Irish Language Crashcourse: Lesson 1

This is a lesson for Irish

Irish, or Gaeilge is the first national language of Ireland.

First things first, the words for Me, You, He and She are mé, tú, sé, and sí.

The present tense of to be is Tá

Can you translate these?

?I am|Tá mé

?She is|Tá sí

Did you get those? Good! To finish off the above, the words for We, You(pl) and They are muid, sibh and siad.

Now translate these!

?They are|Tá siad

?You (pl) are|Tá sibh

As in all languages, there are irregulars, and Irish is no exception. Although using "muid" for "we" is technically correct, the more common way it is written is as part of the verb ending in -imid or -aimid.

This means that Tá muid is not really used.

Because "Tá"’s last vowel is broad, it requires the broad ending -aimid. However, two As cannot come together, and it is already included in the verb

Can you figure out what this means?

?We are|Táimid

Congratulations! You can now conjugate the verb "to be" as Gaeilge!!

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