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.
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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: TThe 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. Cù Sìos: downward dogBeinn: mountaincraobh: treeLaoch a dhà: warrior 2dannsair: dancer |
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AuthorsCaroline has been involved with Gaelic for more than 18 years. She has degrees in Celtic Studies and Gaelic Medium Teaching. Archives
March 2021
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