I know we use "ag" to express "having" something. But I'm drawing a blank on the following:

"It will be nice to have company on the long drive."

I suppose I could say something along the lines of "Beidh an comhluadar go deas ar an turas fada," but is there a way to express this with "have"?

I keep thinking I should know how to say this, and will probably say "d'oh!" as soon as someone answers...I must be having a senior moment.

Redwolf

Ba dheas an rud é comhluadar a bheith againn ar an turas fada.

But your version looks fine to me as well.

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Táim ag foghlaim fós. Fáilte roimh gach aon cheartúchán.

That or a bheith agam, as required.

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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).

GRMA

Off topic I know, but looking at this again, should it be: ar an dturas ?

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Táim ag foghlaim fós. Fáilte roimh gach aon cheartúchán.

Normally I'd say "ar an thuras," but that would violate Dentals.

Redwolf

I think ar an dturas is valid in some, if not all, Munster dialects. Perhaps An Lon Dubh can confirm or clarify?

Lenition (séimhiú) would be the norm in Ulster Irish in this position, i.e., after ar an, but as Redwolf says DNTLS overrides it.

Eclipsis (urú) would be the norm in this position in Connemara, but again DNTLS overrides it.

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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 know this is a bit off topic, but I think this might be why Redwolf had some issue with this construction. In most European languages there is linguistically only one sense of "having". So when you say "I'd like to have company on my trip" and "I have a car" we know that the two types of having are not the same but we are not really conscious of it as we speak. "I have a mom." vs "I have a book" is another example. Lots of languages do make distinctions between these types of possession. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inalienable_possession

Redwolf, I think this really shows you have a lot of experience at language learning because you instinctively felt this might be a situation where another language could express this concept differently.

So would I (in standard Irish) but the new Caighdeán specifies that an urú can be used in these circumstances.

... which is to account for the Munster usage.

(What Braoin has said also fits with what I stated above. To put it another way, urú only occurs after ar an in Connemara on words that don't start with d, n, t, l, or s.)

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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).