Cúpla Focal: A couple of Irish Gaelic words

Birmingham Irish • October 29, 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.

IFáilte ar ais a chairde! Welcome back friends!


Hopefully everyone had a wonderful Summer so let’s see if we can talk a little about it. (Do look back at July’s lesson where we were introduced to some holiday conversation!)


An raibh tú ar saoire i mbliana? - Were you on holiday this year?

Bhí (I was)

Bhí mé sa Spáinn (I was in Spain)

Ní raibh fós (I wasn’t – yet!)

Tá mé ag dul go Ceanada an mhí seo chugainn (I am going to Canada next month)


Cé a chuaigh leat? (Who went with you?)

Bhí mo dhearthair liom (My brother was with me)

Chuaigh mé i m’aonar (I went alone)

Mo chairde Seán agus Mairéad (My friends John and Margaret)


The word for accommodation is lóistín.


Cén cineál lóistín a bhí agat? (What kind of accommodation did you have?)


Lóistín leaba agus bricfeasta (bed and breakfast)

Lóistín iomlán (full board)

Lóistín féinfhreastail (self-catering)


Conas a bhí an aimsir? (How was the weather?)


Bhí sé réasúnta (It was seasonable)

Bhí sé go hálainn (It was beautiful)

Bhí sé te (It was hot)

Bhí sé an-te (It was very hot)

Bhí sé róthe It was too hot)

Bhí sé meirbh (It was humid)

Bhí sé fliuch (It was wet)

Bhí sé fuar in amanna (It was cold at times)


So there we used the past tense mainly. Note the most common verb in the past tense, Bhí.

Bhí mé (sounds like: vee may – I was)

raibh mé (I wasn’t. The denotes the negative)


Bhí mé - I was

Bhí tú – you were

Bhí sé – he/it was

Bhí sí – she was


We hope you are enjoying these few words of Irish, we would love to hear your feedback! Please get in touch by emailing jennifer@birish.org.uk and let us know if you have any suggestions. More grammar? More vocabulary?


Feicfidh mé sibh go luath – see you soon!

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