You Have to Work at Irish a Bit!

Counting in Irish

Learning any language is never a piece of cake. It takes Motivation, Patience and Practice.

The Christian Brothers' Phonetics Guide is one place to start.

I started to learn Irish by counting.

First I used my fingers to count from 0 to 10. Next I used license plates.

There are different words used when counting people. I show both below.

Cardinal Num.	Sounds Like	Ordinal Num	Sounds Like
0 náid	(k)naw + j(et)	N/A	N/A
1 aon	(p)ain	1^st an chead	Hay-d
2 dó	dough(nut)	2^nd an dara	Dar(t) uh
3 trí	tree	3^rd an triú	True
4 cathair	ca(t) her	4^th an ceathrú	C- ah rue
5 cúig	coo(l) + wig	5^than cúigiú	Coo(l) goo
6 sé	sha(ve)	6^th an séu	Sha(ve)
7 séocht	Shocked	7^th an seachtú	Shocked who
8 ocht	oct(ave)	8^th an t-ochtú	Oct(ave) who
9 naoi	knee	9^than naoú	New
10 deich	dea(th)	10^than deichiú	Deck who

When counting, the word "a" pronounced "uh", is put before each number. So in counting you say "a dó" "a trí " etc. There are just 2 minor changes to mention. You don't say "a aon" for 1 but "a haon" pronounced hay-n and "a hocht" for 8 pronounced hocked.

I tried counting backwards and then by twos and finally at random backwards and forwards. I knew I had learned this lesson when Irish came automatically without my thinking of the english number first.

Aonar is used to indicate aloneness, ie. Tá sé ina aonar. He is in his aloneness. But to count people it's proper to say "aon duine ahmáin", "duine amháin" or simply "duine." Both aon and beirt lenite so it's aon chailín amháin and beirt chailín.

Counting People	Sounds Like	Example
Aonar**	Ain(t) are	Tá aon duine amháin anseo.
Beirt	Birch	Tá beirt leanbh sa clann.
Tríuir	Tree or	Bhí tríuir cailín ag an tsraid.
Ceathrar	Ca(t) her	Beith ceathrar.cailín ag an bhfeis.
Cúigear	Coo wig er	Chuaigh mé le cúigear cara.
Séisear	Sha(ve) shir(t)	Tagainn séisear duine ag armo dteacht.
Seachtar	Schocked (h)er	Tá seachtar scolaire sa rang.
Ochtar	(h)ocked her	Bhí ochtar fir sa drong bocht.
Naonúr	Knee newer	Tá naonúr mac ag Maire.
Deichniúr	Deck newer	Bhí deichniúr buacailli sa cluiche sport.
Aon...déag	Ain(t) Jake	Tá aon bhean déag sa chistin
Dáréag	Door rake	Tá dáréag fear ag féachaint ar an teilifis.

Background Tune: Mountains of Mourne

The personal numbers above 12 are treated like regular nouns so it's trí fhear déag, ceithre fhear déag etc.

Email: cyberspoke@aol.com