I was listening to a learner of Irish recently and noticed that although her Irish wasn't bad, she frequently made many mistakes in phrases that she must often use. I thought it might be useful to ask people to add a few of their own. I think a lackof knowledge/understanding of the Tuiseal Ginideach is the main reason for the errors. My idea is not to make a grammar thread, but more to compile a list of common phrases that people often get wrong.

mar shampla:

i lár + oíche = i lár na hoíche

tús + samhradh = tús an tsamhraidh

timpeall + tír = timpeall na tire

ar feadh + seachtain = ar feadh seachtaine

i rith + lá = i rith an lae

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ag greadadh + mé = am ghreadadh
ag greadadh + tú = ad ghreadadh
ag greadadh + é = á ghreadadh
ag greadadh + í = á greadadh
ag greadadh + sinn = ár ngreadadh
ag greadadh + sibh = úr ngreadadh
ag greadadh + iad = á ngreadadh

Of course this works with any verb besides greadadh and different dialects have different forms instead of am, ad, e.t.c. However I think this is a common mistake.

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The dialect I use is Cork Irish.
Ar sgáth a chéile a mhairid na daoine, lag agus láidir, uasal is íseal

I've noticed that prepositions tend to be tricky for a lot of people. Saying “do mé” instead of “dom” and “ag caint ar Liam” instead of “ag caint le Liam.” Knowing what preposition to use and how to conjugate it can get messy.

I wish I knew what mistakes I make, because no one ever corrects me. As long as they get the gist of what I'm saying, they can ignore my bad grammar or pronunciation. Personally, I'd love to spend a few hours with a really fussy Irish speaker that will jump all over my mistakes.

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Táim ag foghlaim fós. Fáilte roimh gach aon cheartúchán.

I know exactly what you mean. People don't want to appear rude and I can understand that, but when you are at the stage of being well able to hold a conversation, but still making mistakes, you want to be corrected so that you will improve.

By the way, these are exactly the kinds of mistake that you hear regularly. Re prepositions, you often hear 'abair do' instead of 'abair le'. I used to recite the words 'abair le and inis dom' in my head to make sure I had them the correct way around. Worked for me!

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Leanann an Uimhir Uatha an focal
cúpla

cúpla duine srl.

Cloistear an Uimhir Iolra leis go minic

That reminds me of another. My four year old said 'dhá chinn' the other day instead of 'dhá cheann'. He's not alone with the mistake...

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I don't know if my earlier message sent OK. Would you like to arrange an informal chat with me in Irish on Skype? You can PM me if you are interested.

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Bí cinnte de go nglacfaidh triúr le gach aistriúchán a thabharfar.
Be sure to get three in agreement with a translation given.

I have another one.

I was taught to say "tá aithne agam" for knowing a person and "tá a fhios agam" for knowing facts or information. But I often hear people using fios for knowing a person too. I'm fairly sure that's wrong, but not 100% sure.


PM sent.

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Táim ag foghlaim fós. Fáilte roimh gach aon cheartúchán.

I was taught the same, but i also heard it used by old native speakers on the Doegen recordings.
e.g. "Cé a bhí ag caint leat ar an tsráid? Níl a fhios agam cé hé."

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Bíonn rudaí maithe mall

I think that's due to the presence of the cé hé. People will say:

Níl aithne agam air I know him.
or
Níl fhios agam cé hé I don't know who he is.

However Níl fhios agam é would be wrong.*

*EDIT: Actually I'd be wrong saying this, see Braoin's post next page!

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The dialect I use is Cork Irish.
Ar sgáth a chéile a mhairid na daoine, lag agus láidir, uasal is íseal