Fòram na Gàidhlig

I've clearly been singing overly many old songs, because I thought they were all like the nominative singular.

Ochoin a Rìgh

Chan eil dad ceàrr air seann òrain

Akerbeltz, I'll be glad if I can help you, even if in something small!
Bidh mi toilichte ma bhios urrain dhomh ur cuideachadh, ged a bhios e ro bheag! -- a bheil sin ceart?

Bidh mi toilichte mas urrainn dhomh ur cuideachadh

mas = ma + is

Mòran taing!

Seo ceist eile agam about pronunciation of "dubh" and "dhuibh" (the same word in other cases): how to read "bh" here?
Is there any difference in pronunciation of "dhuibh" ("dubh") and "dhuibh" (do+sibh)?

Tha iad co-ionnann. Chan eil mòran fhaclan ann aig a bheil an dearbh-sgrìobhadh agus fuaimneachadh eadar-dhealaichte. Chan eil a' bualadh orm ach coire /k?r??/ agus coire /k?r??/.

Mòran taing!

Agus dè "coire" a tha /k?r??/? Chan eil fhios agam.

Duilich, tha thu ceart, cha robh sibh soilleir:
/k?r??/ kettle
/k?r??/fault

Tapadh leibh!

Seo dà cheist no trì ceistean an-còrr:

"Chan eil i cho blàth 's a bha i an-dè" -- what does "'s" mean here?

What forms are these: a dh'fhaid, a dh'àirde, a thìde, a chudrom, a leud? Tha mi gan tuigsinn, ach chan eil fhios agam dè tha dìreach meaning aca.

And here: Tha mi air an uinneag fhosgladh.
("Feumaidh mise an uineag a dh'fhosgladh" -- it'is infinitive here, isn't it?)

Others will kindly correct me where I miss the mark too much

poor_mouse wrote:"Chan eil i cho blàth 's a bha i an-dè" -- what does "'s" mean here?

I'm currently finding out in some more formal writings that it stands for agus/is "and", as I sometimes see it written like that:
cho math agus a bha e - so good and that was it - as good as it was
Feels quite unnatural at first but I'm getting used to it.

poor_mouse wrote:What forms are these: a dh'fhaid, a dh'àirde, a thìde, a chudrom, a leud? Tha mi gan tuigsinn, ach chan eil fhios agam dè tha dìreach meaning aca.

de "of" is sometimes written a, so a dh'fhaid - of length, a dh'àirde - of height, a thìde - of [length of] time &c

poor_mouse wrote:Tha mi air an uinneag fhosgladh.
("Feumaidh mise an uineag a dh'fhosgladh" -- it'is infinitive here, isn't it?)

There have been a rather lengthy discussion about this in February - see here.

Mòran taing!

When you see a seemingly odd agus or is between two phrases, tr*nsl*t* it like this: "there's a connection between these two statements but you have to figure the most logical explanantion". It can therefore have a variety of translations such as "because, during, in spite of" etc. The interpretation hugely depends on the context.

Take a sentence like the following:
Chaidh e dhan chèilidh 's a mhàthair aig an taigh.

That could be:
He went to the ceilidh in spite of his mother being home (i.e. he's a bastard)
He went to the ceilidh because his mother was home (i.e. she's watching the kids)
He went to the ceilidh while his mother was home (she just happened to be home at the same time)
...

It's very flexible and very handy, it allows you to make quite complex statement without using fancy conjunctions.

I thought (please correct me if I'm wrong) that "a dh' " was a doubling of " do (to) " before a vowel, "bha e dà oirleach a dh'fhaid" meaning "it was two inches to length (it was two inches long)", an expression I've also heard in regional English, similar to "he was a printer to trade".