And he's not going to learn much if we do his work for him.

He's been set a task by a teacher, which means that the teacher, at least, thinks he should have the tools to do this exercise. If he doesn't, and we do the work for him, he may get a good grade, but the teacher won't realize that he really isn't learning as quickly as he/she may think.

It takes more time, but is infinitely more helpful, to walk the student through the exercise rather than simply doing it for him.

Redwolf

Agreed.

I've added a note about this to the Forum Rules. Thanks, Rewolf.

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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).

Bríd, I've met ag vs. ar before - ar an Aifreann versus ag an Aifreann.

Would ag a hocht a chlog be Connemara Irish or more generally used?

Rike...what you're running into is a problem that all beginning language learners face: You're trying to think of how you would describe your day in your native language (I'm assuming English is your native language) and then translate that into Irish. The problem is, you're a beginner, and you're not capable of the same kind of sophisticated sentence structure in Irish (yet!).

I can also assure you that your teacher isn't expecting sophisticated sentence structure from you. He or she wants basic, present-tense, sentences that demonstrate that you know how to form present-tense verbs (and, most likely, that you know how to express time).

Rather than try to think in English and translate into Irish, try using what Irish you do know to form very simple, basic sentences. For example, do you know how to say:

I wake up.

I eat breakfast.

I go to school.

I eat lunch.

I go home.

I eat dinner.

I go to bed.

Etc.?

Start with those.

You can look the specific verbs up in the dictionary, and if you like, after that, we can give you input on how the present tense is formed.

Once you've got that sorted, ask yourself "do I know how to express time? Do I know how to say "at eight o'clock?" "In the morning?" "In the evening?" Hint: for things like "in the morning," look in the dictionary under "morning."

Once you've got that, you should be able to write such things as:

I wake up at 7:00 in the morning

I eat breakfast at 7:30

I go to school at 8:30

Etc.

That's pretty much what your teacher is looking for.

If you want, you can then flesh things out a bit. But don't try to do more than you're capable of doing with the Irish you already have. Your teacher isn't expecting you to be able to express things in Irish with the same ease and complexity that you do in English...not right now. He or she wants to see that you've mastered simple present-tense sentences.

Redwolf

I would say a slight variation of this, 'Éirím ag a hocht a chlog ar maidin.' I have never heard 'sa mhaidin' anywhere.

Edited to say that I hadn't realised there was a second page of stuff here!

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I don't know about generally. But "ag" is used a lot here.
Chuaigh sé ag an scoil/ag an (n)Aifreann.
And with time like above.

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It is recommended that you always wait for three to agree on a translation.
I speak Connemara Irish, and my input will often reflect that.
I will do an mp3 file on request for short translations.
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ar scoil, ar Aifreann....

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I remember Ó Siadhail saying (don't remember if it was in Learning Irish or in Modern Irish), that you guys use ag here because you shortened chuig down to just 'ig:

Chuaigh sé chuig an scoil -> Chuaigh sé 'ig an scoil.

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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

That is most likely the explanation.

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It is recommended that you always wait for three to agree on a translation.
I speak Connemara Irish, and my input will often reflect that.
I will do an mp3 file on request for short translations.
___________________________________________________________

Sa mhaidin vs. ar maidin: http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?la ... =ar+maidin

Ar maidin vs. ar mhaidin: http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?la ... ar+mhaidin

Ar maidin: 32800
Ar mhaidin: 621
Sa mhaidin: 579

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__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___