#comhaireamh

[toinghaeilge]

Seacht as an Intensifier

The word seacht, meaning “seven”, can be used as in intensifier, not unlike the English sevenfold. Here are some examples from Ó Dónaill’s Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla (1977):

Rinne mé mo sheacht ndícheall leis I did the very best I could with it Literally: I did my seven(fold) best endeavour with it

Tá do sheacht ndóthain le déanamh agat cheana féin You have much more than enough to do already Literally: You have seven fills to do already

Potafocal: more examples of seacht in use as an intensifier

In Gaelic

We also see this is Scottish Gaelic, with phrases like seachd sgìth (”completely tired”, or “sevenfold tired”). There is also this brilliant one from a reader, taken from Am Faclair Beag:

Tha sannt na seachd sagart air He’s as greedy as a pig Literally: He has the greed of seven priests upon him

[toinghaeilge]

A Wee Test on Counting

I haven’t done an interactive/try-it post for a while, and thought that in the spirit of the season to come I’d do one without a lesson. It’s about counting, so you’ll need to recap on these topics:

Counting People

Counting Things

Vocab List on Counting: nominal, personal and by order

Remember that there are different forms for counting things, people and the order in which something comes (i.e. first, second &c.)

My double click dictionary might also come in handy: double click any word to get its translation. 

Try it

Translate the following, or as much as you can:

1. On the eleventh day of Christmas 2. Four calling birds, three french hens 3. Seven swans a swimming, five golden rings 4. Ten Lords a leaping, nine ladies dancing 5. Twelve drummers drumming, eleven pipers piping

Hover below for answers

1. Ar an t-aonú lá déag Nollag 2. Ceithre éan ag glaoch, trí chearc fhrancacha 3. Seacht n-eala ag snámh, cúig fháinne óra 4. Deichniúr tiarna ag léim, naonúr ban ag damhsa 5. Dháréag drumadóir ag drumadóireacht, aon phíobaire dhéag ag seinm

[toinghaeilge]

Dhá nó Dá?

When counting things, we say:

Two big boxes Dhá bhosca mhóra

Dhá loses its lenition when it follows the definite article (”the”), aon (any) and céad (first). 

The two big boxes An dá bhosca mhóra

Any two big boxes Aon dá bhosca mhóra

The first two big boxes An chéad dá bhosca mhóra

Counting People

Try it

Translate the following sentences.

1. Which two boats? 2. The first two boats. 3. The second boat, and every second boat after that.

Hover below for answers

1. Cén dhá bhád? 2. An chéad dá bhád. 3. An dara bád, agus gach dara bád ina dhiadh sin.

[toinghaeilge]

Essential Vocabulary 3: Numbers and Time

Numbers

By name, counting

Náid, aon, dó, trí, ceathair, cúig, sé, seacht, ocht, naoi, deich, aon déag, dó dhéag, trí déag, ceathair déag, cúig déag, sé déag, seacht déag, ocht déag,  naoi déag, fiche, fiche a haon, fiche a dó, tríocha, tríocha a haon, tríocha a dó,  ceathracha, daichead, caoga, seasca, seachtó, ochtó, nócha, céad, míle, milliún, billiún, uimhir

Order

An chéad, an dara, an tríu, an ceathrú, an cúigiú, an seú, an seachtú, an t-ochtú, an naoú, an deichiú, an t-aonú déag, an dóú déag, an fichiú, an t-aonú is fiche, an tríochadú, ceathrachadú, daicheadú, caogadú, seascadú, seachtódú, ochtódú, nóchadú, an chéadú, an míliú, an milliúnú, an billiúnú, ord

Counting people

Duine (amhain), beirt, tríur, ceathrar, cúigear, seisear, seachtar, ochtar, naonúr, deichniúr, aon duine dhéag, dáréag, trí dhuine dhéag, ceithre dhuine dhéag, cúig dhuine dhéag, sé dhuine dhéag, seacht dhuine dhéag, ocht dhuine dhéag, naoi dhuine dhéag, fiche dhuine, duine is fiche, bheirt/dhá dhuine is fiche, tríocha duine, ceathracha, daichead duine, caoga duine, seasca duine, seachtó duine, ochtó duine, nócha duine, céad duine, míle duine, milliún duine, billiún duine

Posts on counting (comhaireamh)

Time

Bliain, mí, seachtain, lá, uair, nóiméad, bomaite, soicind, maidin, iarnóin,  tráthnóna, oíche, Dé Luain, Dé Máirt, Dé Céadaoin, Déardaoin, Dé hAoine, Dé Sathairn, Dé Domhnaigh, Eanáir, Feabhra, Márta, Aibreán, Bealtaine, Meitheamh, Iúil, Lúnasa, Meán Fómhair, Deireadh Fómhair, Samhain, Nollaig, Mí na Nollag, samhradh, earrach, fómhar, geimhreadh, séasúr

Time and Frequency adverbs

[toinghaeilge]

Ceann

While the word ceann is used in Munster to mean “head”, parts of Connacht (Galway and Mayo) and Ulster (all of it) favour cloigeann (skull), and ceann is used almost exclusively to refer to “one”.

For example,

Sin é an ceann a bhí mé ag caint faoi That’s the one I was talking about

Tá ceann de na rothaí pollta One of the wheels is punctured

It is also used in the plural:

How many horses do you have? We have three. Cé mhéad capall atá agaibh? Tá trí cinn againn.

Notice that all of the above were used to refer to inanimate objects or animals. There is a distinction when you’re referring to people:

One of the boys is sick Tá duine de na buachaillí tinn

We’re the ones who are responsible Is sinne na daoine atá freagrach

Try it

Translate these to Irish:

1. Cóilí's the one who has to pay. 2. It works better than the other one. 3. One of the boys

Hover below for answers

1. Is é Cóilí an duine a chaithfidh íoc. 2. Oibríonn sé níos fearr ná an ceann eile. 3. Duine de na buachaillí

[toinghaeilge]

Counting Things

Because we’re all cúig bliaina d’aois, we’re going to count shit today. You’ll need to recap on this:

Counting People

In case you didn’t want to, in that post we learnt that multiples of ten (-teen, twenty &c.) came after the noun instead of tacking onto the digit before it, giving us ceithre oíche dhéag, for example, for fourteen nights.

We also counted up to a thousand people, and while counting things is not exactly the same as counting people, they will share some similarity that will be relevant to this discussion.

Plurals are for Losers, and I Eat Losers for Breakfast

Unlike for personal numbers in our previous counting post, counting things does not use the genitive plural (or any plural at all). Because the quantity is already stated, we do not need to use the plural. However, the rule for adjectives in the plural still apply. These adjectives take séimhiú.

One to Ten

When using aon and the numbers two to six, the noun takes a séimhiú.

One big box:

bosca mór bosca amháin mór aon bhosca amháin mór

Note: aon also means “any”, so aon bhosca mór would mean “any big box”. That’s why amháin is used so we can say one big box (only).

Two big boxes:

dhá bhosca mhóra

Four red apples:

ceithre úll dhearga

From seven to ten, the number takes an urú:

Seven big boxes:

seacht mbosca mhóra

Nine red apples:

naoi n-úll dhearga

Onward, Trusty Bosca

However, when it comes to anything over ten, we can choose to append the adjective before or after the multiple. If it comes before it, the adjective still takes the singular. If it comes after, the adjective is in the plural.

Fourteen heavy boxes:

Ceithre bhosca throm dhéag Ceithre bhosca dhéag throma

Note: Déag takes a séimhiú when the item counted ends in a vowel.

The eighteen red apples

na hocht n-úll dhearg déag na hocht n-úll déag dhearga

Zero boxes:

bosca ar bith

Again, bosca takes the singular, but ar bith (literally: on existence) would signify “at all”. It does not take séimhiú or urú ar bith.

With the Article

Numbers one, two and multiples of ten take an, while three to ten take na.

an dhá bhosca mhóra the two big boxes

na naoi n-úll dhearga the nine red apples

an fiche leathanach the twenty pages

an t-aon bhád déag the eleven boats

Other Forms

Instead of is fiche (and 20), you might commonly see the forms agus fiche, fichead (of 20) or fichid (on 20).

trí bhád is fiche/agus fiche (3 boats and 20)

trí bhád fichead (3 boats of 20)

trí bhád ar fhichid (3 boats on 20)

And more rarely, instead of is caoga or is seachtó, you might see caogad (of 50) or seachtód (of 70) or ar caogaid (on 50) or ar seachtóid (on 70). They will take similar forms to the above with fiche, fichead and fichid.

Try it

Translate these:

1. I have seventeen slender fish. 2. There are sixteen difficult books. 3. I ate the eighty-three cakes.

Hover below for answers

1. Tá seacht n-iasc déag thanaí. Tá seacht n-iasc thanaí déag. 2. Tá sé leabhar déag dheacra ann. Tá sé leabhar dheacair déag ann. 3. D'ith mé na trí cháca is ochtó mhilis. D'ith mé na trí cháca mhilse is ochtó.

[toinghaeilge]

Irish wat r u doin’

In the post Counting People, I went over personal numbers. The numbers 3-10 are actually contractions stemming from Old Irish of the number + fear. One person used to be referred to as oenar, but today oenar means exclusively “alone”. Two people used to be dias in Old Irish, and dís in modern Irish, but today it is replaced by beirt, meaning “bundle”.

However, that is not the interesting part of this post, no. 

It is incredibly, incredibly important to note that seven people used to be referred to as mórfesser, or later in Modern Irish, mórsheishear. As in, big six. 

...five people, six people, big six people, eight people...

In fact, in the Munster Gaeltachtaí, mórsheisear is still preferred over seachtar. This means, of course, that we have ended the argument on dialects. Munster is superior. Goodnight and goodbye.

[toinghaeilge]

Counting People

One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten

Duine amháin Beirt Triúr Ceathrar Cúigear Seisear Seachtar Ochtar Naonúr Deichniúr

Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen Nineteen Twenty

Aon duine dhéag Dáréag Trí dhuine dhéag Ceithre dhuine dhéag Cúig dhuine dhéag Sé dhuine dhéag Seacht dhuine dhéag Ocht dhuine dhéag Naoi dhuine dhéag Fiche dhuine

Twenty-One Twenty-Two Twenty-Three Twenty-Four Twenty-Five Twenty-Six Twenty-Seven Twenty-Eight Twenty-Nine Thirty

Duine is fiche Dhá dhuine is fiche Trí dhuine is fiche Ceithre dhuine is fiche Cúig dhuine is fiche Sé dhuine is fiche Seacht dhuine is fiche Ocht dhuine is fiche Naoi dhuine is fiche Tríocha duine

Thirty-One Thirty-Two Thirty-Three Thirty-Four Thirty-Five Thirty-Six Thirty-Seven Thirty-Eight Thirty-Nine Forty

Duine is tríocha Dhá dhuine is tríocha Trí dhuine is tríocha Ceithre dhuine is tríocha Cúig dhuine is tríocha Sé dhuine is tríocha Seacht dhuine is tríocha Ocht dhuine is tríocha Naoi dhuine is tríocha Ceathracha daichead duine

Fifty Sixty Seventy Eighty Ninety A hundred A thousand

Caoga duine Seasca duine Seachtó duine Ochtó duine Nócha duine Céad duine Míle duine

Note: The ones without "duine" are nouns themselves. If they are followed by the noun being counted, that word goes into the genitive plural. Duine, with all personal numbers, take the genitive plural.

The number used for two people, beirt, is feminine so it applies a séimhiú to the following noun, except when the noun begins with d, t or s: beirt bhuachaillí. All the others are masculine and do not cause lenition: cúigear fear.

As you might've noticed, the multiples of ten come after the noun instead of tacking onto the preceding digit.