Moran Taing

[McWhaw1]

Ok, I'll start( I've clocked aff work a wee bit early today as I was promised twa tickets te watch Man Utd doon in London which didn't materialise so I guess the Hibees will have te do).


I have my boyd robertson , Teach yourself Gaidhlig and Gaidhlig dictionary in front of me so I think the best way te do this is te write in english what i want te say then attempt it in Gaidhlig.


" I am Scottish and l'm from Edinburgh and support Hibernian Football Club. I play guitar and piano and I'm learning Gaidhlig. I love Edinburgh and I love my Country "


( I know it's basic but I'm at a basic level, underneath is my attempt in Gaidhlig )


's mise Albannach agus tha mi a Dun Eideann agus mi leantainn Hibernian ball-coise caman. Mi cluich giotar agus piana agus 's mise ionnsachadh Gaidhlig. Mi gaol Dun Eideann agus mi gaol m' duthaich!

I ken that will be full of mistakes but remember i'm just startin oot!

[Seonaidh]

" I am Scottish and l'm from Edinburgh and support Hibernian Football Club. I play guitar and piano and I'm learning Gaidhlig. I love Edinburgh and I love my Country "

's mise Albannach agus tha mi a Dun Eideann agus mi leantainn Hibernian ball-coise caman. Mi cluich giotar agus piana agus 's mise ionnsachadh Gaidhlig. Mi gaol Dun Eideann agus mi gaol m' duthaich!

Well, it ain't bad! Let's l00k at it:-

"I am Scottish": well, if you were saying "I am Scott", then something like " 'S mise Scott" would do fine. But you ain't saying who you are here but what you are, i.e. sommat that's in you. So better to say " 'S e Albannach a th' annam" (lit. "It's a Scot that's in me")

Aside from missing off a lot of accents (hard to put in without a specially rigged accent key, so I'll no quibble too much), the main problem with the rest is verb construction.

You've got "tha mi à Dùn Èideann" OK and you've by-and-large used the "verbal noun" of the other verbs, which is usual in this type of Gaelic construction (viz., a list of what you're doing).

But, just as in English "what you ARE DOING", rather than "what you DO", you also need the appropriate bit of "to be" and an "-ing" type marker. To take, say, "I play guitar", you've put "mi cluich giotàr": what you need is a "tha" (as in "tha mi à Dùn Èideann") and, before the verb-noun, "a'" (it is "ag" if the verb starts with a vowel), giving "tha mi a' cluich[e]". Note: either form of "play" is OK here, "cluich" or "cluiche" (I go for "cluiche" myself). As for what you play, you could put "giotàr", I suppose, just about, but better would be "a' ghiotàr". Technically, that's a genitive - don't worry about it.

"support Hibernian Football Club", I think "caman" is just a club in the sense you hit people with it (as in camanachd - the art of hitting people with shinty sticks...). You might prefer to use "sgioba" (team) or "buidheann" (usually more applied to societies etc.). Also, the word order in Gaelic is almost reversed, so "Hibernian Football Club" would become more like "Club Football Hibernian", e.g. "Sgioba Ball-coise Hibs" or whatever. So " support Hibernian Football Club" would be - well, see if you can work it out, following the example of "I play guitar" (no need for a Definite Article here, though: it ends "leanntainn Sgioba Ball-coise Hibernian", just work out what goes in front of "leanntainn").

The construction for "I'm learning Gaelic" is the same. In particular, you wouldn't usually use "Is" or "'S" here: these form s are for emphasising a particular part of a sentence and you're not really wanting to say the equivalent of "It really is ME who's learning Gaelic". So stick with, e.g., "Tha mi ag ionnsachadh Gàidhlig".

As for "love", the usual way of expressing it is to say that there is love at me, i.e. "Tha gaol agam". Note that "gaol" is not a verb. Now, you may well be passionately fond of Edinburgh, but most folk would probably tend to use something milder, e.g. "'S toil leam Dùn Èideann" - "I like Edinburgh". However, if you wish to declare your undying love for the city, maybe "Tha gaol agam air Dùn Èideann" would suit better.

So, with a bit done, and a few clues, try again!