Hi all,

I was hoping one of the Connemara speakers could give a translation for the sentence below. I think the patronimic naming is correct, but feel free to correct that if it's not.

“This is Catie McGrath. She’s Brendan Phaddy Dhonal’s friend.”

Thanks so much!

Christy

Not a Conamara speaker, but why should that stop me

Seo í Cáit Nic Chraith. Is í cara le Breandán Phádraig Dhónail í.

I'm really just posting this to see if I can get it right. I'm sure someone will need to correct it.

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Táim ag foghlaim fós. Fáilte roimh gach aon cheartúchán.

I'd say:

Seo í Cáitín Nic Craith. Is cara le Breandán Pháidín Dhónaill í.

I don't think you need the first í in the second sentence unless the subject is definite, i.e., starting with an, mo, etc.

And I could still be wrong ...

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

A Bhreandáin, I just edited my post to Nic Chraith (crossed with your post). But I notice you left it Nic Craith. Which is correct, Nic Craith or Nic Chraith?

Good call on the Cáitín and Páidín, since Christy used the diminutive forms Katie and Paddy.

I may have this wrong, but I thought you repeat the pronoun when it's a question of identity. In this sentence, you're saying WHO she is, not WHAT she is.

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Táim ag foghlaim fós. Fáilte roimh gach aon cheartúchán.

If the second part of the surname begins with the letter “C” or the letter "G", it is lenited after Ní but is not lenited after Nic, so the daughter of a man named Ó Ceallaigh (O’Kelly) has the surname Ní Cheallaigh while the daughter of a man named Mac Ceallaigh (MacKelly) has the surname Nic Ceallaigh.

The reason for this sort of difference goes all the way back to how séimhiú arose in the first place. It had nothing to do with grammar, but with how people actually pronounced words in normal, rapid speech. After some sounds, séimhiú or úrú just happened, due to the way people's mouths moved in flowing from one sound to another. The history since then is complicated, especially since many of the word-endings which gave rise to the mutations originally have since dropped off, and the history varies from dialect to dialect in some cases, so I won't bore you with it here. I'm no expert anyway, but someone else here (or on the old forum) did explain it in more detail, if you want that info (I saved it).

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

Led thoil, a Chaoimhín, cur chughainn anso é, do bheinn-se fíoghar-bhuidheach díot !

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Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice

Thanks for the input!

While we're at it, can anyone tell me why, with the patronimic naming, the person's first name (Brendan, or Breandán in this case) is not lenited but the names of his father and grandfather (Pháidín Dhónaill) are? When I was reading up on lenition, it sounded like names are lenited when you're speaking TO the person but not lenited when you were speaking ABOUT the person.

As well, in this case, Catie McGrath is a non-Irish-speaking American and Brendan is an Irish-speaking American. Would Irish spellings for their names still be used, or would their given names spellings be used?

The names Páidín and Dónall are being used like adjectives: Breandán son of Páidín son of Dónall, but instead of saying “son of” you séimhiú them and put the last name into the genitive case.

As for whether Irish or English names are given, that would be the speaker's choice. Is he/she in the habit of calling Katie/Cáitín by the English or Irish name? Is the speaker the sort of person that is more likely to say “Tá mé i Nua Eabhrac” or “Tá mé in New York”?

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Táim ag foghlaim fós. Fáilte roimh gach aon cheartúchán.

Ah, I understand now. GRMA, Mick!

This is almost correct, but there is no "son" involved. It is only implied by context. The usage applies equally to females.

The genitive of a proper name is expressed by lenition, e.g., bean Pháidín "Páidín's wife".

Breandán Pháidín Dhónaill is literally "Dónall's Paddy's Brendan".

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).