Think about what you said to your children this morning.

“Close the door.” “Come here.” “Are you ready?” “Be careful.”

Now think about what you’ll say tonight. “Are you hungry?” “Five more minutes.” “Pick that up.” “Goodnight.”

You say the same things every day. We all do. That’s how language actually works. Children learn through repetition and context. They hear the same phrases, in the same situations, over and over, and they just… absorb them.

So, if you’re going to say these things anyway, why not say some of them in Irish?

Not all of them. Not all at once. Just a few. The ones that fit naturally into what you’re already doing.

That’s exactly what I did. And I want to tell you what happened, because it surprised even me.

What happened in our house

My husband isn’t Irish. He has no Irish. He didn’t learn it at school, and he certainly never planned to learn it as an adult.

But as a fluent Irish speaker, I was passionate about raising our daughter with Irish. So I started using a handful of everyday phrases, the kind of phrases every parent says ten times a day, in Irish. I wasn’t making a big deal out of it. I was just using normal phrases.

Dún an doras instead of “close the door.”

Tar anseo instead of “come here.”

An bhfuil ocras ort? instead of “are you hungry?”

The same phrases, in the same moments, every day.

And then one evening, completely out of nowhere, my husband said bí cúramach (be careful) to our daughter as she climbed on the couch.

He wasn’t trying to learn Irish. He wasn’t studying. He had just heard me say it so many times, in the exact same context, that it became automatic. He has since effortlessly learnt more Irish than most Irish people ever use, not because he sat down with a textbook, but because language was happening around him in a way that was practical and real.

And it’s not just our house

One of the mammies in our former Gaeilgeoir Parent Tribe membership told me the same thing.

Her husband wasn’t interested in Irish. Not opposed to it, just not interested. She started using a few phrases at home anyway, just weaving them into the day the way I do. No pressure, no lessons, no big announcement.

And then one day, she heard him say a phrase in Irish to their child.

The phrase? Bí cúramach.

Be careful. The exact same one. (There’s something about that phrase, isn’t there? Maybe it’s because parents say it about forty times a day, so it’s one of the first to stick.)

The point is: she didn’t convince him. She didn’t teach him. She just used Irish naturally, and it became part of the rhythm of their home. He picked it up the way all of us pick up language, by hearing it, in context, again and again.

But what if nobody in your house has Irish?

This is the fear I hear most often. “I’d love to use Irish at home, but my partner doesn’t speak it. My kids don’t know it yet. It’ll just be me talking to myself.”

I get it. It can feel strange at first, saying something in a language nobody else in the room understands. That’s exactly why I use something I call the Sandwich Method: say it in Irish, then English, then Irish again. Your child understands immediately, and your partner is absorbing it too without even trying. (That’s how both husbands ended up saying bí cúramach without ever opening a book.)

The 10 phrases (and why I chose these ones)

I’ve just put together a video walking through 10 phrases in Irish that you can use every single day. These aren’t random vocabulary words. These are the phrases parents actually say every day.

Here they are, with pronunciation:

Don't forget you can watch the video above to hear each phrase. 

1. Dún an doras [Doon on dur-us] Close the door For a group: dúnaigí an doras.
2. Gabh i leith / Tar anseo [Gov ih leh / Tar on-shuh] Come here Gabh i leith is Connacht and Ulster; tar anseo is Munster. Both work, use whichever feels right.
3. An bhfuil tú réidh? [On will too ray?] Are you ready? Tá for yes. Níl for no. See? No “yes” or “no” in Irish, just the verb echoed back, like I wrote about in my last article.
4. An bhfuil ocras ort? [On will uk-rus urt] Are you hungry? Swap in tart for thirsty, tuirse for tired, same pattern, loads of mileage.
5. Bí cúramach! [Bee koor-um-och] Be careful! The one that husbands learn first, apparently. For a group: bígí cúramach!
6. Cúig nóiméad eile [Koo-ig no-mayd ell-eh] Five more minutes Every parent’s most-used phrase in any language. Swap the number: deich nóiméad eile for ten, dhá nóiméad eile for two.
7. Pioc suas é sin [Pee-uck sue-is ay shin] Pick that up For a group: piocaigí suas é sin.
8. Go raibh maith agat [Guh rev mah ag-ut] Thank you For more than one person: go raibh maith agaibh.
9. Mo ghrá thú a stór [Muh graw hoo ah store] I love you, darling There are so many Irish terms of endearment, I’ve included more in the Free Quickstart Guide.
10. Oíche mhaith [Ee-hah wah/vawh] Goodnight Pair it with codladh sámh, sleep well, for the full bedtime routine.

You don’t need fluency. You need the right phrases.

Look at that list again. You said most of those things today already, in English, or whatever your first language is at home. They’re the bread and butter of family life.

That’s why they work. Because you don’t need to carve out study time or find extra energy. You just need to know the Irish for what you’re already saying.

And I’ve made it really easy for you.

No gatekeeping. No “you need to understand the grammar first.” No “you’re saying it wrong.” I’m passionate about the Irish language being for everyone, not just for native speakers, not just for people who were lucky enough to grow up in the Gaeltacht, not just for people who had a good experience at school.

If you love the language, or even if you’re just curious, you deserve access to it. And you deserve it in a way that actually works for your life, not a textbook version of your life, but the messy, busy, “where are your shoes?” version of it.

Where to start

Because that’s what this is about. Not passing exams. Not impressing anyone. Just making Irish real, the way it’s meant to be.

And you can start today. With one phrase. In one moment. The same moment you’re already in.