I am looking to get a translation for a tattoo. I did some research and what I have found is that you can't translate into Irish Gaelic
"Love Yourself First".

Can someone please help me with this? I want to make sure I get the correct translation before I go forward with the tattoo.

Thank you

Using the ordinary command form of the transitive verb gráigh ("to love"), it would presumably be:

Gráigh thú féin ar dtús.
Love yourself first.

However, in the New Testament (An Bíobla Naofa translation) the "Love thy neighbor" commandment in the Gospel of Matthew is rendered using a different form of the verb (which looks like a habitual form, but I can't really place it):

Gráóidh tú do chomharsa mar thú féin.

Following that pattern, you could say:

Gráóidh thú féin ar dtús.

Do wait for more comments, in especially since someone more learned may be able to explain the Biblical verb form.

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

Gráóidh is future tense.
Gráóidh tú do chomharsa = Thou shalt (wilt) love thy neighbour = Diliges proximum tuum

(A verbatim translation.
Latin Diliges ... and Greek Ἀγαπήσεις ... is future tense, too)

In FGB and the C.O. the future form is 'gráfaidh' - i.e. first conjugation.

And the more usual form 'bíodh grá agat do do chomharsa' is also used in both versions of the bible.

Yes, which is why I assumed it had to be something else, even though it had a "future-like" look to it.


That makes sense, as in "Let it be that you have love for your neighbor". I just went with what An Bíobla Naofa said.

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

It is Gráidheochaidh tú ... in Bedell's 17th century bible.
An Bíobla Naofa retained this 2nd conjugation form, whysoever.