6 Beginner Facts about the Irish Language

The Irish language, also known as Irish Gaelic or Gaeilge, is a Celtic language that is native to Ireland. It is one of the two official languages of the Republic of Ireland, along with English, and is also recognized as a minority language in Northern Ireland.

Here are some basic facts about the Irish language:

1. Irish is a member of the Indo-European language family and is closely related to Scottish Gaelic and Manx Gaelic.

2. The Irish alphabet consists of 18 letters: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, and u. It does not include the letters j, k, q, v, w, x, or y, which are used in English.

3. Irish uses a system of grammatical cases, similar to Latin and other Indo-European languages. This means that the endings of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives change depending on their role in the sentence.

4. Irish is a synthetic language, which means that it uses inflections (changes in the form of a word) to indicate grammatical relationships. For example, the word "bean" (woman) changes to "mná" (women) to indicate plurality.

5. Irish has a rich literary tradition, with a long history of poetry, prose, and storytelling. Many famous Irish writers, such as James Joyce and W.B. Yeats, wrote in Irish as well as English.

6. Irish is taught in schools and is spoken by a small minority of the population in Ireland, particularly in certain regions known as the Gaeltacht. However, it is not commonly spoken as a first language, and many Irish people speak English as their primary language.

If you are a complete beginner to the Irish language and would love to learn, we have Irish for Complete Beginners starting in 2023, pop your name on the waitlist here to be notified.