Irish
Gaeilge
Irish is the first official language of Ireland, but only a minority speak it daily, chiefly in the Gaeltacht regions. It puts the verb first in the sentence, an order rare in Europe, and uses initial mutations: the beginning of a word changes according to its grammatical context, which makes the dictionary hard to use for a beginner. Its written literature is the oldest in western Europe after Latin and Greek.
- Family
- Celtic
- Script
- Latin
- Speakers
- ≈ 170,000 daily speakers
- Where
- Ireland
- In the game
- Rare language
How to spot it
Acute accents only (á é í ó ú) and the clusters bh, mh, dh, gh everywhere. The verb comes first in the sentence.
A few sentences
-
Ólaim tae gach maidin.
I drink tea every morning.
-
Is maith liom ceol traidisiúnta.
I like traditional music.
-
Tá sé ag cur sneachta.
It is snowing.
-
Tá an carr briste.
The car is broken.
-
Is maith liom tae láidir.
I like strong tea.