Gealic has al long history in Scotland. In it's original Irisch form it probably arrived with the Irisch settlers ( called "Scotti" by the Romans between the fourh and sixth centureis AD. From the west coast the language spread over the whole country of Scotland. It gracually diverged from the original Irisch.

The government is trying to eradicate the language. The Jacobites also fought to preserve the language. After the Battle of Colloden in 1746, many expressions of Highland culture were severely suppressed. The Highland Clearances during 1750 to 1860,  (Scottish Gaelic: Fuadaichean nan Gàidheal [ˈfuət̪ɪçən nəŋ ˈɡɛː.əl̪ˠ], the "expulsion of the Gaels") were the forced evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, which also partly lost the language . Not long afore, in the 20th century, many Gealic speakers in the Highlands could recall being punished by their teachers for using Gealic in school 

Luckely times have chanched, the resurgence of a sense of pride in Celtic identity hads given new life to the most widely spoken Celtic language. 

SO LETS LEARN.... 


TO LEArN GEALIC

LET'S START WITH THE ALPHABET.. 

We have a shorter alphabet in Gealic than the English version. .Let's see what's different..

 

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T  UV W X  Y Z - THE ENGLISH

A B C D E F G H I        L M N O P R S T  U              - GEALIC

 

J K Q V W X  Y Z are not included in Gealic

 

So we have only 18 letters in the alphabet in Gealic. 

 

The letter H is often used to change the sound of another consonant.. like bh and mh, this sounds like v. 


Broad to broad / slender with slender

An important feature of spelling in Gaelic is the distinction between broad and slender. 

 

A broad vowel is one of the vowels a, o, u.

A slender vowel is either i or e.

 

 

  • broad with broad
    • brònach
    • spòrsail
    • ciamar
    • Seumas
  • slender with slender
    • leisgeul
    • duilich
    • toilichte

A BHEIL GÀIDHLIG AGAD

 

A bheil Gàidhlig agad, do you have gealic? We do not speak gealic but we have gealic.. 


 

ACCENTS

 

Vowels can have accents. In Gealic we often use the grave accent like à  

 

ORDER YOUR SENTENCE

 

If you are an English speaker, you are used to

 

Subject | Verb | Object (SVO)

 

this is a sentence structure where the subject comes first, the verb second, and the object third.

 

Verb | Subject | Object

The important thing to remember at this stage is that the verb (the 'doing word') generally goes at the start of a sentence.

In a basic descriptive sentence, the adjective would come at the end:

 

 

Tha Màiri snog 

Mary is nice

 

 


LEARN HOW TO PRONOUNCE GEALIC

It is also very important to learn pronunciation correctly from the start. There are almost all stable rules for this in gealic. Let me list them for you.

a short a sound bata stick
à The long à, with the grave accent bàta boat
bh v bha there were / was
c at the end of middle of a word sounds like 'gc' Mac (magk) son
ch sounds lighter after i or e loch lake
chd sounds like 'gk' sneachd snow
cn sounds like 'cr' cnoc hill
dh If used before a broad vowel (a, o, or u) like the English ‘g’ dhaibh to them
dh If dh follows a slender vowel (e or i) in the middle or at the end of a word, it is silent buidhe yellow
e short e sound le, càite with , where
è The long è, with the grave accent glè very
f loan words normally use f e.g fòn fòn (tele) phone
fh fh silent or as ‘h’ fhuair , fhathast 'h' sound, otherwise not pronounced received yet
ghn sounds like 'gr' ghnog ( grok ) knocked
i short i sound ist shoos
ì the long ì is with a grave accent ìm butter
LL The double L has a broad or slender sound, depending on whether the vowel that comes before it is broad (a, o, u) or slender (e, i). The broad ll can be heard in toll (a hole): toll a hole
LL The slender double LL can also sound like je.Like in French gille boy
mh làmh hand
n ll naoi nine
o short o sound toll a hole
ò the long ò is with a grave accent òran a song
ph The ph sound in Gaelic sounds similar to the sound of the letter ‘f’. phaigh pay
r The R sound, when it occurs at the beginning of a word, is pronounced like “rr”. ròn seal
r When R is not the first letter in a word and occurs next to a, o, or u, it is considered broad, and can be heard in fear fear man
sh pronounced as 'h' shuas up
sgr pronounced as 'skr'
th the th sound is pronounced like the English ‘h’ thaigh house
u short u sound ugh an egg
ù the long ù is with a grave accent a dog

MASCULINE OR FEMININE

 

All nouns in Gaelic can be divided into masculine or feminine

The Magic of Lenition

The gender of the noun often causes a special type of consonant mutation called lenition. Usually, this causes an extra h to appear after the initial consonant. You can see an example of this with words like "madainn" and "feasgar" (a masculine noun):

Madainn mhath. - Good morning.

 

Feasgar math. - Good afternoon. / Good evening.

 

Singular feminine nouns usually cause this lenition  in adjectives starting with the consonants:

B, C, D, F, G, M, P, S, and T

..so not in those beginning with:

L, N, R, SG, SM, SP, ST, and vowels.


THA

 

Tha is used in the present tense for any person or thing, masculine or feminine and singular and plural. 

tha mi

tha thu

tha e

tha i

I am

you are

he / it is

she / it is

tha sinn

tha sibh

tha iad

we are

you are

they are


EMPHATIC PRONOUNS

 

Thusa is the emphatic form for the word thu

mise 

thusa

esan

ise

you

he

she

sinne

sibhse

iadsan

we 

you (pl)

they


CHAN EIL

Chan eil is used is you want to make a negative statement

chan eil mi

chan eil thu

chan eil e

 chan eil i

chan eil sinn

chan eil sibh

chan eil iad

I am not

you are not

he / is is not

she / it is not

we are not

you are not

they are not


WHO IS

mo

a

 ar

an 

am ( afore b,p,f and m ) 

my

his

our

their

do 

a

ur

your

her

your

a, ar, ur, and an / am ( 'her', óur' ýour' and 'their' do not affect the following word.  So the difference between 'his'cat and 'her'cat is conveyed by whether the word for cat is lenited of not. 

m' athair

d' athair

' athair

a h-athair

 

my father

your father

his father

her father

ar n-athair

ur n-athair

an athair

our father

your father

their father

The first three on the list are MO, DO and A which means my, your and his. The all effect the following word- they lenite it,  this means that an H is inserted after the initial consonant. 


PREPOSITIONAL PRONOUNS - TO HAVE

Besides the words 'mo' Gealic uses another way to express by using aig which means 'at' . The verb to have is not used in Gealic language. 

Tha ....... agam

Tha ....... agad

Tha ....... aige

Tha ....... aice

I have

You have

He has

She has

Tha ....... againn

Tha ....... agaibh

Tha ....... aca

We have

You have

They have


 CEISTEAN - QUESTIONS

We use the phrase A bheil to make a question. 

A bheil mi

A bheil thu

A bheil e

A bheil i

am I

are you

is he/it

is she/it

 

A bheil sinn

A bheil sibh

A bheil iad

 

are we

are you

are they

 

e.g Negative questions like I am not is as follows

 

Nach eil mi

Nach eil thu

Nach eil e

Nach eil i

am i not

are you not

is he/it not

is she/it not

 

Nach eil sinn

Nach eil sibh

Nach eil iad

 

are we not

are you not

are they not

 


bho - FROM 

bhuam

bhuat

bhuaithe

bhuaipe

from me

from you

from him

from her

bhuapa

from them