“Haigh tusa!” – that’s “Hi there!” in Irish.
Foras na Gaeilge’s new English-Irish dictionary, available online at focloir.ie and on mobile devices for free, aims to teach the Gaelic language to those who are interested.
Let’s see what other useful words and phrases the dictionary can teach:
If you wish to ask someone how he or she is doing, you would say “Cén chaoi a bhfuil tú?” Similarly, you could ask “Céard atá ort? ” which means “What’s up?”
“Feicfidh mé ar ball thú” means “See you later”, which you can use as an alternative to saying “Goodbye” in conversation.
“Is oth liom a rá” translates into “I’m sorry to say”. The phrase can be useful in many situations, particularly apologetic ones.
In the case of an emergency, it would be helpful to know the following terms: police translates into “gardaí”, ambulance is “otharcharr” and the fire brigade is known as “briogáid dóiteáin”.
Hungry for a bite to eat? You may want to go to the steakhouse, otherwise known as ”bialann stéige”. While there, wash your meal down with a “beoir” – beer in English.
Now that you’re off to a good start, try chatting with native Irish speakers and see how you do!
