There are some very basic things that can throw beginners for a loop, most notably the verbs: They don't conjugate, they don't even seem to want to have anything to do with the subject of the sentence and there they are at the very beginning of the sentence! However most people adjust to this in a short amount of time. The fact that they tell you what kind of sentence it is going to be becomes a really great thing.

But then comes a sentence like '' Tha geansaidh gorm air mo mhac.'' and somebody is wanting you to tell them what that would be in English (or Spanish or French) and even though you could draw a picture, your brain gets all tangled up going from one language to another. 
Here is why: They subject and the object are switching places. 

Tha (verb) geansaidh gorm (subjec) air (preposition) mo mhac ( object)  vs
My son (subject) has (verb) a blue sweater(jumper) (object) on(preposition)

As you can see the sweater is the subject in Gaelic but the object in English. Whereas my son is the subject in English but the object in Gaelic. 

This also happens every time you talk about people having stuff in Gaelic. 

Tha taigh agam = tha (verb) taigh (subject) agam (object)
I have a house = I (subject) have (verb) a house ( object) 

So not only are the parts of the sentence in a different order, just due to language differences, but the nouns are being used differently as different parts of speech.

One way around this is to 'see' the whole sentence as an image. You imagine your son in a blue sweater and that image is the meaning for both sentences. In this way you learn the whole sentence as a unit. This works really  well for visual thinkers but doesn't work for everyone. 

Another way is to keep in mind a kind of weird intermediary of what the Gaelic would be literally in English. So, Is a sweater blue on my son.  This is can be especially helpful when you are going from your primary language to Gaelic. It isn't something that you want to be doing mid conversation though as that extra step does slow things down.
A good thing to do is just get lots of practice with these types of sentences because the more your brain sees the patterns that Gaelic is using to convey that information the less strange it seems and more easily it will take you smoothly between the two ways of saying it. 

Keep practicing, keep asking questions and have as much fun as possible!

Reading big numbers can be very daunting especially in a language you are learning. However if you break it down it can be very manageable. Check out our youtube video for some pointers on how to read big numbers in Gaelic.

The trick is to remember those place value lessons you had in elementary/primary school. 

We have been talking about some of the stronger characters in the Gaelic alphabet, this week we are going to look a weaker character; the letter F. 
F only makes one sound regardless of whether it is broad or slender and that is the F sound we are used to in English. 
When it is lenited is looses all its sound, it just gives up and makes no sound at all. 
And, it will lenite at the drop of a had. Really f will lenite when no other letter will. 
Any word that has a lenited F in the front of it should be treated as if it begins with the letter that follows the lenited F. 
For feminine nouns that begin with F the definite article would like to be a' +lenition but when F lenites and the sound goes away that doesn't work anymore because you end up with two vowel sounds together, so the article changes to an + lenition. 

We have been talking about some of the strong characters in the Gaelic alphabet and S is another one of these. Though not as strong a lenition resister S will resist lenition is some cases and she is often grouped with T and D. She also will not lenite when she is hanging out with G,P,T (sg,sp,st). When she does lenite she makes a H sound. When combined with the definite article an t- her sound will be overridden by T and he will be broad or slender in relation to the vowel on the other side of the S. When broad she makes the normal S sound and when slender she makes the SH sound.  
​There is also a tendency in Gaelic to do pairs of words with opposite meanings where the words sound the same but one starts with S and the other with D.
​for example: saor=free/inexpensive  daor=expensive

As we mentioned last week D is the best friend of T. D is quite a complex character. He hangs out with T when broad but ventures off on his own to make a "J" sound when slender. Like T he is resistant to lenition but when he does he has a different best friend, G. In fact dh and gh make the same sounds both when broad and slender. When broad they make a sound that English it is as if a 'g' were made in the very back of the throat. When slender they act like an English 'y', like the 'y' in yellow  at the beginning of a word, like the 'y' in monkey at the end. "idh' as a word ending is more common than 'igh' and is used for borrow words that end in the 'ee' sound and as the ending of independent (positive statement) verbs in the future tense.  

Whether you have just begun to learn Gaelic or have been learning for a while, you will have noticed that the Gaelic alphabet works quite differently to the English (or  almost any other) alphabet. 
I like to think of the letters as people with their own personalities. Once you get to know them you can predict how they are going to behave in different situations.
​So with that in mind let me introduce you to a few interesting people:

The letter T has a strong personality, you might even say stubborn. It wants its voice heard so it will resist lenition where possible. When it does lenite it makes an 'H' sound.
 It likes to hang out with its best friend D. They are good friends and make sounds that are closer to each other than the English sounds.
When it gets around the slender vowels it makes a 'ch' sound. 

One of the best way to go from a Gaelic learner to a Gaelic speaker is to use Gaelic in your everyday life. With yoga becoming very popular all over the world, it can be a great way to use Gaelic as well as being good for your health.
Here are Gaelic names for 5 easy yoga poses.

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faireachdainn (f) = emotions, feeling / émotion, sentiment
faireachdainnean (pl) = emotions, feelings / émotions, sentiments

Tha mi toilichte = I am happy / Je suis heureux
Tha mi brònach = I am sad / Je suis triste
Tha an t-eagal orm = I am scared / J'ai peur
Tha mi feargach = I am angry / Je suis en colère

to go further...
pour aller plus loin...

Tha mi moiteil (à/às) = I am proud (of) / Je suis fier (de)
Tha mi air mo dhòigh = I am pleased / Je suis ravi
Tha mi claoidhte = I am exhausted / Je suis exténué
Tha mi fo spàirn = I am stressed / Je suis stressé
Tha iongnadh orm = I am surprised / Je suis surpris
Tha mi air bhioran = I am excited / Je suis surexcité, enthousiaste
Tha mi coma = I don't care / Ça m'est égal
Tha mi nam ghlòraidh = I am in my element / Je suis dans mon élément

Agus ciamar a tha thu fhèin a' faireachdainn an-dràsta?





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an cur seachad (m) = the hobby / le hobby
na cur-seachadan = the hobbies / les hobbies

A bheil cur-seachad agad? = Do you have a hobby? / Est-ce que tu as un hobby?
Dè na cur-seachadan a th' agad? = What are your hobbies? / Quels sont tes hobbies?

Bidh mi a' leughadh = I read / Je lis
Bidh mi a' fighe = I knit / Je tricote
Bidh mi ag èiteachd ri ceòl = I listen to music / J'écoute de la musique
Bidh mi ag ionnsachadh Gàidhlig = I learn Gaelic / J'apprends le gaélique
Bidh mi a' rothaireachd = I cycle / Je fais du vélo
Bidh mi a' snàmh = I swim / Je nage
Bidh mi a' coimhead air an TBh = I watch TV / Je regarde la TV
Bidh mi a' peantadh = I paint / Je peins
Bidh mi a' seinn = I sing / Je chante
Bidh mi a' cluich ball-coise = I play football / Je joue au football
Bidh mi a' cluich giotàr = I play the guitar / Je joue de la guitare
Bidh mi a' gàrradaireachd = I garden / Je jardine

Gach latha = every day / chaque jour
Gach seachdain = every week / chaque semaine
Gach Diluain = every Monday / tous les lundis
Gu tric = often / souvent

Did you notice that to talk about hobbies, we used "Bidh" the future tense of "tha" (verb to be)? It is because in Gaelic, the future tense is also used to talk about habbits or things that one does regularly. Compare these sentences:
As-tu remarqué que pour parler des hobbies, nous avons utilisé "Bidh" le futur de "tha" (verbe être)? C'est parce qu'en gaélique, le futur est aussi utilisé pour parler des habitudes, des choses que l'on fait régulièrement. Compare ces phrases:

• Tha mi a' leughadh = I am reading (right now!) / Je suis en train de lire
• Bidh mi a' leughadh = I (usually) read / Je lis (en parlant d'une habitude)
• Bidh mi a' seinn gach latha = I read everyday / Je lis chaque jour

Agus dè na cur-seachadan a th' agad fhèin?