Useful Irish Phrases and Words You Might Need

Bernd is a travel writer from Germany who has lived in Ireland since the late 1990s and written several German-language tourism guides to the country.

Updated on August 8, 2019

Basic Irish Phrases for Your Trip

Just how many Irish words do you need to get by in Ireland? The simple answer: none. Literally everyone in Ireland speaks English, and the Irish language is seldom heard in everyday common usage except in the Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking areas mainly on the Western seaboard). But even here, English is generally the language used to communicate with any visitors.

Very few people still learn Irish as their first language so speaking Irish like the natives might fall beyond your linguistic abilities, however, it can be fun and helpful to learn a smattering of common words and Irish greetings.

You might, for instance, want to learn some Irish phrases and words in order to avoid coming across too touristy by wishing someone a "top o' the morning," which no Irish person would ever really say. In order to help you navigate Irish conversations, here is a helpful start. You won't actually get an Irish language course, but you will certainly notice that the local lingo can be quite different from plain English.

While you might not be able to actually hold a conversation in Irish, you should not feel too bad about that - almost no one can! Having said that, you can definitely spice up your English (and perhaps even find that Irish gift of the Blarney) with some Irish phrases and colloquialisms. This may actually endear the eachtrannach ("stranger"/"foreigner") to the locals. Just don’t expect them to buy you pints of Guinness to honor your effort.

Some useful phrases in Irish (that go beyond the essential words you should know in Irish), grouped by category:

Irish Greetings: Hello, Goodbye

Cheers in Irish

Small (but Important) Irish Words

Please note that while we have included "yes" and "no" here, this is not entirely correct. In fact, there are no such words in Irish, just approximations like "it is". This might have to do with the reluctance of the Irish to firmly commit to anything in life or just be a linguistic quirk; both theories have some merit.

Talking About the Irish Language (Or Not)

Reading Irish Signs

Irish Blessings and Curses

Counting in Irish

Days of the Week

Months of the Year

Seasons

And How Do You Pronounce These Irish Mouthfuls?

You might think "Ah, well, Ireland is next to Britain . so even if the words are different the pronunciation should be much the same." But if you try to say Irish words using English rules for pronunciation you will probably be met with laughter or confused stares. Irish uses a lot of the same alphabet as English but this is only because a specially developed style of Irish writing failed to become standard.

Vowel Sounds

Irish uses the same five vowels as English, but the pronunciation is different at times; if there is an accent over the vowel it is a "long" vowel:

Vowels are also divided into "slender" (e, é, i and í) and "broad" (the rest), influencing the pronunciation of the consonants before them.

Consonant Sounds

As a general rule, all single consonants are said as they are in English, with some important exceptions. When you see more than one consonant together then there may be very interesting tongue-teasers hidden in them, such as:

Other Oddities of Spoken Irish

While the above are good guidelines for speaking Irish, even people from neighboring villages in the gaeltacht (the Irish-speaking areas) don't always agree on the proper pronunciation.

You may notice that the Irish tend to roll their r more than other people, even when speaking English. At the same time, the horror of clustered consonants is obvious, the English "film" becoming "fillim" regularly. Oh, and a very good party trick is to have an Irishman read out "33 1/3" which may end up as "dirty tree and a turd".

Pulling It All Together

There also is a tendency to pull together several vowels and consonants into one sound—either through convention or laziness. Thus Dun Laoghaire is best pronounced "dunleary". Which leads to the conclusion that.

Proper Irish Pronunciation Can Only be Learned by Interacting with Native Speakers

Trying to learn Irish from books is like trying to scale Mount Everest via virtual reality —not impossible but far from the real thing. Even with the help of tapes and CDs you simply will not come up the conversation standard. And, above all, avoid the dreaded Stage Irish of the standard tourists! It makes the real Irish cringe every time.