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Correct vs Socially correct

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  • 02-12-2010 1:11pm
    #1
    AWard
    Closed Accounts Posts: 61 ✭✭


    I know when you're learning a language you learn the "correct" words then you go out and use them and your listeners are holding their sides trying not to pee themselves from laughing.

    I think I have found something like this:

    "Táim go maith"

    Book: "I am well"

    Husband: "BWAHAHAHA....no....if you said it on the street it would read as 'I'm fine'...as in 'I'm hot' "

    Being as 1) I'm not "hot" and 2) I'm fine....what would be the real way to respond...? Is it dialect specific?


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    #2
    Micilin Muc
    Registered Users Posts: 2,842 ✭✭✭Micilin Muc


    AWard wrote: »
    I know when you're learning a language you learn the "correct" words then you go out and use them and your listeners are holding their sides trying not to pee themselves from laughing.

    I think I have found something like this:

    "Táim go maith"

    Book: "I am well"

    Husband: "BWAHAHAHA....no....if you said it on the street it would read as 'I'm fine'...as in 'I'm hot' "

    Being as 1) I'm not "hot" and 2) I'm fine....what would be the real way to respond...? Is it dialect specific?

    Táim go maith means I'm fine, as in I'm feeling well. I don't know where your husband got that from!


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    #3
    AWard
    Closed Accounts Posts: 61 ✭✭AWard


    He said he'd been listening to some podcast...I have no clue.

    Apparently, neither does he....:D

    Thank you....

    I was trying to figure if it was like Spanish where "Yo estoy cansado" vs "Estoy cansado" where both are correct but one is more colloquially correct than the other. I used to be fluent in Spanish so that's the language I had to "learn" that's establishing the structure to learn Gaeilge.


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    #4
    dlofnep
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,759 ✭✭✭✭dlofnep


    Táim go maith is correct. You can also use Táim go brea. (I'm grand).. Or Nílim ró-dona (I'm not too bad)


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    #5
    AWard
    Closed Accounts Posts: 61 ✭✭AWard


    dlofnep wrote: »
    Táim go maith is correct. You can also use Táim go brea. (I'm grand).. Or Nílim ró-dona (I'm not too bad)


    Well, running that through the translator was interesting:

    "Neelim rodashdohnuh" LOL

    OK, do how is the "dash" dealt with in Gaeilge? This throws a bit of a monkey wrench into the whole learning thing for me....


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    #6
    Krusader
    Registered Users Posts: 4,057 ✭✭✭Krusader


    Fleiscín an t-ainm atá air
    It's not pronounced if that what you mean

    When using 'ró' its only used before vowels of the next word
    e.g. ró-óg - too young

    A t- is put before masculine nouns in the nominative case when used with the definite article
    e.g. an t-ainm - the name, an t-am - the time

    after certain intensifiers
    e.g. dea-obair - good work


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    #7
    AWard
    Closed Accounts Posts: 61 ✭✭AWard


    Crosáidí wrote: »
    Fleiscín an t-ainm atá air
    It's not pronounced if that what you mean

    When using 'ró' its only used before vowels of the next word
    e.g. ró-óg - too young

    A t- is put before masculine nouns in the nominative case when used with the definite article
    e.g. an t-ainm - the name, an t-am - the time

    after certain intensifiers
    e.g. dea-obair - good work

    I figured it wasn't pronounced, but I was wondering what its presence did to pronunciation...was it a pause, lengthening of a sound....etc

    So it is used to separate two vowels in words that are grammatically linked?

    Nominative tense, new thing to learn. Sorry, guys, I'm about as sharp as a bowling ball in some areas...


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    #8
    Krusader
    Registered Users Posts: 4,057 ✭✭✭Krusader


    AWard wrote: »
    I figured it wasn't pronounced, but I was wondering what its presence did to pronunciation...was it a pause, lengthening of a sound....etc

    So it is used to separate two vowels in words that are grammatically linked?

    Nominative tense, new thing to learn. Sorry, guys, I'm about as sharp as a bowling ball in some areas...

    Yes basically

    the nominative case is the basic form of a noun, what you'll find in the dictionary


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    #9
    Focalbhach
    Registered Users Posts: 459 ✭✭Focalbhach


    AWard wrote: »
    I figured it wasn't pronounced, but I was wondering what its presence did to pronunciation...was it a pause, lengthening of a sound....etc

    So it is used to separate two vowels in words that are grammatically linked?

    Where two vowels are coming together (as in 'dea-obair' or 'ró-óg' above), it separates them in the same way that the diaeresis (i.e., the dots :)) does in 'naïve'.

    In the case of 't-ainm' above, the word would be pronounced as if the T is a normal part of it (i.e., sounds like 'tainm'). It just aids clarity in written form to show the root word ('ainm') separately from the modifer (e.g., 't-').


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