Patrick's Guide to Irish Slang & Basic Irish

Many thanks to our guest blogger today…Patrick O’Donnell

And now we present:

Patrick O’Donnell’s Guide to Irish Slang & Basic Irish

 ☘️

Hiya! What’s the craic?

           I’ve been told by Cahill that you might like to learn some Irish slang and words in Irish, so I’m giving you a wee primer. She couldn’t have asked me to write about drums, could she? 🙄 Maybe I’ll get to do that on  the next post, but for now I’ll play nice and give it a go.

          Here's my beginner-friendly guide to Irish slang and some basic Irish (Gaeilge) phrases, perfect for travelers who want to dazzle the locals or anyone curious about Irish culture and language. And don’t worry if you butcher the pronunciation. The locals may slag you a bit, but that means they like ya!

☘️ Irish Slang (Hiberno-English)

These are commonly used in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, though usage can vary slightly by region.

Everyday Slang:

Slang	Meaning
Craic (pronounced "crack")	Fun, news, entertainment, gossip (e.g., “What’s the craic?” = “What’s happening?”)
Grand	Fine, OK, good (e.g., “I’m grand, thanks.”)
Deadly	Brilliant, excellent (e.g., “That concert was deadly!”)
Eejit	Fool, idiot (not always mean-spirited)
Yoke	Thing, object (e.g., “Pass me that yoke.”)
Gas	Funny or entertaining (e.g., “He’s gas, that fella.”)
Gaff	House/home (e.g., “Having a party in my gaff.”)
Jacks	Toilet (e.g., “Where’s the jacks?”)
Scarlet	Embarrassed (e.g., “I was scarlet for him.”)
Lashing	Raining heavily (e.g., “It’s lashing out there.”)

🗣️ Basic Irish (Gaeilge - pronounced Gwail-guh)

            Irish is a Celtic language still spoken daily in some parts of Ireland (especially Gaeltacht regions) and taught in schools nationwide. Passing my Irish exam was absolute murder. Me mam would always tell me, "quit yer footering and just do yer homework.” It always elicited an eye roll and a muttered, “fuck’s sake,” but not loud enough for her to hear unless I wanted some random yoke tossed my way.  I’ve kept the list simple for you, and even though most people forget their lessons about five minutes after leaving secondary school, these are phrases almost anyone is sure to know and use.

          Oh, but don’t get me goin’ on how many different ways there are to pronounce “duit,” which means “to you.” It all depends on which dialect you speak — Connacht, Munster, or Ulster.

          And the first phrase, Dia duit, the way to say “hello” (or Dia dhuit in the Connacht and Munster dialects) literally translates as “God to you.” The reply to that is “Dia is Muire duit,” which is “God and Mary to you.” We Irish like to one-up each other, yeah?

Greetings & Common Phrases:

Irish	Pronunciation	English
Dia duit	Dee-ah gwit	Hello
Dia is Muire duit	Dee-ah iss Mwir-eh gwit	Hello back (response)
Slán	Slawn	Goodbye
Go raibh maith agat	Guh rev mah a-gut	Thank you
Le do thoil	Leh duh hull	Please
Conas atá tú?	Kun-us a-taw too?	How are you?
Tá mé go maith	Taw may guh mah	I’m good
An bhfuil tú go maith?	An will too guh mah?	Are you well?
Sláinte!	Slawn-cha	Cheers! (toast)

          Speaking numbers in Irish is quite a pain in the arse. There are different systems for numbers depending on the context. Cardinal numbers are easy enough (and any eejit can do it 😅) but if you want to count people, it changes, and it changes again for ordinal numbers. But we’ll just keep it simple for now, yeah? 

Numbers 1–5:

Irish	Pronunciation	English
A haon	Ah hayn	One
A dó	Ah doe	Two
A trí	Ah tree	Three
A ceathair	Ah cah-her	Four
A cúig	Ah coo-ig	Five

    My brother Liam knows and uses more Irish than the rest of us. You may have noticed he uses “mo ghrá” when speaking to Mara. Did ya wonder what it means and how to say it? “Grá” (pronounced graw) is the Irish word for “love,” and “mo” means “my.” This is where Irish gets a bit tricky. There’s this complicated mess called lenition in which letters are added after certain words — which is why it becomes mo ghrá with an ‘h’ stuck in (because ‘mo’ is a possessive pronoun). It’s too much to get into here, so please take my word for it that you don’t want any more explanation than that.

💚 "My Love" in Irish

1. Mo ghrá

•           Pronunciation: Muh ghraw (the "gh" is a soft throaty sound, like the French r)

•           Meaning: "My love" – poetic or romantic

•           Used in: Songs, poems, romantic speech

2. A ghrá

•           Pronunciation: Uh ghraw

•           Meaning: "Oh love" or addressing someone as "love"

•           Example: A ghrá mo chroí — “Love of my heart” (Uh ghraw muh kree)

3. Mo stór

•           Pronunciation: Muh store

•           Meaning: Literally “my treasure” – affectionate and common for loved ones, especially children

       Of course, you’ll also be hearing Li call Mara “pusheen,” yeah?

       Funny story here…

       When Mara and Liam first met he began calling her puisín because she climbed up the light rigging as carelessly as a kitten. She misunderstood him, having only a very basic knowledge of Irish herself, and thought he was calling her pusheen after the cute comic character. It stuck, and he’s called her pusheen ever since.

🐱 “Kitten” as Gaeilge (in Irish):

•           piscín (pronounced pish-keen) – the most common modern Irish word for kitten.

•           puisín (pronounced pwish-een): Another term for kitten in Irish, which is also the word that inspired the name of the popular internet comic character Pusheen.

           And Mara likes to call Liam “León” (pronounced Lee-own). León is the Irish form of the name Leo, which comes from Greek and Latin and means “lion.” The Irish word for lion is leon (pronounced lee-oh-win). Notice the word leon and the name León look very similar? The accent mark (called a fada) over the o in León makes the vowel long. I’ve never asked Mara why she calls him León, and I’m not sure I want to know, honestly. I wonder if she’s told Allie that story…🤔🫣

        I think that’s enough to be getting on with for one day. Leave me a comment if you’d like. Or if you have any questions I’ll try my best to answer them. Maybe I’ll have Li help me if it’s an Irish language question, or you could always ask me about drums. 😉🥁

Sláinte,

Patrick