Hi again, a Chairde! I’m wondering if anyone knows how to properly pronounce “beadh” in the Ulster dialect. According to Wiktionary, it’s “betch” before sé, sí, and siad ... and (from my interpretation of the Irish IPA used) something like “beh-oo” in all other situations. I just wanna be 100% I’ve got that right ... GRMMA in advance for any tips!

Yes.
Bheadh sé /v´et´ sé/
Bheadh Pól /v´eu Po:l/

Thank you, Labhrás. I’m still a bit confuddled about the 2nd way, though. Does that mean the second example would sound like “veh{khh}” (as in Bach) ... cause I know that’s how it’s said elsewhere, but I thought Ulster would end in more of a “oo” sound. (Sorry. IPA confuses me. )

Oh, yes, sorry for the confusion. I made a mistake.
I intended to write v´eu but wrote v´ex instead (as it is in S. Connacht).

The only instance of this word in Sgéilíní na Finne is at https://www3.smo.uhi.ac.uk/oduibhin/sf/sceal10.htm, but it is said so quickly it is difficult to hear clearly, but seeing Labhrás' reply it accords with that.

Something you can do is to type this into Google search:



Then that searches Sgéilíní na Finne for bheadh. And then by changing the word you get other search results. Quite useful for Ulster.

In 'Gaeilge Uladh' in the 'An Teanga Bheo' series the pronunciation is represented as if the word were spelled 'bhéú' (two syllables). As often as not, though, it's pronounced like the English 'vow' - at least to my ear - and sometimes it's reduced to an indistinct schwah. I suppose it depends on individual speakers, how carefully they're enunciating and how fast they're speaking.

Check the "rannnafeirste.com" website. There are 50+ folktales and poems with text and sound files, so you can see and hear. All are native speakers. You can listen to the pronunciation of the many instances of 'bheadh' and 'mbeadh' and you'll see/hear what I mean.



Puh-leeze, Rosie...

Ah! Thanks, Labhrás! All clear now! . And thank you, Errigal and DJWebb2021! The info/resources ya’ll gave were super helpful to me. Everyone on here is SO nice!