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Hello everyone, I’ve recently been reading up on Highland Scottish immigration to Atlantic Canada and came across a research paper with a toast written in Gàidhlig, "Deoch slainte chuairtear a ghluais bho Albainn!" With the translation written as “Here's health to the traveller who left Scotland!" I was wondering if this was an accurate translation. Furthermore, in my research, I came across a cairn with an inscription in Gàidhlig. The inscription reads, "B'i a'ghaidhlig an cainnt." I am unsure what this would translate to in English. I would really appreciate any help I could get, thanks.

Edit: I just read in the rules that only certain translation requests are allowed, please let me know if this post breaks that rule.

Learning Gaelic on Duolingo or SpeakGaelic, or elsewhere? Or maybe you're thinking about it?

If you've got any quick language learning questions, stick them below and the community can try to help you.

NB: You can always start a separate post if you want – that might be better for more involved questions.

So as I understand it, after the particle "a" the verb "bi" should take the dependent form - so it's "A bheil thu trang?" rather than "A tha thu trang?".

But when you're asking how someone is, "Ciamar a bheil thu?" sounds bizarre - so why doesn't "bi" take the dependent form after the "a" here? Am I missing something?

I have several examples which change the translation and I'm not sure which to choose:

Taigh nam bodach.

The old men's house.

Then we have prìs nam postairean

The price of the posters.

In the first example, the first word goes last in the translation (taigh) but in the second, the first word (prìs) comes first in the gGaelic translation.

In, nead nam faoileagan

I'm not sure if it's the seaguls' nest or the nest of the seagul.

[English below]

Fàilte gu snàth cabadaich na seachdaine

Tha an snàth seo do dhuine sam bith a tha airson cabadaich mu chàil sam bith sa Gàidhlig gun snàth ùr a thòiseachadh (ach faodaidh tu ma thogras tu).

• Feumaidh tu post ann an Gàidhlig (gu susbainteach co-dhiù, tha beagan suidseadh còd nàdarra obviously taghta)
• Faodaidh tu cabadaich mu chàil sam bith a thogras tu.
• Na biodh iomagain ort mu dhèidhinn mhearachdan (co-dhiù do chuid fhèin, no a nì càch).
• Chan fhaodar Google Translate (no a leithid) a chleachdadh airson postadh a chruthachadh.

—

Welcome to the weekly learners' chat thread

This thread is for anyone who wants to chat about anything in Gaelic without starting a new thread (though you can if you want).

• You must post in Gaelic (substantially at least, a bit of natural code switching is fine)
• Chat about anything you like.
• Don't worry about mistakes (either yours or anyone else's)
• No using Google Translate (or any other machine translator) to create posts.

Siuthad!

Halò !

Tha mi a’ dèanamh mapa de còmhdhailean ann an Glaschu, anns a’ Bheurla is a’ Ghàidhlig agus tha ceist ghràmair bheag agam

Bu toil leam ag ràdh rudeigin mar «Rail transportation in Glasgow ach chan eil mi cinnteach dè a bhiodh an eadar-theangalach as fhèarr

A bheil «Còmhdhail rèile ann am meadhan a’ bhaile Glaschu» ceart gu leòr no faodaidh mi «Ghlaschu» a chleachdadh?

Dè ur beachd? A bheil moladh nas fhèarr sam bith agaibh ? Moran taing air ur cuideachadh!

Just to make things clearer because my Gaelic is not so good: I am not sure if I should use the lenited form Ghlaschu or not after «meadhan a bhaile»

One last thing, speaking about the Glasgow Subway, would you rather say «Fo-rèile Ghlaschu» or «Fo-thalamh Ghlaschu»?

Thanks a lot for your help!

I haven’t posted on here before (sorry the post is in English). I have been learning Gàidhlig through Duolingo and Learn Gaelic for about a year now for fun. I’m interested in doing Gàidhlig for a skills section for Duke of Edinburgh, however I have had problems with finding an assessor. If anyone on here is willing to or knows someone who would be willing to do it, can you please reply or DM me.

Halò a-huile duine! Tha mi ag ionnsachadh Gàidhlig, ach tha mi beagan Gàidhlig agam. (Sorry for any mistakes, I'm super paranoid about it lol).

I'm looking for someone to give me some kind of insight on what my name would be in Gaelic and how it would be pronounced? My name is Élise (french name), can't seem to find anything online about it!

Thanks in advance!

Hey there, I’m a descendant of the Clan Fraser and would like to get a tatoo of the clan motto “ I am ready” in Gaidhlig. The most common translation I see is Tha mi Deiseil, but I've also seen Tha mi Rèidh. Which one is more contextually and grammatically accurate?

My thanks :))

Learning Gaelic on Duolingo or SpeakGaelic, or elsewhere? Or maybe you're thinking about it?

If you've got any quick language learning questions, stick them below and the community can try to help you.

NB: You can always start a separate post if you want – that might be better for more involved questions.

Madainn mhath! I'm currently learning Gaelic through Duolingo but supplementing with grammar books and the BBC Speak Gaelic podcast so I can understand the reason why something is the way it is. Verb conjugation aside, it seems a very grammar-heavy language, which I'm fascinated by but i'm interested to know if that's changing in non-standard or spoken varieties of the language? Are younger generations contributing to a simplification of the grammar? Tapadh leibh!

A chàirdean còire,

I've been looking for an online reference of grammar, especially declensions and conjurations, for Gaelic. Teannglann's grammar database for Gaelige is one example, though on the more technologically advanced side.

Is there any good online reference for Gàidhlig? Or is it better to rely on books, and if so, are there any that are well recommended? I've already got Gràmar na Gàidhlig by Byrne, but something more detailed would be appreciated.

Tapadh leibh!

[English below]

Fàilte gu snàth cabadaich na seachdaine

Tha an snàth seo do dhuine sam bith a tha airson cabadaich mu chàil sam bith sa Gàidhlig gun snàth ùr a thòiseachadh (ach faodaidh tu ma thogras tu).

• Feumaidh tu post ann an Gàidhlig (gu susbainteach co-dhiù, tha beagan suidseadh còd nàdarra obviously taghta)
• Faodaidh tu cabadaich mu chàil sam bith a thogras tu.
• Na biodh iomagain ort mu dhèidhinn mhearachdan (co-dhiù do chuid fhèin, no a nì càch).
• Chan fhaodar Google Translate (no a leithid) a chleachdadh airson postadh a chruthachadh.

—

Welcome to the weekly learners' chat thread

This thread is for anyone who wants to chat about anything in Gaelic without starting a new thread (though you can if you want).

• You must post in Gaelic (substantially at least, a bit of natural code switching is fine)
• Chat about anything you like.
• Don't worry about mistakes (either yours or anyone else's)
• No using Google Translate (or any other machine translator) to create posts.

Siuthad!

Hi all! I've been learning gaidhlig for a little bit, but haven't had a chance to do a deep dive yet. I'm an artist looking to name one of my works which has a lot of sea glass in it and want suggestions of gaelic names for it. Am I right in thinking the direct translation is glainne-mara? Are there different versions and options I could be using to describe it?

Thanks heaps

Can anyone point me to where I can find the sound files for this book? I have tried!

Halò a h-uile duine! I would like to know the best word to describe a long and dangerous journey.

From dictionaries I am getting suggested words like "taisteal", "turas", "aisir" and "traill" but I would like to hear from a fluent speaker which word would fit best. I am new to Gàidhlig so I don't know which words are more "stroll in the park" than "great journey". For context this if for the title of a story.

Sorry if it’s been asked before but why do you say “an t-Òban” for Oban but say “tha mi às an Òban”? Why isn’t the “t” inserted in the latter?

Mu dheireadh thall!

Às deidh faisg air bliadhna de dh’ obair, tha a’ chiad chlàr Gàidhlig metalcore air an t-saoghal air fhoillseachadh an-diugh - is tha mi uabhasach moiteil às.

BBC Good Morning Scotland & Radio Nan Gàidheal had me on air this morning, and the National have a nice write-up on it too.

This sub-Reddit has always been gu math coibhneil to Gun Ghaol, so I'd be eternally grateful if you gave the album a spin. Standout songs nam bheachd-sa would be Nam Chridhe (has actual singing in it), and Uilebheist, which has a brilliant feature from BALACH.

Suas leis a' Ghàidhlig!

• Spotify
• YouTube
• Apple Music
• Bandcamp

Don't think I can add a link, but Etsy suggested a bracelet with this phrase on, and the product description says " “No one will know, they won’t know.” This Gaelic quote translates to Fuck Off"

Searched for the phrase, and it came up a few times in other places, so asking: is there any basis to that at all? As in, did something get lost in translation along the way, is it an old idiom? Or is it just totally wrong? Tapadh leibh :)

Is learning gaidhlig on Duolingo a good start?

Learning Gaelic on Duolingo or SpeakGaelic, or elsewhere? Or maybe you're thinking about it?

If you've got any quick language learning questions, stick them below and the community can try to help you.

NB: You can always start a separate post if you want – that might be better for more involved questions.

So I’m a soap maker and my granddad is a Glaswegian. I want to make a soap inspired by Scotland and call it something Gaelic but he unfortunately does not speak Gaelic so he couldn’t help me with the name 😅 I was thinking “soap of the lake” which google translate says is “Siabann an locha” but I can’t find the word locha literally anywhere else to verify that’s how you say it. Like I know lake is loch and lakes is lochan, does it become locha because of the “the” before the word? If that’s not how you say it, how would you say it instead? Also pronunciation tips would be greatly appreciated, I speak Swedish and English but Gaelic is really hard for me to pronounce without sounding Yiddish for some reason

Please don't judge me too harshly (lol), but I'm using Duolingo (ducks behind nearest table) to study Scottish Gaelic because, well, it's on the app and I just felt like a challenge. This isn't for any real purpose other than my own intellectual stimulation. but so far it's pretty interesting and not really like any other language I've studied before.

I've picked up on a few rules which I think I've worked out (for example "tapadh leat" vs "tapadh leibh", which strikes me as a bit like the tu/vous distinction in French). However, there's something interesting going on with names and certain nouns. It could be that the app is wrong - Duo's not perfect, and as someone who speaks Japanese I've seen some howlers on that app - but anyway. It seems like sometimes, a person's name is prefaced with the letter "a" and sometimes it's not, for the same sentence.

EG: "Madainn mhath, Iain": Good morning, Iain. But:

"Madainn mhath, a Lilidh": Good morning, Lily, and

"Madainn mhath, a charaid": Good morning, friend.

I haven't worked out if there's a pattern to this yet - if there is, I'd love to know what it is!

Hi all,

The Audience Agency, on behalf of the National Library of Scotland, are recruiting participants for 90 minute online discussion groups taking place on the Wednesday 23rd and Thursday 24th October. We would love to have the thoughts and opinions of some Scottish Gaelic speakers as part of these groups. All selected participants will receive £40 as a thankyou for their time. If you would like to register your interest, then please fill out the survey by clicking on the link below.

https://research.audiencesurveys.org/s/afa3z1

[English below]

Fàilte gu snàth cabadaich na seachdaine

Tha an snàth seo do dhuine sam bith a tha airson cabadaich mu chàil sam bith sa Gàidhlig gun snàth ùr a thòiseachadh (ach faodaidh tu ma thogras tu).

• Feumaidh tu post ann an Gàidhlig (gu susbainteach co-dhiù, tha beagan suidseadh còd nàdarra obviously taghta)
• Faodaidh tu cabadaich mu chàil sam bith a thogras tu.
• Na biodh iomagain ort mu dhèidhinn mhearachdan (co-dhiù do chuid fhèin, no a nì càch).
• Chan fhaodar Google Translate (no a leithid) a chleachdadh airson postadh a chruthachadh.

—

Welcome to the weekly learners' chat thread

This thread is for anyone who wants to chat about anything in Gaelic without starting a new thread (though you can if you want).

• You must post in Gaelic (substantially at least, a bit of natural code switching is fine)
• Chat about anything you like.
• Don't worry about mistakes (either yours or anyone else's)
• No using Google Translate (or any other machine translator) to create posts.

Siuthad!

1a. Bha mi ag obair oidhche

1b. Bha mi ag obair air an oidhche.

2a. Bha mi ag obair feasgar

2b. Bha mi ag obair air an fheasgar

Are all four grammatically correct? Are 1a and 1b, and 2a and 2b, respectively, identical in meaning?

I'm currently studying An Cùrsa Inntrigidh and everything's going great except I'm struggling with one part. The part I'm struggling with is the 'the' article. I have a hard time remembering when to use an, am, a', an t-, na and na h-. Is there an easy way to remember which one to use?

Hello, I'm an English speaker hoping to learn Scottish Gaelic and hopefully become fluent in it one day. I would love to hear from Scottish people who have experience with the language—whether you're a native speaker or someone who learned it later in life. What resources or methods did you find most effective in learning Gaelic? Are there specific courses, books, or apps you'd recommend? I’m also curious about the best ways to immerse myself in the language and culture, especially as someone not living in Scotland. Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated!