Cúpla Focal: A couple of Irish Gaelic words

Birmingham Irish • May 27, 2022

At Birmingham Irish, we feel that the beautiful language of Gaelic is an extraordinary gift that should be passed down from generation to generation with immense pride. This very reason is behind our language column, Cúpla Focal, meaning, a couple of Irish Gaelic words.

In our May column, we will be deepening our knowledge on how to tell the time.

To find out more about our Birmingham Irish Online Language classes, please email terri@birish.org.uk


Lesson 4 – Ceacht 4

Dia Daoibh – Hello everyone!


Last time we learnt numbers to twelve, how to ask someone the time and how to say what time it is on the hour.


Let’s take it a little further:


Go dtí: to

Tar éis: after


Ceathrú tar éis: quarter past

Ceathrú go dtí: quarter to

Leathuair tar éis: half past

Fiche nóiméad tar éis: twenty past

Fiche nóiméad go dtí: twenty to


So now you can say:


Tá sé ceathrú tar éis a dó: It’s quarter past two

Tá sé ceathrú go dtí a trí: It’s quarter to three

Tá sé leathuair tar éis a seacht: It’s half past seven


Here are a few more words connected with time:


Amárach: tomorrow

Inné: yesterday

Aréir: last night

Anuraidh: last year

inniu: today

tráthnóna: afternoon/evening

oíche: night

Lá: day

Meán oíche: midnight

Meánlae: midday


Next time we’ll look at the remainder of the times and introduce the days of the week.


Top tip: 

To check your pronunciation just go to Focal.ie and type in the word you want to pronounce. You can then choose the dialect you prefer and listen to the pronunciation!


Slan go fóill! Bye for now!

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