Scottish Gaelic phrasebook

Pronunciation guide

Stress the first syllable on every word. Scottish Gaelic has a number of sounds which can be difficult for English speakers to pick up including CH (as in Scots 'loch' or the composer 'Bach') and the three Rs (rolled, slender and tapped) none of which resembles the English 'pirate R'. A helpful guide to Gaelic pronunciation can be found here. An important feature of the language is lenition, whereby initial consonants change their sound depending on its grammatical situation. This is represented by an H being added after the initial letter. E.g. An cù (the dog) > a' chù/Am meur (the finger) > a' mheur.

Phrase list

Slashes generally indicate the difference between the informal and formal/polite form in that order (e.g. leat/leibh - leat is informal, leibh is formal)

Basics

Hello. Halò. (ha-LAW) How are you? Ciamar a tha thu/sibh? (KEM-mer uh HA oo?) Fine, thank you. Tha mi gu math, tapadh leat/leibh. (HA mI goo MA, TAH-puh let/leave) What is your name? Dè an t-ainm a th' ort/oirbh? (JAY un TEN-um a HORSHT/HOR-riv?) My name is ______ . Is mise ______ . ( is SMish-shuh _____ .) Nice to meet you. 'S toil leam gur coinneachadh. (STOL lum gur KEN-yukh-ugh): 's math gad fhaicinn (mah gad echkeen) Please. Led thoil. / Ler toil. (led HOL / ler TOL) Thank you. Tapadh leat/leibh. (TAH-puh let/leave) You're welcome. 'S e do bheatha / ur beatha. (SHAY do VEH-huh / oor BEH-huh) Yes. (Gaelic has no words for "yes" and "no", and replies are made with the relevant verbs. For questions beginning with "a bheil?", the appropriate word for "yes" is "tha". An alternative is "seadh", pronounced shugh, which means "yeah" or "uh-huh") No. (Gaelic has no words for "yes" and "no", and replies are made with the relevant verbs. For questions beginning with "a bheil?", the appropriate word for "no" is "chan eil") Excuse me. (getting attention) Gabh/Gabhaibh mo leisgeul. (GAV/GAV-iv mo LESH-keel) I'm sorry. Tha mi duilich. (HA mee DOO-lich) Goodbye. Tioraidh! (CHEE-ree) I can't speak Gaelic well. Chan eil Gàidhlig mhath agam. (khu-NYAIL GAH-lick VAH ACK-um) Do you speak Gaelic? A bheil Gàidhlig agad? (informal) / A bheil Gàidhlig agaibh? (formal/plural) Help! Cuidich! (cu-Jeech!)Cuideaichaibh! (KWIDGE-ich-iv!) Look out! thor an aire (horr an arer) Good morning. Madainn mhath. (MAT-een vah) Good evening. Feasgar math. (FES-ker mah) Good night. Oidhche mhath. (EYE-chuh vah) Sleep well Cadail/Cadailibh gu math. (KAT-ul/KAT-uh-liv goo mah) I don't understand. Chan eil mi a' tuigsinn. (khu-NYAIL mee uh TooK-sheen) Where is the toilet? Càit a bheil an taigh beag? (KAATSH uh VAIL un TIE BECK?)

Problems Leave me alone. Fàg mi leam fhèin. (ghag me laom hayn) Don't touch me! Cum do laimhan leat fhèinsa! ( koom do lavin laht hein-sa!) I'll call the police. Fònaidh mi air poileas. ( .) Police! Poileas! (