Question- "Níl mé go dona"

Posy

I have only started learning Irish from a download of Buntus Cainte for my iPod and seen a phrase in it. The shopkeeper asks the woman in the dialogue how her son, who has been sick, is doing. The woman replies "Níl sé go dona anois, ar chor ar bith." It says it means "He's not to bad now, at all."
Could you use this ("Níl mé go dona anois, ar chor ar bith") as a response to "conas atá tú?" Or would it be gramatically incorrect?
I tried using it with a friend who speaks some Irish, but she said it doesn't sound right.. any ideas?

I'm looking for some alternatives to "ceart go leor" when asked how I am and was told "Níl mé go dona anois" is correct, but is "Níl mé go dona anois, ar chor ar bith" incorrect?

(PS- sorry for the long-winded question and any misuse of fadas- I'm only starting out!)

Krusader

You can use it probably without 'anois' though

Níl mé go dona ar chor ar bith - I'm not bad at all

Some alternatives

Tá mé go breá -I'm fine/grand
Tá mé togha - I'm excellent
Tá mé go measartha- I'm so-so
Airím go huafasach - I feel terrible
Ní airím go maith - I don't feel well
Tá mé go maith - I'm well/good
Níl mé ró-dhona - I'm not too bad

Posy

That's brilliant, thanks for those- I'll have to practice saying them now.
Is 'ró-dhona' pronounced like 'ró yuna' because of the 'h'?

Insect Overlord

"Ró -gunna" is how I'd pronounce it.

Krusader

more like 'guna'

dh at the start of words beside a broad vowel i.e. a,á,o,ó,u,ú has a kinda g sound

dh at the start of words beside a slender vowel i.e. i,í, e,é has a y sound

EDIT: Crossed with Insect Overlord

deirdremf

Posy wrote: »

That's brilliant, thanks for those- I'll have to practice saying them now.
Is 'ró-dhona' pronounced like 'ró yuna' because of the 'h'?

dh is pronounced like y before i and e.
Before and after a,o,u it has a different sound, like you were gargling.
gh is pronounced the same ways.
If you go to:
http://www.abair.tcd.ie/index.php?page=synthesis&lang=eng
you can get the sound. Just paste the text below into the box, and listen to all the dh and gh sounds!

Tá dhá ghúna nua ag mo ghrá!
dhún mé mo ghlaic.
níl mé ró dhona.
A Ghráinne, ar ghoid tú mo ghluaisteán?

faw1tytowers

ró dhona would be guna but gargle the G lol!

maith go leor - is the way we would say "not too bad" though translated by word means "good alot!"

Yes we do make things complicated :P

An gal gréine

Níl mé ró-dhona...níl caill orm.

Posy

God help anyone now who asks me 'conas atá tú?' I'll be waffling away for ages trying all my responses!

faw1tytowers

Cáil ar bith orm - not a bit wrong with me
lol!
watch ros na run its teh funniest way to learn irish. the subtitles are like an edited/clean version

An gal gréine

That's it, but just beware of the spelling of "caill".
You might sound like a modest actor from Ros na Rún if you use "cáil" which means "fame".

faw1tytowers

An gal gréine wrote: »

That's it, but just beware of the spelling of "caill".
You might sound like a modest actor from Ros na Rún if you use "cáil" which means "fame".

lol you know when i was writing that i had it in me head... i went and confused myself... and im bilingual!

Enkidu

Posy wrote: »

That's brilliant, thanks for those- I'll have to practice saying them now.
Is 'ró-dhona' pronounced like 'ró yuna' because of the 'h'?

dh and gh sound like a y before i and e.
Before o,a or u they make a different sound, called a "persian g" or the greeks call it gamma.

To pronounce gamma go to this page:
http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/ipa/consonants.html
And go to the "velar" column and the "fricative" row and click the second symbol on the right, it looks like a wierd y.
Although you'll probably be able to pick up the sound from Buntús Cainte if you listen to dh/gh words.

Just so you know in Irish every consonant makes one sound if it is before an i or e and another sound before a,o,u.

For example s sounds like sh in English before e and i and sounds like normal s before a,o,u.

This might sound complicated but it becomes very natural with a only a little practice.

Gael

Posy wrote: »

I tried using it with a friend who speaks some Irish, but she said it doesn't sound right.. any ideas?

Ní gearánta dom (Can't complain/no complaints) is probably a more colloquial way to say I'm not bad than Níl mé go dona. Níl mé go dona is grammatically correct in the strictest sense, but it's just not something that's said by native speakers in everyday Irish.

faw1tytowers

It all depends really on where your from and where you are going to speaking irish. I am native Conemara for eg. so what I would say and a dub or a kerryman or a donegal man might say would be completly different. Even with a basic Hello!