Gaelic Support

Support for Gaelic learners, people working on Gaelic Duolingo, and anyone else with a question about Gaelic. Send questions to @supportgaelic. DMs open.

[Gaelic Support @supportgaelic]

Bliadhna mhath ùr! Duilich gu bheil sinn air a bhith cho sàmhach o chionn ghoirid - tha sinn air a bhith caran trang. You'll hear more from us this year 🤞

[Gaelic Support @supportgaelic]

@grannymaryg Don't worry - I try to cover things that you wouldn't necessarily get on Duolingo. Cùm a' dol!

[Gaelic Support @supportgaelic]

This is the case for irregular verbs too.

'An tèid thu leam?'

Will you go with me?

'Mus tèid thu leam...'

Before you (will) go with me...

[Gaelic Support @supportgaelic]

Quick tip: saying 'before' before a verb:

Take the question form of your verb:

'An do choisich thu?'

Did you walk?

Replace the 'An' with 'Mus':

'Mus do choisich thu...'

Before you walked.

[Gaelic Support @supportgaelic]

@MOIRASC Duilich, missed this. 'Seann' is one of a few adjectives that go before the noun. To my knowledge it doesn't ever go after the noun, but you might see 'sean', also meaning old, as a stand-alone adjective, e.g. 'Tha e cho sean ris a' cheò.'

[Gaelic Support @supportgaelic]

’s fhada bhon uair sin!

[Gaelic Support @supportgaelic]

@picandocodigo Hi! Normally we say, 'Diluain, an siathamh (6mh) latha dhen Ògmhios'- the sixth day of June.

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@ctrnmorr You are correct, I'm sure. You're inverting the verb and the object.

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Quick word about 'verbs of motion' and how they affect the structure of a sentence.

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@fancymaths Tha mi ag iarraidh dol / a dhol a-mach.

'a-mach' doesn't function as a direct object, ie the noun that the verb is acting on.

[Gaelic Support @supportgaelic]

I'm going to sing songs:

Tha mi a' dol a sheinn òrain.

A lot of the time you'll be using a' dol, but this rule applies to other verbs of movement.

I'm coming to sing songs:

Tha mi a' tighinn a sheinn òrain.

[Gaelic Support @supportgaelic]

Instinctively it might feel right to do the same with verbs of motion, e.g. a' dol

But, when we say 'I'm going to see my brother' we don't use cas mu seach:

Tha mi a' dol a dh'fhaicinn mo bhràthair.

[Gaelic Support @supportgaelic]

@EdenHardwicke ‘Is tusa mo chèile' is natural. Just as with 'Is mise...' you don't really hear ''S e Calum a th' annam'.

However, it's not grammatically wrong and gives a slightly different emphasis, on 'chèile' rather than the pronoun.

[Gaelic Support @supportgaelic]

@lobby_dosser You would definitely be understood, but it's better to bring your 'air' forward rather than it being at the end of the sentence.

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Okay...first mini-lesson in a while.

How would we say 'This is the man I know'?

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@barkybarkycat @NicGiollaCatain It is there, but 'tha mi eòlach air an duine seo' works grammatically.

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Past tense example:

This is the man I was speaking to.

Seo an duine ris an robh mi a’ bruidhinn.

(English - 'with whom I was speaking')

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Folks saying 'Seo an duine as aithne dhomh' 🌟

I’m just trying to illustrate a different kind of sentence structure.

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@lobby_dosser I think you need an ‘air’…you’re ‘eolach AIR’ someone.

[Gaelic Support @supportgaelic]

@iainile 👍