Irish phrasebook pronunciation guide · Pronunciation guide in Irish phrasebook
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Pronunciation guide in Irish phrasebook
Pronunciation guide in Irish phrasebook
There are three major dialects in Irish, named for the three provinces in the north (Ulster, major cities Derry and Belfast), west (Connacht, major city Galway) and south (Munster, major cities Cork, Limerick, Waterford) of the island. The eastern province, (Leinster, major cities Dublin, Kilkenny), no longer has its own distinct dialect. The Caighdeán Oifigiúl (kaigh-DAWN iffig-OOL, official standard) has been in place since the mid-20th century after spelling was 'regularised' (to an extent). This is the official Irish that appears in phrasebooks and in Government publications. It is largely the same as the Munster dialect, with a very few exceptions. There are great differences in pronunciation between the dialects, with Munster differing the most from the other two. For example 'tá go maith', 'yes indeed' is pronunced 'TAY guh MAIGH' in Ulster but 'TAW guh MAH' in Connacht and Munster. There are also differences in the phrases used in everyday speech. In the phrasebook below, the Munster phrase has been used except where indicated. The conjugation of verbs, too, differs from dialect to dialect. Munster uses a contracted form in the past and present first person and in the third person of all three tenses. For example 'tá mé' ('TAW MAY', I am) is 'táim' ('TAW'm') in Munster, and 'bhí mé' (VEE MAY, I was) is 'bhíos' (VEE-us) in Munster.
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Irish phrasebook Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.