Irish-Language

Doesn't tempus fugit when you're learning the time in Irish

<em><span style="font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; ">AN CLOG: You need to know the time whether it is arranging a date or heading to an important meeting with the boss</span></em>
AN CLOG: You need to know the time whether it is arranging a date or heading to an important meeting with the boss AN CLOG: You need to know the time whether it is arranging a date or heading to an important meeting with the boss

Go mbeannaí Dia daoibh agus bhur gcéad fáilte isteach The Bluffer’s Guide to Irish. 

Now that the kids are back at school, you now have loads of time to relax, pamper yourself, get your nails done, go for a massage and so on.  Aye, dead on. 

To say what you do every day you will need to learn na huimhreacha - the numbers in Irish and many of you will know these anyway but here goes: a haon - one; a dó - two; a trí - three; a ceathair - four; a cúig - five; a sé - six; a seacht - seven; a hocht - eight; a naoi - nine; a deich - ten; a haon déag - eleven and a dó dhéag - twelve. 

Now, to ask someone what time it is you would say cad é an t-am? or cad é an t-am atá sé? - what time is it. 

Then comes the bad news that it’s time to get up or the good news that there is time for one more pint before closing time. 

You now know the numbers and if you put tá sé before one of the numbers and a chlog after them, then you can tell the time. 

Tá sé a haon a chlog - it is one o’clock; tá sé a dó a chlog - it’s two o’clock and so on. Easy peasy. Try them out from one to twelve. 

But of course not everything happens on the hour - apart from the news on TV and radio. 

So another important phrase you will need to know is i ndiaidh - past. So again, take a number like a cúig add i ndiaidh and another number and you have five past... Tá sé cúig i ndiaidh a deich - it’s five past ten; Tá sé cúig i ndiaidh a cúig - it’s five past five and so on. Deich i ndiaidh - I bet you’ve guessed this already - is ten past and the next one up is ceathrú i ndiaidh - a quarter past. 

As well as telling the time you could say things like níl se ceathrú i ndiaidh go fóill - it’s not a quarter past yet when your boss it melting your head over a deadline. 

Fiche is twenty and fiche a cúig is twenty-five and then we get to leath i ndiaidh - half past. 

So, can you work out how to say it’s half four? Yep, tá sé leath i ndiaidh a ceathair.

Now we’ve arrived at go dtí - to, but the numbers and the structure says the same. Tá sé fiche go dtí a naoi - it’s twenty to nine. Beidh sé ceathrú go dtí a haon déag - it will be a quarter to eleven and so on. 

So that is how you tell the time in Irish. Next week, we’ll look at the things you do on a regular basis, things like getting up, brushing your teeth, doing the lottery or taking the dog for a walk. 

Knowing the time will help you arrange dates be it with the object of your desires or a dole clerk, these are appointments you need to keep. So, until next week at whatever times suits you, ádh mór.

CÚPLA FOCAL

a haon (a hane) - one; a dó (a daw) - two; a trí (a chree) - three; a ceathair (a kehir) - four; a cúig (a cooig) - five; a sé (a shay) - six; a seacht (a shakht) - seven; a hocht (a hokht) - eight; a naoi (a nee) - nine; a deich (a jayh) - ten; a haon déag (a hane jayg) - eleven a dó dhéag (a daw yayg) - twelve 

cad é an t-am atá sé? (cadge ay un tam ataa shay) - what time is it? 

tá sé a haon a chlog (taa shay a hane a khlug) - it is one o’clock; 

tá sé a dó a chlog (taa shay a daw a khlug) - it’s two o’clock

i ndiaidh(i nyay) - past 

tá sé cúig i ndiaidh a deich (taa shay cooig i nyay a jeh) - it’s five past ten

tá sé cúig i ndiaidh a cúig (taa shay cooig i nyay a cooig) - it’s five past five 

deich i ndiaidh (jeh i nyay) - ten past 

ceathrú i ndiaidh (kehroo i nyay) - a quarter past 

níl sé ceathrú i ndiaidh go fóill (neel shay kehroo i nyay gaw foyle) - it’s not a quarter past yet 

fiche (feeha) - twenty

fiche a cúig (feeha a cooig) - twenty-five 

leath i ndiaidh (leh i nyay) - half past 

tá sé leath i ndiaidh a ceathair (taa shay leh i nyay a kehir) - it’s half past four 

go dtí (ge’ jee) - to 

tá sé fiche go dtí a naoi (taa shay feeha gaw jee a nee) - it’s twenty to nine; 

beidh sé ceathrú go dtí a haon déag (bay shay kehru ge’ jee  a hane ) - it will be a quarter to eleven