Hi there, I'm from Northern Ireland and am learning Irish now as an adult as I'd like my one year old son to have a bit more Irish than I got when I was growing up I thought a good way for both of us to learn would be for me to translate his favourite story books into Irish. I'll post my first attempt at translating Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown below - hoping I'm not infringing copyright and that it's ok for yous to post this here - it's very repetitive and simple as fitting for a toddler's book - it's my first time on this forum!

OICHE MHAITH GHEALACH
Sa seomra mór glas bhí teileafón agus balún dearg agus pictiúr de bhó ag léim thar an ngealach.
Agus bhí trí béir bheaga ina suí chathaoireacha agus dhá piscíni (kittens?) beaga agus mitíni agus teach beag bréagán agus luch óg agus cíor agus scuab abus babhla lán de liothrach ("mush" in the original...) agus seanbhean chiuín ag cogarnaigh ("and a quiet old lady who was whispering hush").
Oiche mhaith seomra
Oiche mhaith ghealach
Oiche mhaith bhó ag léim thar an ngealach
Oiche mhaith lampa
Oiche mhaith balún dearg
Oiche mhaith béir agus cathaoireacha
Oiche mhaith piscíni
Oiche mhaith mitíni
Oiche mhaith clog (unsure of plural "clocks" - cloga?)
Oiche mhaith stocaí (socks?)
Oiche mhaith teach beag
Oiche mhaith luch
Oiche mhaith cíor
Oiche mhaith scuab
Oiche mhaith aon duine ("goodnight nobody" - incidentally one of the creepiest lines you can read in a children's book)
Oiche mhaith liothrach
Oiche mhaith seanbhean chiuín ag cogarnaigh
Oiche mhaith réaltaí
Oiche mhaith aer
Oiche mhaith ceolán in gach aon bhall ("goodnight noises everywhere" - also quite creepy!)



Emily

I'm just having a quick look and giving a quick answer here as I have other business pressing at the moment. What a great idea, by the way!

First thing, if you're addressing someone (or an animated something), calling them by name, you want to use "a" and lenition of the first letter of what you call them; this is what is known as the vocative case. There may be changes in the words themselves if they are masculine. For example, if you called Micheál by name, you would say "a Mhichíl". The last letter becomes "slender" by inserting an "i" before it, and in the case of this word, "ea" becomes "í". Usually it is a bit simpler than that. Calling Pól (Paul), you would say "a Phóil". Now, my question is, if you're animating things that are masculine, does this rule apply?

For "gealach", which is feminine, it's easy.

"Oíche mhaith, a ghealach"

But "balún" is masculine, so "a bhalúin". But what about "dearg"? Does it change as well? "deirg"? I don't know how that would be handled.

Words that end in vowels, regardless of their gender, stay the same: "a réaltaí".

Also, because you are calling these things by name, should they be capitalised? "a Ghealach", etc.

I think you will get some response from other people on the forum. I will check back from time to time.

Tim

Yes.



Yes.
Oíche mhaith, a bhalúin dheirg

Even if the masculine noun doesn’t change, the adjective does.
e.g. a sheomra mhóir

Another little problem are weak plurals, e.g. béir = bears
In vocative, there's a special plural form in -a: a bhéara! = bears! (a bhéir! would address only one bear)
Plural of clog is cloig, but in vocative again a chloga!



No, they shouldn’t.

I expect Labhrás will know more about it, but metaphorical vocatives are not slenderised for the vocative, eg. a rún, a stór.

Interesting. Thank you.

Thanks Labhrás for your input.

Maybe I (we, including Emily) can just do the whole lot and see what comes of it.

See anything else?

Wow! Thank you all for the very informative and quick responses! Feel like my Irish awareness just reached a new level here
Ok, here goes my first attempt at using the vocative for non-people and adjectives, trying to correct the below story:

OICHE MHAITH, A GHEALACH
Sa seomra mór glas bhí teileafón agus balún dearg agus pictiúr de bhó ag léim thar an ngealach.
Agus bhí trí béir bheaga ina suí chathaoireacha agus dhá piscíni (kittens?) beaga agus mitíni agus teach beag bréagán agus luch óg agus cíor agus scuab abus babhla lán de liothrach ("mush" in the original...) agus seanbhean chiuín ag cogarnaigh ("and a quiet old lady who was whispering hush").
Oiche mhaith, a sheomra
Oiche mhaith, a ghealach
Oiche mhaith, a bhó ag léim thar an ngealach
Oiche mhaith, a lampa
Oiche mhaith, a bhalúin dheirg
Oiche mhaith, a bhéara agus a chathaoireacha
Oiche mhaith, a phiscíni
Oiche mhaith, a mhitíni
Oiche mhaith, a chloga
Oiche mhaith, a stocaí
Oiche mhaith, a theaich bhig?
Oiche mhaith, a luch
Oiche mhaith, a chíor
Oiche mhaith, a scuab
Oiche mhaith, a aon dhuine? Already slender I think? Do I need a consonant between "a" and "aon" for sound? Maybe a t?
Oiche mhaith, a liothrach
Oiche mhaith, a sheanbhean chiuín ag cogarnaigh
Oiche mhaith, a réaltaí
Oiche mhaith, a aer
Oiche mhaith, a cheolán in gach aon bhall ("goodnight noises everywhere" - also quite creepy! Not sure if this was meant as vocative in the original but there we are.)

Phew! That was fun. Go raibh maith agat!

They're mostly right.
But "a theaich bhig" isn't.

I'm not 100% sure on this, as I study Cork Irish, where it is "a thigh bhig", but maybe in Standardised Irish it is "a theach bhig" or "a theach bheag"? This is because only 1st declension nouns slenderise for the vocative. Teach is a masculine noun, but is in the largely feminine 2nd declension. Bhig is correct, but I'm not sure you have to have it in the vocative, because if you see "teach beag" as a phrase noun, then the parts don't need to decline separately.

A aon dhuine: firstly, it would be "aon duine", as there is no lenition across the n-d boundary (the dentals-dots rule). Secondly, I'm not sure what this phrase is meant to mean. Goodnight, anyone? Oíche mhaith, gach uile dhuine? I don't think "gach" requires an "a".

There is nothing required between "a" and "aon", because in Irish the vowels are elided and "a aon", where it meant something would be pronounced just "aon".

There is a good book on Irish for use with babies and toddlers and it comes with CDs: https://www.litriocht.com/t%C3%A1irge/g ... eagan-nua/

Go raibh maith agat! I have Gaschaint as of a few weeks! We will be working our way through it over the next few years, is the plan! Love the idea.
Thanks for your input, lots of grammatical food for thought/areas to study

Oh sorry, in reply, "Oiche mhaith aon duine" was an attempt at translating "goodnight nobody", a weird and creepy line from the book!

I checked with a "non-standard" speaker from An Rinn and he said that sounds right to him as well as "a thigh bhig".