Word choice?

[CairistionaNicD]

I'm trying to work out how to ask "do you have any New Year's resolutions" in Gaelic, but am getting stuck part way. "A bheil [???] agaibh air a Bliadhna ùr?" I apologize for being a rank beginner (and rusty at that), so there's probably other errors, but my main problem is with getting the right word for "resolutions". I'm thinking it would be "rùn" here, based on backtr*nsl*tions from faclair.org and SMO, but I'm not terribly confident in that. Could anyone provide some direction?

Tàpadh leibh.

[An Gobaire]

Yes rùintean (plural) would work.

"A bheil rùintean na Bliadhn' Ùir' agad/agaibh?"

or

"A bheil rùintean agad/agaibh airson na Bliadhn' Ùir'?"

[Seonaidh]

...or you could try "gill" or "geallaidhean". If you think about it, what does the English actually mean? What is a "new year's resolution"? It is, in a fairly literal sense, what somebody will resolve to do (or not do) in the coming year. It is, thus, a sort of "promise".

And here is the answer for you:

"Tha. Am-bliadhna, rùnaichidh mi gun ionnsaich mi Gàidhlig."

- or something similar.

[CairistionaNicD]

Thank you both for your help.

Can I ask a grammar question or two? I'm very, very, very rusty with what little I know, so I apologize if this is very basic. Why is there the "na + lenition" [the added "i" in ùr] here? Is it a case marker of some sort?

Also, a Sheonaidh, I was thinking about the actual meaning of the English resolution, but "promise" never occurred to me. You're right, though, that a resolution is largely a promise to yourself. I'd come up with "resolution", "goal", "intention", "commitment", but none of them were leading me to something I felt confident in.

[Níall Beag]

Can I ask a grammar question or two? I'm very, very, very rusty with what little I know, so I apologize if this is very basic. Why is there the "na + lenition" [the added "i" in ùr] here? Is it a case marker of some sort?

Yes, it's case marking. You have a feminine noun in the genitive case (in this case equivalent to the English possessive in New Year's resolution).

It's not lenition, though; lenition is things like math->mhath, cat->chat. This process is called "slenderisation" or more fully "final slenderisation" (= "slenderising the end of the word").

Notice that An Gobaire had an apostrophe after Ùir'. This is because traditionally the feminine genitive of adjectives gets final slenderisation and an added E at the end: ùire. This final vowel may be dropped in certain situations: before another vowel (the first version) or at the end of a sentence (the second version).

[Seonaidh]

Sorry to be irreverent for a moment, but I love this "slenderisation" thing. I think I'll pop down to Argos or wherever and get myself a word slender...for best results, visit Falkirk - An Eaglais Bhreac - and while in Falkirk - san Eaglais Bhric - be sure to buy the Falkirk News (Naidheachdan na h-Eaglaise Brice)...