difference between "is mé" and "tá mé" as to do with nouns and adjectives, which is the way I explain it too (sadily I often have to explain what nouns and adjectives are too). But what I have seen in instructional notes until now has been that it is about permanent or transitional states which I think does not describe it chomh maith/ as well. I explain the use of the 'H' in irish by saying it is not a letter at all, but when following a consonant, changes the pronunciation of that letter. It is called "séimhiú" in Irish which I translate as "softening" of the consonant. The other use of the H is an eclipsis on vowels, as in Mná na hÉireann (Women of Ireland), something in the irish language to prevent a stuttering of vowel sounds following one another and to permit more flowing speech. But actually the use of the H with a consonant in English is ALSO just telling you that the consonant will be pronounce differently than usual; ch, ph, sh, th. Could I make a plea for trying to keep English language expressions out of Irish? I don't mind "Bhuel" ('Well') at the beginning of a sentence but is it necessary to put in 'actually' and 'so'? As for the shotgun pellets of 'like' scattered throughout the sentences influenced by recent US English, ní dhéanfadh sé aon dochar (it would do no harm) iad a ruaigeadh ar fad (to banish them completely) fiú ón Bhéarla (even from the English language!).

[@martinneosel3403]

@Diarmuid Breatnach "As for the shotgun pellets of 'like' scattered throughout the sentences influenced by recent US English, ní dhéanfadh sé aon dochar (it would do no harm) iad a ruaigeadh ar fad (to banish them completely) fiú ón Bhéarla (even from the English language!)." Aontaím go hiomlán leat ar sin.

[@boyleesquire]

So, "Táim" is in the present definite (has an implied shelf life like milk), and "Bím" is in the present indefinite (would be like a canned good or twinkies)?

[@jtrio5059]

Apparently Irish is closer in syntax to Arabic or Hebrew. While other Indo European languages are different. Also there’s three places who use the same structure. All in Northern Africa. One of them being ancient Egyptian. Which is cool due to the shared artefacts Ireland has with ancient Egypt. ☘️

[@deaganachomarunacathasaigh4344]

Yes it is. It's because Irish is spoken very throaty, so that sound you hear in Arabic is present in Irish particularly in ach, ch. The r is supposed to be rolled aswel, not like the Spanish purr roll but a slightly more violent one🤣

[@americanchinalilies]

Is there a textbook (with audio) that you would recommend? I really want to learn Irish, but I don’t even really know the basics of the grammar and I’m not even used to how Irish letters sound yet.

[@KeithStephens1]

I’d start with the app Duolingo

[@Tjmce]

Do you watch Gaeilge i mo chroí, learn Irish, bitezise irish, celtic knot and séan mór cuz they're the best way better than the school system

[@deaganachomarunacathasaigh4344]

Bitesize Irish and Gaeilge i mo chroí would be the best. Duolingo is good for developing basic knowledge but you won't become fluent with Duolingo

[@martylinane7014]

GRMA :) from Seattle..

[@bennmacstiofan4387]

Soooo helpful! Go raibh míle maith agat

[@Melvorgazh]

Ceachtín dheas a Chiara! 😉 Go raibh maith agag

[@miseciara]

Tá fáilte romhat!

[@philipmcluskey6805]

i say your name all the time ;)

[@seanomuineachain3100]

Táim ag foghlaim Gaeilge, an bhfuil aon leideanna agat chun cabhrú liom? Agus Táim san ollscoil gan Cumann Gaelach. Go raibh míle maith agat

[@miseciara]

Ceapaim go gcabhróidh siad leat gan dabht! Thóg sé blianta orm roinnt acu a aithint mar bhotúin go fiú. Cabhróidh sé go mór leat Gaeilge a labhairt. D'fhéadfá Cumann Gaelach a bhunú da mba mhian leat :-D

[@seanomuineachain3100]

@@miseciara Tá an t-ádh orm go bhfuilim i mo chónaí i gCiarraí in aice le Gaeltacht an Daingin agus tá cara líofa agam. Ní raibh Gaeilge agam ó rang a 4 chomh maith.

[@cigh7445]

@@seanomuineachain3100 Bí linn ar an grúpa seo a chara! Táimíd go léir sa chás céanna, agus tá daoine anseo go bhfuil eolas go maith acu faoi Gaelainn na Mumhan. Beid siad sásta cabhrú leat. discord.gg/KhSSW5

[@seanomuineachain3100]

@@cigh7445 Tá brón orm, the invite expired, could you send another

[@cigh7445]

@@seanomuineachain3100 Ah sorry! This one shouldn't expire so fast so hopefully you'll see it here tomorrow. discord.gg/GMnmK3t

[@Mick51486]

I say inniu with a bh sound at the end. Am I wrong?

[@cigh7445]

No. Some dialects do that.

[@conor1506]

C C no it’s pronounced in-yu there’s no dialects that pronounce it that way

[@conor1506]

RianO’K I live in Munster it’s in-yu

[@conor1506]

RianO’K but it’s spelt inniu not inniubh I’ve never heard or seen inniubh once in my life

[@conor1506]

RianO’K well I don’t know about ages ago but nowadays anyway it’s inniu

[@peteymax]

Tá mé ag folamh Gaeilge agus an Hiberno-Béarla 😊

[@martagarciapuig4527]

I am learning Irish, so it is useful for me to know these things you explain, so thanks for that. I have one question: in my Irish course they taught me that when we use the present continuous in Irish we have to use the "Tá + subject + ag + verb". Is that wrong? For example: Tá mé ag foghlaim Gaeilge" (= I am learning Irish). Is it wrong to use "ag" in this tense? I really want to learn to use it correctly. Thanks! Regarding the "do be" topic. I know it is something you say in Ireland, but we must say it is technically wrong. It is exactly the same that you say with Irish. The objective of your videos is to let people know what things are said in Irish but are technically wrong. As you said, people make these mistakes in Irish because of the English influence, so they are wrong because Irish has a different grammar and different way of saying things than English because they are different languages. So exactly the same thing happens the other way around: there are things that people say in English that are wrong because they are the result of a literal translation of Irish. So we have to correct both mistakes: mistakes in Irish because of an English influence and mistakes in English because of an Irish influence. I think it is fair enough. I am a strong defender of BOTH languages. For me both are foreign languages. I have been an English teacher for 12 years and now that I am in Ireland I am learning Irish. So, coming back to the "do be" thing, in English it doesn't exist because the English language doesn't have two forms of the verb to be. The verb to be has the same form (I am, you are, he is...) for both Present Simple (habitual present) and Present Continuous (what is happening now). Therefore: I am happy now VS I am always happy. For other verbs, English has two different tenses: Present Simple (habitual present) and Present Continuous (now). For example: I work in a school (habitual) VS I am working ten hours today (only today/now). I hope that helps.

[@zakmartin]

I don't know whether it's grammatically correct, but I would say "Tá mé ag foghlaim Gaeilge".

[@RedHair651]

It's correct! Although "táim" is more natural than "tá mé".

[@geroutathat]

The slender r, no one really does it in Dublin.

[@BarerRudeROC]

Is aoibhinn liom é! GRMA

[@matthewj0429]

"Its not us speaking English wrong its just us struggling to speak in the language of the oppresor".Bhí an feoirfe sin 😂.

[@kcain64]

If I ever learn how to speak Irish, it will probably be with a southern accent. Do you mind?

[@TroyKC]

Is fear é / tá sé fuar / Bíonn mé ag foghlaim Gaeilge gach lá (I probably made a mistake)

[@clumbus894]

All those are gramatically correct

[@cigh7445]

Táir 'role model' go maith a Chiara mar bíonn tú i gcónaí ag iarraidh feabhsú a chur ar do chuid Gaeilge. Ar léigh tú 'Learning Irish' le Mícheál Ó Siadhail riamh? Tá fuaimeanna i gceist caibidil a haon agus tá an audio thar na beartaibh leis.

[@miseciara]

Níor léigh agus is trua sin mar tá rudaí iontacha cloiste agam faoi! Míle b as na focail dheasa :-)

[@ocomaing]

Fear mé - I'm a man - my essence Is fear mé - I'm a man (not a woman) - my essence Fear is ea mé - I'm a MAN- my essence Fear atá ionam - I'm a man ( as in a visual description) Tá mé i m'fhear- I'm a man (as in I've reached manhood or in reference to a change of state)

[@ocomaing]

Fear mise - I'M a man - my essence Is fear mise - I'M a man (not a woman) - my essence Fear is ea mise - I'M a MAN- my essence Fear atá ionamsa - I'M a man ( as in a visual description) Tá mise i m'fhear- I'M a man (as in I've reached manhood or in reference to a change of state)

[@marcusregan4815]

Ar fheabhas, maith thú!

[@miseciara]

GRMMA :)

[@maxmatthews2463]

Howdy

[@Liloldliz]

go raimh maith agat!!

[@miseciara]

Tá fáilte romhat!

[@irishmatthew]

Go hiontach. GRMA!

[@karenreshkin3311]

One more for your list: "Slán!" sounding like SHLAWN. Maybe it's only American learners?

[@shawnbenson7696]

Language of the oppressor - lol - thems fighting words

[@nh6776]

Technically the Goidelic (Q celtic) language was an import. There was at some point a colonization by cultural gaels. The dna record does show this.

[@COM70]

An déas.

[@miseciara]

GRMA :)

[@tutorpatoxley7232]

Thankyou for your help in Irish. Please forgive me if I try to connect your pronunciation of the letter ‘aitch’. As you can see, there is no ‘h’ at the beginning of ‘aitch’. And it is not pronounced ‘haitch’ as there is no such word. The first sound in ‘aitch’ is the same as the first sound in ‘able’ or ‘aviator’, ie no ‘h’ sound. Trouble is that a lot of people are sounding it with an ‘h’ nowadays - but usually not very well educated people. Now may god forgive me for being so rude..Sorry!!

[@miseciara]

No need to be sorry, it's haitch to me, and it's simply a dialectical difference. 'Ere's an article you might find useful! theconversation.com/haitch-or-aitch-how-a-humble-letter-was-held-hostage-by-historical-haughtiness-97184

[@KeithStephens1]

GRMA

[@seamusanleasa3323]

Go diail beidh so ina áis bhreá ag mo rang

[@miseciara]

Ana-dheas é sin a chlos! GRMA

[@AnGhaeilge]

Sílim go bhfuil úrú ann roimh ithe - "á n-ithe" mar shampla.

[@preasail]

urú

[@joshadams8761]

Most English speakers mispronounce the French expression “oh là là”.

[@tonihewitt8976]

GRMA do fhisean, tá siad go leor go hiontach. I gconaí bím ag déanamh a lán botún agus seo é mo cheist - cáithain/ cen uair a usaideann tú na focail - a dheanamh, le deanamh agus chun deananmh agus an bhfuil rial ann a tabhairt cabhair dom?

[@skepticalfish055]

Is féidir lion é sin a dhéanamh. I can do that Tá sé le déanamh agam. I have to do that. Tá mé chun é sin a dhéanamh. I will do that You don't say 'chun déanamh'. You say 'chun ..... a dhéanamh. Feel free to ask me any more questions

[@tonihewitt8976]

@@skepticalfish055 GRMA

[@skepticalfish055]

@@tonihewitt8976 gan fadhb ar bith

[@ciaranocarroll5435]

GRMA .Bhreatnaigh mé ar do chlár ar tg4 inné an spéisiúil. Is iad daoine cosúil leatsa a choinníonn ár dteanga álainn beo.

[@miseciara]

Míle buíochas leat a Chiaráin!

[@nh6776]

"A seen" "Me an him.." is perfectly fine Scots language , and American Appalachian dialect that came partly from the Ulster Scotch. Scots is Also an "opressed" language and likewise is the ScotchIrish American wye o taak'n. If you're irish and you use the term "crack" (craic) you are also using a Scots/English word, and different uses of the same word are weel kent in the U.S. "cracker" "whats crackin>" etc

[@johnconnors4127]

You are so pretty. I want to marry you 😍

[@sleepsmartsmashstress740]

Rejoice the fact that an Irish man is now as US President - The Most Powerful man on Earth !

[@MsSnusmumrick]

Grma, Tá sé úsáideach