Hi there!

I have been directed to your wonderful forum from a facebook group I have recently joined. I have a pressing translation question for a tattoo I really feel I need to get.

After a very trying year, I want a simple tattoo to have a constant visual reminder of the motivation behind all I am striving for: my children.

I simply want the Irish wording for the phrase "For them". All my inquiries have directed me to the word "Dóibh", but I was wanting to verify if that is appropriate to use as a stand alone sentence, or if there would be a better alternative?

If it is not grammatically sound to use that word, an expanded option would also be welcomed, such as "All/everything for them", or any other nice way of saying that they are the reason I do all I do

Any guidance would be so appreciated!

Thank you so much!

Rach

Perhaps - ar mhaithe le mo pháistí - or ar son mo pháistí/chlann, but wait for confirmation from the others. (I'm proud of my children is - Tá bród orm as mo chlann - if you wanted to say that)

I like the ar son one better. But would you need to use cuid here?

I don't think so. That sounds strange ("my part of the children" - useful in a blended family, b’fhéidir )

Déarfainn:
mo pháistí, mo mhic, m’iníonacha, mo dheartháireacha, mo dheirfiúracha, mo chol ceathracha, etc.

Yeah. It does sound strange like that. But I remember hearing my teacher at the immersion program using cuid for pretty much anything plural, even things like mo chuid súile

Ulster Irish, I'd guess?
Yes, perhaps in Ulster Irish, but even there …

I could find only one example in Tobar na Gaedhilge for "mo chuid páistí":
Seaghán 'ac Meanman: Crann an Eolais, IV An Bláth
Ní dhallfaidh Sorcha Éamoinn Mhóir an doras seo go deo
mar leas-mháthair ós cionn mo chuid páistí-sa"

but there are 24 examples by Ulster authors for "mo pháistí" (including 4 by Seaghán 'ac Meanman)
e.g.: Seaghán 'ac Meanman: Crathadh an Phocáin
Ní — dhallfaidh — Sorcha — Éamoinn — Mhóir — an — doras
— seo — go deo — mar — leas-mháthair — ós — cionn — mo —
pháistí — bocht-sa!

This was Connacht, actually. We'll just have to wait for Bríd I guess. But I'd lean towards páistí at this point.

Thank you so much for your replies!

Just wondering if there is actually any way to say simply "For them" though? It's a bit of a personal mantra I suppose you could say

For them, for them, for them

Simply saying - for them - without any context - I'm not sure that that would mean very much on its own, especially when you think that these prepositions could be referring to things just as well as they could be to people. Nouns in Irish (as in French and in many other languages) have genders - that means to say they can be either masculine or feminine, so the prepositions you use (in the singular, for example) have to agree with them. I'm not a native speaker, so that's my idea on it for what it's worth, anyway. What I gave you means - for the good of my children/for the sake of my children.

I'd say "Mo chlann" - my family.


Dóibh - for them ... I think it is a bit ambiguous to use the word on it's own like that. And anyhow as a standalone word I'd prefer "dóibhsan", wait for others to comment on that.