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How to say 'God bless you' in Irish

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  • 27-09-2014 4:52pm
    #1
    Ealasaid
    Registered Users Posts: 45 ✭


    Hi,

    Would 'God bless you' be written go mbeannaí Dia 'duit' or 'dhuit'?


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    #2
    Insect Overlord
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,859 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    Go mbeannaí Dia tú (usually pronounced "thú")


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    #3
    Ealasaid
    Registered Users Posts: 45 ✭Ealasaid


    Thanks. So what does 'duit' mean?


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    #4
    Insect Overlord
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,859 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    I found an interesting discussion about this on the old Daltaí archives.

    http://www.daltai.com/discus/messages/13510/13908.html?1119490984

    "Dia duit" is used for hello, but usually means "God be with you".

    The verb "beannaigh" means to bless. If you want to bless someone in particular, you use the personal preposition (mé, tú, sé/sí, sinn/muid, sibh, siad) for that person. Some verbs take other prepositions (le, do, ar, 7rl) but this one does not.

    Duit is the prepositional pronoun "do" in the second person singular ("you" in English), or "do" + "tú". The full list is dom, duit, dó, di, dúinn, daoibh, dóibh.


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    #5
    Gumbi
    Registered Users Posts: 4,698 ✭✭✭Gumbi


    An File wrote: »
    Go mbeannaí Dia tú (usually pronounced "thú")

    And written as "thú" too. Just "tú" is acceptable in the standard now. I would never write it though, as I would never say "tú" in this phrase, thus I don't see the point in conforming to the standard here!


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    #6
    Insect Overlord
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,859 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    Nobody likes the standard! :D


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    #7
    Gumbi
    Registered Users Posts: 4,698 ✭✭✭Gumbi


    An File wrote: »
    Nobody likes the standard! :D

    Haha, I'm not one of those vehemently anti standard ones but in some situations I definitely prefer the dialectal variants. I haven't ever hear someone say "tú" in go mbeannaí Dia thú" or similar phrase and so it bothers me to see it in print!


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    #8
    eezipc
    Closed Accounts Posts: 534 ✭✭✭eezipc


    I grew up in the Gaeltacht (Mayo) and we always say Go mbeannaí Dia dhuit.
    I never heard anyone say Go mbeannaí Dia thu.


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    #9
    P. Breathnach
    Registered Users Posts: 12,089 ✭✭✭✭P. Breathnach


    I'd say Bail ó Dhia ort or Beannacht Dé ort - the former more as a greeting or conversation opener, the latter more generally.


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    #10
    Snag Darach
    Registered Users Posts: 18 ✭Snag Darach


    And as a wee aside, if you are using "God bless you" as a reaction to a sneeze, it'd be Dia linn.


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    #11
    Ealasaid
    Registered Users Posts: 45 ✭Ealasaid


    Hi, OP here

    So 'Go mbeannaí Dia duit.' is God's blessing be with you rather than God bless you?

    I was asking would it be 'duit' or 'dhuit' as I live an area of Scotland where Gaelic (Gaidhlig) is widely spoken and here it would be 'Beannachd Dia dhuit' - Blessings of God be with you, so the Irish is similar.

    If you sneeze here it's Dia leat or Dia leibh!


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    #12
    An gal gréine
    Registered Users Posts: 941 ✭✭✭An gal gréine


    Ealasaid wrote: »
    Hi, OP here

    So 'Go mbeannaí Dia duit.' is God's blessing be with you rather than God bless you?

    I was asking would it be 'duit' or 'dhuit' as I live an area of Scotland where Gaelic (Gaidhlig) is widely spoken and here it would be 'Beannachd Dia dhuit' - Blessings of God be with you, so the Irish is similar.

    If you sneeze here it's Dia leat or Dia leibh!

    In Donegal it would be the same as Scotland for the sneeze.
    Dia leat is said to the person who has sneezed and he/she replies with Dia linn. In the rest of Ireland, as far as I hear, it is reversed.

    Like the tú/thú mentioned previously, Dia dhuit is what I hear spoken, and the standard has it as Dia duit.


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    #13
    Ealasaid
    Registered Users Posts: 45 ✭Ealasaid


    Here 'you' is thu (no fada) - pronounced 'hoo' or if plural or polite version it's 'sibh' pronounced 'sheev'.

    It would be interesting to know how different or how similar Irish is to Scottish Gaelic.


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    #14
    Rhedyn
    Registered Users Posts: 54 ✭✭Rhedyn


    Snag Darach wrote: »
    And as a wee aside, if you are using "God bless you" as a reaction to a sneeze, it'd be Dia linn.


    Dia linn(g) - in Connemara too. Or Dia linn is Muire (in particular for the second sneeze)


    For a cough people say - deiseal . Or even for a bout of sneezing, or choking.


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    #15
    AnLonDubh
    Registered Users Posts: 216 ✭✭AnLonDubh


    I always say:

    Beannachtaí na bhFlaitheas a Ghaela, cuireann sé áthas orm me a bheith anso libhse, i dtír ghaelach i measc na nGael. Is dócha ná raibh aon dream chomh gaelach ann ó bhí Éirinn fé smacht na rite* gaelacha ina dtithe gaelacha.

    *rite, leagan de 'ríthe' 'sea é (an leagan is gaelaí)


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