1

Oisín i dTír na nÓg

Background
This story has some dif culties.

The type of Irish written here is somewhat archaic, some of the

grammar and vocabulary is from an older type of Irish called Classical Gaelic
which was used in Ireland and Scotland. This is similar to Shakespeare’s
English, it is what the lawyers of Brehon law used to write legal documents
and what the bards used to write poems. Classical Gaelic fell out of use after
the English invasion of Ireland when the Irish nobles no longer had any power
and the society of Gaelic Ireland started to collapse. There are also traits of
Donegal Irish in the story in places

This story is also béaloideas (=folklore) and has features of that style of
oral literature. Common features are repetition, tautology and hyperbole. I’ll
explain these things where they appear.

I’ll have footnotes explaining any words or grammar that might be tricky,
I’ll try not to go into too much detail. You can nd most of the vocab on
teanglann.ie but I’ll explain words that might trip you up, if I explained the
meaning word it’d be 100 pages loong. I have extra notes for information that
isn’t required but might be helpful. If you have any questions or still don’t quite
get something you can of course ask me.
fi
fi
2
Text
Bhí trí chéad1 fear ag baint chloch2 i nGleann na Smól3, gleann
aoibhinn seilge na Féinne. Bhí bruíon acu crom4 istigh faoi leac mhór agus
gan dul5 acu a tógáil6. Luigh sí anuas orthu7 go raibh siad á gcloí aici, agus
cuid acu ag titim i laige8. Chonaic siad chucu sa ghleann an fear mór álainn
ar each bhán9. Chuaigh duine de na maoir ina araicis10.

- ‘A ríghaiscigh óig11,’ ar seisean,’Tabhair tarrtháil ar mo bhuíon, nó ní

bheidh aon duine acu beo.’ 12

- ‘Is náireach le rá é nach dtig13 le neart bhur slua an leac sin a thógáil,’
arsa an marcach. ‘Dá mairfeadh Oscar chuirfeadh sé d’urchar í thar
mhullach bhur gcinn.’ 14

1 words after trí are usually singular and take séimhiú (aka lenition), ie a H is put after rst letter of
the word. This applies to all numbers 2-6.

After céad you use the singular.

2 ag baint chloch = taking rocks out of the ground (mining). See extra notes 1 for more info.

3 Glenasmole in Co. Dublin.

4 bent down, stooped over

5 = they couldn’t …, there was no way they could …

6 normally this would be í a thógáil, this way of phrasing is. Extra notes 2.
7 it laid down on them = they realised

8ag titim i X this is a very common way of saying becoming X. In Irish you need to use the noun
version, so its laige (weakness) and not lag (weak). ag titim in aois = becoming old (falling into
oldness/age),
9 each is sorta just a ‘fancy’ way of saying horse (capall). each is a masculine noun so usually an
adjective after it would not get séimhiú but here it is after ar (on) so it is what used to be called
‘dative case’, this is an example of archaic grammar.
10 dul in araicis duine go/approach to meet somebody. Extra notes 3.
11 This is called the vocative case, like ‘o amazing young warrior!’, it is used to address someone.
In the vocative, you put séimhiú and make the last consonant slender.
12 nó ní = otherwise, so ‘give my company some help (lit: deliverance) otherwise none will be alive
(they’ll all die)’
13is náireach le rá é = it’s shameful/a shame to say

nach dtig le = that they can’t. using teacht le is more of an Ulster/Mayo thing
14 see extra notes 4 for the di erence between má and dá.

If Oscar (Fionn mac Cumhaill’s grandson) were alive, he’d shoot is past the tops of yere heads.
ff
fi
 3
Luigh sé anonn ar a chliathán deas15 agus rug ar an leac ina lámh. Le
neart agus le lúth a ghéag16 chuir sé seacht bpéirse17 as a háit í.

Bhris giorta an eich bháin le meáchan an urchair18, agus sular

mhothaigh an gascíoch bhí se ina sheasamh ar a dhá bhonn ar thalamh na
hÉireann. D’imigh an t-each bán chun19 scaoill air agus fágadh é féin ina
sheanduine bhocht dhall20 i measc an tslua i nGleann na Smól.

Tugadh i láthair Phádraig Naofa é21 sa chill. B’iontach le gach uile

dhuine an seanóir críon liath a bhí os méid gach r agus an rud a tharla dó.

- ‘Cé thú féin, a sheanóir bhoicht?’22 arsa Pádraig.

- ‘Is mé Oisín i ndiaidh na Féinne,’ ar seisean. ‘Chaill mé mo dheilbh

agus mo ghnúis23. Tá mé i mo sheanóir bocht dall, gan bhrí, gan
mheabhair, gan aird.’

15 =He lay down on his right side. deas means nice/pretty but also means right (opposite of left),
this is just like English.
16 géag (plural géaga) usually means branch but can be used to for a person’s arms and legs too,
=with agility of his limbs.
17 =perch, some kind of old measurement of distance, 5 and a half yards

18 =the saddle girth of the white steed broke under/with the weight of the launching.

19 chun is followed by the genitive, so scaoll becomes scaoill.

20 same story as 9, seanduine is masculine but since we are using a preposition here we follow
the older grammar rules of the style and say bhocht dhall and not the expected bocht dall.
Another thing to note is that you don’t need to put agus between adjectives, seanduine bocht
dall is ne and means a blind old man.
21 See extra notes 4

22 Vocative case again, like 11. For the most part, a vocative adjective is changed the same way
as a vocative noun. See extra notes 5 for more info on the vocative.
23 =I’ve lost my shape/ gure and face, talking about how he was handsome when he was younger
fi
fi
fi
4
- ‘Beannacht ort, a Oisín uasail,’ arsa Pádraig. ‘Ná bíodh gruaim ort fá24
bheith dall, aithris dúinn cad é mar a mhair tú i ndiaidh na Féinne.’

- ‘Ní hé mo bheith dall is measa liom,’25 arsa Oisín ‘ach mo bheith beo i
ndiaidh Oscair agus Fhinn. Inseoidh mé mo scéal daoibh, cé gur doiligh
liom é.’

Ansin shuigh Oisín i bh anaise Phádraig agus na cléire gur26 inis sé a

scéal ar Thír na nÓg agus ar Niamh Chinn Óir a mheall ón Fhiann é.

Maidin cheo i ndiaidh Chath Ghabhra bhí fuílleach27 áir na Féinne ag

seilg fá Loch Léin. Níorbh fhada go28 bhfaca siad aniar chucu ar each bhán
an marcach mná ab áille gnaoi29 30. Rinne siad dearmad den tseilg le hiontas
inti. Bhí coróin ríoga ar a ceann, agus brat donn síoda a bhí buailte le réalta
dearg-óir á cumhdach go sáil31. Bhí a gruaig ina duala buí óir ar sileadh léi
agus a gormshúile mar dhrúcht ar bharr an fhéir32.

fá = faoi. These days fá is almost exclusively found in Donegal with faoi in Connacht and fé in
24

Munster. In the times of Classical Gaelic, fá was the most common.

25 ní hé mo bheith dall is measa liom, it’s not being blind I am most concerned about/I think is
worse. extra notes 6.

nowadays you’d say a bheith dall (being blind) rather than mo bheith dall (my being blind) which
is a bit more dated/traditional.
26 go (gur here because it’s past tense) can also mean ‘until’ or ‘to do something’, he sat until he
told the story/he sat to tell the story.
27fuílleach usually means ‘a good amount of something’ but in this phrase fuílleach áir it means
survivers or a battle/slaughter.
28 Remember that go also means until, = ‘it wasn’t long til they saw …’
29 =beauty, speci cally the appearance of the face when pleased. áilleacht mainly refers to
women whereas gnaoi can refer to both.
30 this sentence is a bit tricky so I’ve covered it in extra notes 7.

31=to ankle, ‘she was covered down to her ankles with a brown silk cloak with star studs of pure
gold’
32=‘her hair was in golden-blond locks (usually it’s duail) trickling/running down her and her deep
blue eyes like dew at the top of the grass’.
fi
fi
5
- ‘Cé thú féin, a ríon óg is fearr maise is gnaoi33?’ arsa Fionn.

- ‘Niamh Chinn Óir is ainm domh34,’ ar sise,’agus is mé iníon Rí na

nÓg.’

- ‘An é do chéile a d’imigh uait, nó cad é an buaireamh35 a thug an fad

seo thú?’ arsa Fionn.

- ‘Ní hé mo chéile a d’imigh uaim agus níor luadh go fóill le fear mé,’ ar
sise. ‘Ach, a Rí na Féinne, tháinig mé le grá do do mhac féin, Oisín
meanmnach na dtréanlámh36.’

- ‘A iníon óg,’ arsa Fionn, ‘cad é mar a thug tú grá do mo mhacsa thar fhir
bhreátha an tsaoil?’ 37

- ‘Thug mé grá éagmaise38 dó as an méid a chuala mé i dTír na nÓg

fána phearsa agus fána mhéin,’ arsa Niamh.

- Chuaigh Oisín é féin ina láthair ansin agus rug greim láimhe39 uirthi.

33maise=beauty of appearance. Since maise is actually a noun, to say ‘most maise’ you use is
fearr.
34domh on its own is sort of Ulster-y, sort of archaic, domh-sa is a bit more common. Both are
widespead in Scotland and Isle of Man. The more common words are dom and domsa.
35 buaireamh = Sorrow, commonly the sorrow from a particular event
36 na dtréanlámh = of the strong hands, another classicalism. this would be na lámh láidir/tréan
in the language of today.
37=how did you love (lit: give love to) my son more than (lit: above) the ne men of the world?
cad é mar is an Donegal phrase, another example of that dialect in this story. Each dialect has its
own set of question words which are di erent from each other. The Connacht equivalent is cén
chaoi (ce’ chaoi) and for Munster its conas.
38Not quite ‘unrequited love’ as the book says. grá éagmaise is love in absence, loving someone
you haven’t seen. the actual term for unrequited love is grá gan chúiteamh (lit: love without
compensation).
39 greim láimhe =grasp of the hand, ~he caught hold of her with his hands
ff
fi
 6

- ‘Fíorchaoin fáilte40 romhat chun na tire seo, a ríon álainn óg,’ ar

seisean.

- ‘Cuirim geasa41 ort nach bhfulaingíonn42 fíorlaoch43, a Oisín fhéil,’ ar

sise, ‘mura dtaga tú ar ais liom go Tír na nÓg. Is í an tír is aoibhne
faoin ghrian. Tá crainn ag cromadh de toradh is bláth agus is fairsing
inti mil is fíon. Gheobhaidh tú gach ní44 inti dá bhfaca súil. Ní fheic dh
tú meath ná éag agus beidh mise go deo agat mar bhean.’

- ‘Do dhiúltú ní thabharfaidh mé uaim,’ arsa Oisín. ‘Is tú mo rogha thar

mhná an domhain, agus rachaidh mé le fonn go Tír na nÓg leat.’

Ansin chuaigh Oisín ar mhuin an eich bháin agus chuir Niamh Chinn
Óir ar a bhéala45. Rinne na Fianna an dís a chomóradh go béal na mara
móire siar.

40 fíorchaoin only appears in this phrase which means ‘a gentle/hearty welcome’. fáilte and any
related phrases are always with the preposition roimh, you can also just say fáilte or fáilte is
che romhat ’21 welcomes to you’.
41 The textbook is simply wrong here. Here is how geasa were explained to me before.

Geas A taboo, prohibition; In the plural (Geasa) also means: a spell.


Geasa were a very common component of Gaelic mythology, where a female gure (often
a goddess) would place a taboo on a male character, some promise he could not break,
for example never to eat the meat of a dog. If the taboo was observed, then the one under
the Geas would receive strength or luck. However, if broken it could lead to death or, less
severely, censure by others.

Many stories often use the device where a hero is put in a situation where two or more
Geasa contradict eachother, or keeping a Geas would result in an immoral action. The
hero is forced to break one of his Geasa, leading to death or dishonour.

The Geasa lost their legal status early in the Christian era and are not mentioned in any of
the surviving legal texts.

42 =su er/endure
43 fíorlaoch hasn’t any real distinct meaning. laoch means a warrior or hero and fíor
44 ní can sometimes mean rud, the plural is nithe
chuir sé is what is means here but you don’t need to specify sé since Oisín is already
45

mentioned
fi
ff
fi
fi
 7
- ‘A Oisín,’ arsa Fionn, ‘mo chumha thú ag imeacht uaim agus gan súil
agam le do theacht ar ais go brách.’ 46

Shil na deora frasa47 anuas le grua Oisín agus phóg sé a athair go

caoin. B’iomaí48 lá aoibhinn a bhí Fionn agus Oisín i gceann na Féinne fá
réim, ag imirt chille is ag ól, ag éisteacht cheoil is ag bronnadh séad. B’iomaí
lá eile a bhí siad ag sealgaireacht i ngleannta míne nó ag treascairt laoch i
ngarbhghleic. D’imigh a ghné d’Fhionn ar scaradh lena mhac.

Chroith an t-each bán é féin chun siúil. Rinne sé trí seitreacha ar an

tráigh agus thug a aghaidh49 siar díreach ar an fharraige le hOisín is le
Niamh. Ansin lig na Fianna trí gártha cumha ina ndiaidh.

Thráigh an mhínmhuir50 rompu agus líon na tonnta tréana ina ndiaidh.

Chonaic siad grianáin lonracha faoi luí gréine ar a n-aistear. Chonaic siad an
eitilt mhaol ar léim lúith agus an gadhar bán á tafann. Chonaic siad an ainnir
óg ar each donn ag imeacht ar bharr na toinne, úll óir ina deaslámh agus
marcach ina diaidh ar each bán le claíomh chinn óir.

46brách originally meant the Day of Judgement/Doomsday so go brách means until then. In
practice, it means ‘forever’ or in negative sentences ‘never’.
47= oods of tears, there is also go fras which means copiously/plentifully. It is almost always
used with a person bleeding/sweating/crying and a lot of liquid pouring out.
48is iomaí (or b’iomaí in the past/conditional) means a lot and is followed by a singular noun.
Basically it is equal to the English ‘it’s many a X’. is iomaí lá a bhí mé ann = it’s many a day I was
there. This is pronounced is mó in Munster and a very Munster way of asking ‘how many?’ is an
mó.
49=he turned his head. aghaidh a thabhhairt ar rud means to turn your head to something (to
look at it) but also guratively to give attention to something. cúl a thabhairt ar rud works in the
same way, thug sé cúl don cheol “he turned his back against music”
50an mhínmhuir = the smooth sea. In the Irish of today, the adjective comes after the noun. In
older forms of Irish, you could stick the adjective at the front to give a poetic sound to it. You will
see other examples of this in the text such as tréanlámh, garbhmhuir, etc. For ‘black/dark-pool’
you would expect linn dhubh but some centuries ago people might have said Dubhlinn which is
there the name Dublin comes from.
fl
fi
fi
 8
Tháinig siad i dtír51 ag dún Rí na mBeo, mar a raibh52 iníon an rí ina
brá53 ag Fómhar Builleach. Chuir Oisín comhraic thrí oíche is thrí lá54 ar
Fhómhar Builleach, gur bhain sé an ceann de agus gur lig saor iníon Rí na
mBeo.

Ansin ghluais siad leo55 thar an gharbhmhuir go bhfaca siad an trí

aoibhinn lena dtaobh, na machairí míne fá bhláth56, na grianáin a cumadh as
clocha solais, agus an dún rí a raibh gach dath ann dá bhfaca súil. Tháinig trí
caogaid laoch ab fhearr lúth agus céad ban óg ab áille gnaoi ina n-araicis,
agus tugadh le hollgairdeas iad chuig Rí agus chuig Banríon Thír na nÓg.

- ‘Fáilte romhat, a Oisín mhic Fhinn,’ arsa Rí na nÓg. ‘Beidh do shaol

buan sa tír seo agus beidh tú choíche57 óg.’

- Níl aoibhneas dár smaoinigh croí air nach mbeidh agat, agus Niamh
Chinn Óir go deo mar chéile.

Chaith siad eá is féasta a mhair deich n-oíche is deich lá i ndún an rí,

agus pósadh Oisín agus Niamh Chinn Óir.

51téigh/teacht i dtír means to come ashore. teacht i dtír ar rud can also mean to make a living
out of something
52 Notice that it’s mar a raibh and not mar atá, =
53brá is a hostage. Another word is giall. Hostage taking was common in mediaeval Ireland as a
way of ensuring political agreements. Similarly, a king might send a son to be educated with
another king to ensure a political alliance. Sometimes these hostages were prisoners.
54=‘a ght of three nights and three days’, remember that lá and oíche are singular after trí. trí
has taken séimhiú since it is in the genitive.
55le almost always means ‘with something’ but often also means something like ‘to go on’ with
verbs. For example ‘thiomáin siad leo’ they drove on, ‘abair leat!’ speak on/continue!, ‘d’oibrigh
mé liom’ I worked on.
56again, fá where we would have faoi in Connacht and fé in Munster, the phrase here means ‘in
bloom’
57 choíche = forever, I think it may have some connncetion to heaven but I’m not sure
fi
fl
 9
Is iomaí bliain a chaith siad fá aoibhneas i dTír na nÓg, gan meath, ná
éag ná easpa58. Bhí beirt mhac acu ar bhaist siad Fionn is Oscar orthu agus
iníon álainn a dtug siad Plúr na mBan59 uirthi.

Fá60 dheireadh smaoinigh Oisín gur mhaith leis Fionn agus na Fianna a
fheiceáil arís. D’iarr sé an t-each bán ó Niamh go dtugadh sé cuairt ar
Éirinn61.

- ‘Gheobhaidh tú sin, cé gur doiligh liom do ligean uaim,’ arsa Niamh.

‘Ach, a Oisín, cuimhnigh a bhfuil mé a rá! Má chuireann tú cos ar
thalamh na hÉireann ní thiocfaidh tú ar ais go brách.’

- ‘Ní heagal domh, a Niamh álainn,’ ar seisean. ‘Tiocfaidh mé slán ar ais

ar an each bán.’

- ‘Deirim leat fá dhó62, a Oisín, má thig tú anuas den each bán, nach
bh ll dh tú choíche go Tír na nÓg.’

- ‘Ná bíodh cian ort, a Niamh chaoin. Tiocfaidh mé slán ar ais go Tír na
nÓg.’

58this is a very rare example of the word easpa on its own. Usually it is followed by another word
to describe a want or a lack of that thing. easpa codlata lack of sleep
59plúr guratively means ‘ ower’here. Plúr na mBan the ower of women, plúr na laoch the
choicest of warriors etc.
60 fá again!
61using the conditional after the past tense here is similar to English. ‘he requested of Niamh the
white steed that he would visit Ireland’ ie so that he could.

cuairt a thabhairt ar áit = to visit a place

62 fá dhó = twice, for a second time. faoi dhó is the standard equivalent
fi
fi
fi
fl
fl
10
- ‘Deirim leat fá thrí63, Oisín, má ligeann tú uait an t-each bán éireoidh tú i
do sheanóir chríon liath, gan lúth, gan léim, gan amharc súl. Níl Éire
anois mar a bhí, agus ní fheic dh tú Fionn ná na Fianna.’

D’fhág Oisín slán ag Niamh Chinn Óir, ag a dhís64 mhac agus ag a

iníon. Chuaigh sé ar mhuin an eich bháin agus thug a chúl go dubhach le Tír
na nÓg.

Nuair a tháinig sé i dtír in Éirinn bhuail eagla é nach raibh Fionn beo.
Casadh marcshlua65 air a chuir iontas ina mhéid agus ina ghnaoi66, agus
nuair a chuir sé ceist orthu an raibh Fionn beo nó ar mhair aon duine eile den
Fhiann dúirt siad go raibh seanchas orthu ag lucht scéalaíochta67.

Bhuail tuirse agus cumha Oisín agus thug sé a aghaidh ar Almhain

Laighean. Ní fhaca sé teach Fhinn in Almhain. Ní raibh ina ionad ach iodh
agus neantóg.

- ‘A Phádraig, sin duit mo scéal,’ arsa Oisín. ‘Nuair a fuair mé Almhain

folamh thug mé m’aghaidh go dubhach ar ghnáthbhailte na Féinne. Ar
theacht go Gleann na Smól domh thug mé tarrtháil ar an bhuíon gan

63 same craic as fá dhó above. The version you’ll nd in dictionaries and most books is faoi thrí.
64 dís is another way of saying two. It is not commonly used in Munster but is considered less
‘fancy’ and is more widespread as you move up the country. dís here could be an Ulster feature or
an archaicism.
65 marcshlua = a cavalcade, a group of soldiers on horses
66 remember that gnaoi
67lucht sort of means ‘people’ and is followed by another word describing what they are the
people of. lucht eolais knowledgable people, authorities; lucht leanúna following people, fans;
lucht oibre working people, the working class.

lucht scéalaíochta = the story-tellers, a person who knows the old mythologies and tales o by
heart is a scéalaí. I would say the last true great scéalaithe died in the 1940s, seanchaithe (a
seanchaí) are di erent and still around but they too are dying out.
ff
fi
fi
fl
ff
11
bhrí agus chaill mé an t-each bán. Chaill mé mo lúth agus mo neart, mo
dheilbh agus amharc mo shúl.

- ‘Cúis luaíochta68 do chumha, a Oisín, agus gheobhaidh tú neamh dá

bharr,’ arsa Pádraig.

Thairg Pádraig ansin Oisín a choinneáil ar a theaghlach agus a

thabhairt leis ar thurais ar fud Éireann, óir bhí trua aige don tseanóir dhall
agus ba mhaith leis seanchas an tseanshaoil a fháil uaidh agus soiscéal Dé a
theagasc dó i ndeireadh a aoise. Thoilligh Oisín dul leis mar gur shantaigh sé
gach cearn agus gach baile ina mbíodh na Fianna a shiúl arís agus mar nach
raibh lúth a choirp ná amharc a shúl aige le himeacht in aon áit leis féin, ná
aon duine dá lucht aitheantais le fáil.

Ansin tháinig a bproinn agus d’fhiafraigh Pádraig d’Oisín an rachadh sé

chun an phroinntí mar aon69 le cách70.

- ‘Tabhair mo chuid bia agus mo leaba i leataobh dom,’ arsa Oisín, ‘óir ní
lucht comhaimsire domh na daoine anois.’

Other notes
1. Traditionally, words after the verb structure ag X-áil (X-ing) also take
séimhiú and are in the genitive (scoil > scoile). These days, this
séimhiú only really found in set phrases such as ag baint phrátaí =
digging spuds. You probably shouldn’t do this séimhiú in your writing but
you can use the genitive for extra points.
68 cúis luaíochta = a reason for merit, a cause for celebration.
69 mar aon le = along with
70cách - everyone. The title of volume 1 of the biography of Peig Sayers is ‘Labharfad le Cách’ I
will speak to all.
12
2. Normally it’d be í a thógáil which is to raise her (literally: her to raise),
sometimes you can just say her raising such as here but I wouldn’t
recommend imitating this as it’s a bit archaic and can often be mistaken
as an error. Another example would be ní féidir liom a bhfeiscint = I
can’t see them instead of ní féidir liom iad a fheiscint.

3. why ina araicis and not in araicis é or something like that? In Irish you
need to say in his ‘approach’, for example you can’t say i ndiaidh é for
after him, you need to say ina dhiaidh = in his after/behind him. i ndiaidh
é is considered bad Irish and nobody says that.

4. Why the strange syntax (sentence order) in ‘Tugadh i láthair Phádraig

Naofa é sa chill’? This looks weird for us English speakers but it is
perfectly normal in Irish. If you want to say “I saw him” you have three
parts you need to translate (1) the person/thing which did the action (2)
what the action was and (3) who/what was on the receiving end of that
action. In Irish, the verb (the action) comes rst then the subject (person/
thing who did the action) and nally the object (the receiver of the object).
So, “I saw him” would be chonaic mé é. Again different to English, if you
want to say where/when you saw him, you would want say that before
you say him. Then, we get chonaic mé sa teach é. There are other ways
of doing this but stick to this structure for now.

5. Vocative? This is used when addressing or calling someone ‘cogar a

Sheáin, éist do bhéal’ = ‘c’mere Seán, shut up’. To make a vocative is
different for men/women/plural but it starts with a like how with English in
old books or the Bible you might see people addressing each other with
O, for example "O ye of little faith" (in Matthew 8:26). For a man, add a
séimhiú and make the last consonant slender. For a woman, add a
séimhiú but leave the last consonant. For plural, séimhiú. If it usually
ends in í then add that, if not then add a/e depending of the consonant
fi
fi
 13
before is broad/slender. For adjectives, same rules except that the plural
vocative adjective doesn’t take séimhiú. With these rules we get:

1. a fhir mhóir! big man! (fear+mór)

2. a Shiobhán uasal! dear Siobhán! (Siobhán+uasal)

3. a dhaltaí / fheara Gearmánacha! - German men / students

4. there are exceptions and more rules such as with insults but
they’re not important right now.

6. Saying is [adjective] liom X means ‘I nd X to be [adjective]’. It’s

subjective, what you think about it. is maith liom úlla = literally, I nd
apples to be good ie I like apples. ba mhaith liom is I would like
(conditional) and ba mhian liom is I did like (past). You can get the same
thing with nouns such as fuath = hatred, is fuath liom é = I hate it.

7. Níorbh fhada go bhfaca siad aniar chucu ar each bhán an marcach

mná ab áille gnaoi a tricky sentence. You need to break it down into
parts.

1. níorbh fhada go bhfaca siad = it wasn’t long til they saw

2. aniar chucu = approaching them from the west

3. ar each bhán = on a white steed

4. an marcach mná = the woman rider

1. To specify that something is a man or a woman you’ll want to put

mná or r after it. These are the genitive singulars of bean and fear
and so the phrase means ‘the rider of a woman’. This is like how
you might say in English, ‘he’s a great big horse of a man’.

5. ab áille gnaoi = the most beautiful

fi
fi
fi