Hi, I've been directed here by someone on another site who suggested I'd find better advice here.

I need a translation if anyone can help please.

I want to say: "I love you. I love you more than my children. I love you more than my life. I would rather die than live without you."

Google gives: "Is breá liom tú. Is breá liom tú níos mó ná mo leanaí. Is breá liom tú níos mó ná mo shaol. Ba mhaith liom a bás seachas beo gan tú."

Someone has offered for the last bit: "b'fhearr liom an bás thar saol gan tusa ann" as a better version than Google's.

It isn't for a tattoo or anything, it's for some contemporary fiction I'm writing. The speaker is from Dublin. I gather there are different words for 'love' depending on the nature of love referred to, so I have a feeling the speech may be problematic in comparing one kind to another.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Your best bet would be to forget that Google "trashlate" even exists. Its translations are typically laughably bad.

In this case, among other issues, it's given you the kind of phrase you'd use to say "I love pizza" or "I love New York"... not something you'd use for a person.

I'm going to take a stab at this, but please wait for more input. There is often a better, more idiomatic, way to say something than the first option you get.

Mo ghrá thú. Tá níos mó grá agam duitse ná do mo chuid páistí. Tá tú níos tábhachtaigh dom ná mo shaol féin. B'fhearr liom bheith marbh ná bheith gan tusa

"I love you. I love you more than my children. You're more important to me than my own life. I'd rather be dead than be without you."

I'm not 100% on the grammar here, so definitely wait for more learned input!

Redwolf

It's looking good, Redwolf.

I think it's tábhachtaí for the comparative.

I'd put a féin after páistí in the same way you did for saol. More a style matter than a correction.

For "die", we could also use bás a fháil.

Perhaps:

Mo ghrá thú. Tá níos mó grá agam duitse ná do mo chuid páistí féin. Tá tú níos tábhachtaí dom ná mo shaol féin. B'fhearr liom bás a fháil ná bheith gan tusa.

"I love you. I love you more than my own children. You're more important to me than my own life. I'd rather die than be without you."

Await further input ...

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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).

I would remove the "do" in the second sentence.

níos tábhachtaí, though I suspect tábhachtaigh is pronounced as tábhactaí in Ulster?

Is mó an tabhacht atá ag baint leatsa domsa ná mo shaol féin

B'fhearr liom ' bheith sínte sa chré gan do chuideachta/ tú

nó

B'fhearr liom gan bheith ar an bhfód so gan tú

Mo ghrá go daingean thú, Tá níos mó grá/seirce agam duitse ná mo chuid páistí (féin). Is mó an tábhacht atá ag baint leatsa domsa ná mo shaol féin. B'fhearr liom gan bheith ar an bhfód so gan do chuideachta/ b'fhearr liom bheith sínte (sa chré) gan tú/ do chuideachta

Wait for some more input!

P.S. I hope "I love you more than my own children" is more a poetic thing and not actually true.

Crossed with Breandán

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

That might put your mind at rest, An Cionnfhaolach!

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, would you believe I read the request 3 times and I didn't notice that the OP said that
I think I was so taken a back by that line!

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

Thank you for the thoughtful replies so far. This is a lovely forum.

On reflection, and partly because of the comments on here , I'm thinking about replacing the sentence in bold:

"I love you. I love you more than my children. I love you more than my life. I would rather die than live without you"

with: "I love you as much as I love my own children."

Again, I'd be grateful for any help with this, and I'll try not to change my mind again...

Don't change what you want on my account but if you still want to:

Tá an grá agam duitse ar chomh-mhéid an grá atá agam de mo pháistí féin

Tá an grá céanna agam duitse is atá agam ar mo pháistí féin

Tá an grá céanna agam duitse is átá ar mo pháistí féin

Wait for more input

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

Thank you for these alternatives.

Bearing in mind I know nothing are you able to tell me what are the differences in meaning/nuance between these three suggestions please?

Also, I'm assuming that the sex of the speaker and the subject (and even the children) makes no difference to the vocabulary used in these sentences. Is this assumption correct?

Again, I'm grateful for your help.