Hello,

Could I get some feedback from you?

I'd like to get a tattoo on my forearm as a tribute to my son and my late father.

The words in English are "A son is the treasure in a lucky father's heart."

Does "Is é an mac an taisce i gcroí a athar ádhúil." look like a good translation?

I got some help with it from someone who sounds really knowledgeable.

The ink'll be VERY permanent so I'm triple checking.

Thanks much.

What you have literally means "The son is the treasure in his lucky father's heart [in the heart of his lucky father]", but the first part is actually correct in Irish, because the usage of the word "the" ["an"] in Irish can often be the reverse of the English usage (i.e., it may be used in Irish where it would not be in English, and may not be used in Irish where it would be in English). In this case, I think it would sound more natural to keep that first use of "an" ["the"] but drop the second one (reversing the English approach).

You didn't have "his" in your English version, so you should also drop the "a" before the word athar (unless you'd rather go with "his father's heart" after all), with this being the net result:
Is é an mac taisce i gcroí athar ádhúil
"[A] son is the treasure in a lucky father's heart"

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

I don't know the difference between ádhúil and ámharach - no info on that, I'm afraid - other than to say ádhúil is difficult to pronounce. Can you have:

is é an mac taisce chroí don athair ámharach

I think it has to be either: Is é an mac an taisce...
or: Is taisce...é an mac




Similarly, I think it should be Is taisce chroí don athar ámharach é an mac

Thanks to you both VERY much.

This is exactly the final confirmation touch I was hoping for.

Really appreciate your help.

Cheers!!

I agree - but I had in mind the Pulse of My Heart thread - where people wanted the subject and the predicate switched round in the Irish. The syntax of the copula is : Verb Predicate Subject, and so to say "the son is the X" , it should be is é X an mac in Irish - but thinking on the Pulse of the Heart thread, it is possible to think that the English has it wrong, and that the the *logical* predicate here is "son" - even though in English the *grammatical* predicate is "treasure". Looking at the logic of the meaning - possiblly the real meaning is: the treasure in the lucky father's heart is.... his son.

I am wondering if: taisce chroí don athair ámharach - should be interpreted as a definite phrase. or whether the whole thing needs an article: an taisce chroí don athair ámharach. I'm not sure - just raising the possibility.

I do REALLY like "the treasure in the lucky father's heart is.... his son."

Would it grammatically still work with "The treasure in a lucky Father's heart is his Son."?

Using "a Father" in place of "the Father"?

Am I understanding right that:

"Is taisce chroí don athar ámharach é an mac"


Translates to:

"The treasure in a lucky Father's heart is his Son?"

I’ve had some much appreciated help on a tattoo translation and hoping to make things final for my appointment this Saturday. I’ve been working on the words, design, fonts, etc. for a few months now and grateful to all who’ve helped me so far and especially for any confirmation.

What I have right now is:

Is é an mac taisce i gcroí athar ádhúil

As a literal translation of:

[A] son is the treasure in a lucky father's heart


Any thoughts on whether “Is é an mac taisce i gcroí athar ádhúil.” is good to go?

I recommend you to get the 1961 version of Teach Yourself Irish, and work your way through gradually. Don't skip the exercises.