localize-ga

Localize: Irish / Gaeilge (ga → Gaeilge)

Scope & Variants

Irish (Gaeilge) is the first official language of the Republic of Ireland under Article 8 of the Constitution (Bunreacht na hÉireann), with English as the second official language. It is also recognised in Northern Ireland (Identity & Language Act 2022) and is an official working language of the EU since 2007.

Locale	Notes
ga / ga-IE	An Caighdeán Oifigiúil (the Official Standard) — Ireland. Default and only UI target.

Three native dialects (Na Canúintí)

Native Irish survives in Gaeltacht regions and has three traditional dialects:

Dialect	Region	Notes
Cúige Mumhan (Munster)	Kerry, Cork, Waterford	Strong stress on long syllables; preserves old do perfective particle.
Cúige Chonnacht (Connacht)	Galway (Conamara), Mayo	Most-spoken dialect. Distinctive pronunciation of broad/slender.
Cúige Uladh (Ulster)	Donegal	Closest to Scottish Gaelic; distinctive intonation; some unique lexis.

For UI translation, use An Caighdeán Oifigiúil (the Official Standard) — the codified written norm used by the State, education, RTÉ, and TG4. Do NOT translate a UI string into a single dialect form; that excludes other Gaeltacht speakers and learners. Standard Irish is the supra-dialectal written norm.

Demographic reality

• ~1–2% of the population are daily native speakers (Gaeltacht communities, ~70,000 people).
• ~40% of the Republic's population (Census 2022) claim some Irish — most being L2 learners through the school system.
• Irish is mandatory in Republic of Ireland primary and secondary schools, on State signage, in government documents, and in EU translation.
• UI in Irish carries cultural and constitutional weight even though most users will also have English available. Translate it WELL — sloppy Irish is more visibly wrong than sloppy German because the audience is small, motivated, and includes language activists.

Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam — "A country without a language is a country without a soul." This proverb is the cultural premise of Irish localization.

---

Identity Guardrail — Irish is Celtic Goidelic, NOT the same as Welsh

Irish is a Celtic language, but Celtic has two branches and Irish is in the Goidelic branch — together with Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) and Manx (Gaelg).

Branch	Languages	Notes
Goidelic (Q-Celtic)	Irish (Gaeilge), Scottish Gaelic, Manx	Sister languages, mutually partially intelligible in writing.
Brittonic (P-Celtic)	Welsh (Cymraeg), Breton (Brezhoneg), Cornish (Kernewek)	Separate branch — different mutations, orthography, vocabulary.

Practical implications:

• Irish ≠ Welsh. They share the concept of initial consonant mutation, but the specific mutation patterns differ (Welsh has soft, nasal, aspirate; Irish has séimhiú and urú).
• Irish ≠ Scottish Gaelic. They share lenition, but orthography differs: Irish uses séimhiú = h (bh, ch, dh); Scottish Gaelic also uses h but spells some words differently (Irish bóthar = Scottish rathad). Do NOT cross-port translations.
• Irish ≠ Modern English even though both are spoken in Ireland. Irish has VSO word order, mutations, and a copula. It is a typologically distant language.

If your source mentions "Gaelic" in a US/Canadian context, it almost always means Scottish Gaelic, not Irish. In Ireland, "Gaelic" usually refers to Gaelic Football, not the language. The language is Irish / Gaeilge.

---

Register: sibh vs tú (T–V distinction)

Irish has a T–V distinction:

Pronoun	Use	Verb form (imperative 2nd person)	Possessive
tú	Singular informal; default in casual contexts; Gaeltacht everyday speech	2sg: roghnaigh (choose)	do (your-sg) — triggers séimhiú
sibh	(1) Plural "you all"; (2) Singular formal in some contexts	2pl: roghnaígí (choose)	bhur (your-pl/formal) — triggers urú

Register choice for UI

Irish culture tends informal. Unlike German Sie or French vous, Irish does not have a strong T–V politeness asymmetry in modern usage. Two reasonable defaults:

Context	Recommended register	Why
Consumer apps, social, marketing, casual UI	tú (singular, informal)	Matches conversational Irish; warmer; closer to native Gaeltacht usage.
Government, banking, formal business UI	sibh (plural-as-formal)	Matches Irish State formal register; respectful distance.
Mass UI addressing "users" generically	tú (default) OR sibh	Pick ONE and stay consistent throughout the product.

Hard rule: never mix tú and sibh in the same surface (or even the same product). Mixing them creates grammar errors because possessives differ:

✗ Mixed (wrong)	✓ Consistent (tú)	✓ Consistent (sibh)
Roghnaigh do chomhad agus cliceáil oraibh	Roghnaigh do chomhad agus cliceáil ort	Roghnaígí bhur gcomhad agus cliceáil oraibh

In the rest of this skill, examples default to tú unless explicitly noted, but the rules apply mirror-image to sibh.

Note on sibh triggering urú: bhur socruithe → standard says s is not actually eclipsed in Irish (only b, c, d, f, g, p, t take a prefixed consonant). So bhur socruithe stays bhur socruithe (no visible mutation on s — eclipsis applies only to mutable consonants). But bhur gcomhad is correct (c → gc).

---

Critical Hard Rules (Severity ≥ 2.0 — Auto-Fail If Wrong)

1. Initial consonant mutations — séimhiú (lenition) and urú (eclipsis) (severity 2.5)

This is THE defining feature of Irish grammar. Two parallel mutation systems trigger on the first consonant of a word based on what precedes it.

Séimhiú (lenition) — marked by inserted h

A small letter h is inserted after the initial consonant:

Original	Lenited	Example
B	Bh	bean (woman) → an bhean (the woman)
C	Ch	cat → mo chat (my cat)
D	Dh	dán (poem) → do dhán (your poem)
F	Fh (silent!)	fear (man) → mo fhear (my man) — Fh is silent in speech
G	Gh	garda → do gharda
M	Mh	máthair → mo mháthair
P	Ph	post (job) → mo phost
S	Sh	siopa (shop) → an tsiopa's sister case — see below; in séimhiú: sa siopa → sa shiopa
T	Th	teach (house) → mo theach

NOT lenited: L, N, R, vowels — these never take séimhiú in standard modern Irish.

Common triggers for séimhiú:

• Possessives: mo (my), do (your-sg), a (his)
• Definite article + feminine singular noun: an bhean, an chathair (the city)
• Numbers 2–6: dhá chomhad, trí chomhad, sé chomhad
• After certain prepositions: de, do (to), ó (from), roimh (before), mar (as/like), faoi (under), trí (through), um, ar (on)
• Past tense particle: do shábháil sé (he saved) — do triggers séimhiú on past verbs
• Negative past níor: níor shábháil sé
• Vocative particle a: a Sheáin! (Seán!)
• After comparative níos: níos fearr (better) (s mutates contextually)

Urú (eclipsis) — marked by prepended consonant

A new consonant is prepended before the original, eclipsing its sound:

Original	Eclipsed	Pronounced as
B	mB	/m/ — original b is silent
C	gC	/g/
D	nD	/n/
F	bhF	/v/ or /w/
G	nG	/ŋ/
P	bP	/b/
T	dT	/d/
Vowels	n- prefix	n- is added before the vowel: a n-athair (their father), ár n-athair (our father)

NOT eclipsed: L, M, N, R, S — only the 7 mutable consonants take urú.

Common triggers for urú:

• Possessives: ár (our), bhur (your-pl/formal), a (their)
• Preposition i (in): i nGaillimh (in Galway), i mBaile Átha Cliath (in Dublin)
• Preposition + article combinations: ag an, leis an, ar an, as an, roimh an, ón, don — many trigger urú on the following noun (depending on dialect/standard)
• Numbers 7–10: seacht gcomhad, ocht gcomhad, naoi gcomhad, deich gcomhad
• After interrogative/dependent particle an (used for questions): An bhfuil tú? (are you?) — bhfuil is tá eclipsed
• After the dependent verb particles go, nach, mura, dá, cá

Concrete examples (mutation by trigger)

Trigger	Base form	After mutation	English
mo (my) + lenition	comhad	mo chomhad	my file
do (your-sg) + lenition	post	do phost	your job
a (his) + lenition	máthair	a mháthair	his mother
a (her) + NOTHING on consonant; h-prefix on vowels	máthair / athair	a máthair / a hathair	her mother / her father
ár (our) + eclipsis	comhad	ár gcomhad	our file
bhur (your-pl) + eclipsis	post	bhur bpost	your (pl) job
a (their) + eclipsis	tír	a dtír	their country
an + feminine sg + lenition	bean	an bhean	the woman
an + feminine sg starting with s (NOT sc, sm, sp, st) + ts	sráid	an tsráid	the street (special: s → ts after an for fem.)
i (in) + eclipsis	Gaillimh	i nGaillimh	in Galway
3 + lenition	cat	trí chat	three cats
8 + eclipsis	comhad	ocht gcomhad	eight files

Critical UI rule: If you write mo comhad, do post, ár comhad, i Gaillimh, trí comhad, or ocht comhad — they are all wrong. Mutations are obligatory, not stylistic.

Mutation cheat-sheet (memorize this)

Lenition (séimhiú) — add h to consonant:
  b→bh  c→ch  d→dh  f→fh  g→gh  m→mh  p→ph  s→sh  t→th
  Triggers: mo, do, a(his), an+fem.sg, prepositions (de/do/ó/faoi/ar/roimh/mar/trí/um), numbers 2–6,
            past-tense particle do/níor, vocative a, comparative níos

Eclipsis (urú) — prepend consonant:
  b→mb  c→gc  d→nd  f→bhf  g→ng  p→bp  t→dt   (vowels take n- prefix)
  Triggers: ár, bhur, a(their), i (in), preposition+an in many cases, numbers 7–10,
            interrogative an, dependent particles go/nach/mura/dá/cá

NOT mutated by either: l, n, r (and vowels are only h-prefixed/n-prefixed selectively)

2. Broad vs slender consonants (caol le caol, leathan le leathan) (severity 2.0)

Irish orthography enforces a rule about which vowels surround a consonant. Every consonant in Irish is either broad (velarized) or slender (palatalized) — this affects pronunciation. The orthography signals this through the surrounding vowels, and they MUST match in front/back quality.

Vowel quality	Vowels
Slender (caol)	e, é, i, í
Broad (leathan)	a, á, o, ó, u, ú

The rule "caol le caol, leathan le leathan" (slender with slender, broad with broad) means: vowels on both sides of a consonant must be from the same quality group.

✗ Wrong	✓ Correct	Why
comhadanna (looking inside)	comhaid (plural of comhad)	broad-broad inside, but the actual plural is formed by slenderizing
cailín ✓	(correct)	c-aí-l-í-n: broad a-aí surrounds c (broad-broad), then slender í surrounds l-n (slender-slender). ✓
fearr ✓	(correct)	broad a around rr
*cailear ✗	The vowels around l would be slender i and broad e — illegal.

Why this matters for UI translation:

• When inflecting nouns (e.g., genitive, plural), Irish spelling changes to keep this rule satisfied:
  • fear (man, nom) → fir (man, gen — broadenend r becomes slender; spelling adjusts)
  • bord (table) → boird (gen sg — slender d, so an i is inserted)
  • cat (cat) → cait (plural — a becomes ai to keep t slender)
• When auto-generating UI text with placeholders, do NOT cross broad/slender boundaries.
• If you see an Irish word with adjacent vowels of different quality around a consonant, it's almost certainly misspelled.

You don't have to compute this from scratch — use established dictionary forms (teanglann.ie, focloir.ie, tearma.ie) rather than inventing inflections.

3. Long vowels with fada (´) are meaning-critical (severity 2.5)

Irish has 5 long vowels marked with the fada (acute accent): á é í ó ú. The fada is NEVER optional decoration — it changes meaning.

With fada	Without fada	Difference
bán (white)	ban (woman, gen. pl.)	Different words.
cás (case)	cas (twist, turn)	Different words.
sí (she)	si (no such word in standard)	Required.
Seán (proper name)	Sean (old)	Different.
Éire (Ireland)	Eire is just a stripped form, considered wrong	Required.
saol (world / life)	saol (correct — vowel cluster, not fada-bearing)	Note: also saoil = genitive
fáilte (welcome)	failte ✗	Required.

Hard rule: NEVER strip fadas to ASCII. Eire, Failte, Caoga (50, should be caoga) are signs of a broken pipeline. Restore them.

Five common Irish words you will encounter constantly:

• Gaeilge (Irish language) — note ei not ée
• Éire (Ireland) — capital É + fada
• fáilte (welcome)
• sábháil (save) — TWO fadas
• íoslódáil (download) — THREE fadas (i, o, a)

4. VSO word order — Verb–Subject–Object (severity 2.0)

Irish is a VSO language — the verb comes FIRST in declarative main clauses, then subject, then object/complement.

✗ Wrong (SVO calque from English)	✓ Correct (VSO)	English
An t-úsáideoir shábháil an comhad	Shábháil an t-úsáideoir an comhad	The user saved the file.
An cat ar an mbord	Tá an cat ar an mbord	The cat is on the table. (verb tá first)
Sibh is féidir socruithe a athrú	Is féidir libh socruithe a athrú	You can change settings. (copula is first)
Mé do shábháil é	Shábháil mé é	I saved it.

Question form: prepend the interrogative particle an (which triggers urú on the verb):

Statement	Question
Tá tú anseo. (You are here.)	An bhfuil tú anseo? (Are you here?) — tá → bhfuil (eclipsed dependent form)
Sábhálann tú é.	An sábhálann tú é?

Past tense statement: verb takes the past-tense do/d' particle (often elided) + séimhiú:

Statement	Past
Sábhálann sé é (he saves it)	Shábháil sé é (he saved it) — s lenited to sh

5. Copula is vs substantive verb tá — DO NOT CONFUSE (severity 2.5)

Irish has two "to be" verbs with completely different functions. This is one of the hardest features for English speakers and a frequent source of bad UI.

Verb	Function	Example
is (copula)	Identity / classification / permanent quality. Used to link a noun to a noun, or to define what something IS.	Is dochtúir é. (He is a doctor.) Is + [predicate noun] + [subject pronoun]
tá (substantive verb)	State / location / temporary condition / existence. Used for where something is, how it is, what state it is in.	Tá sé sa siopa. (He is in the shop.) Tá + [subject] + [state/location]

Worked contrasts

English	✗ Wrong	✓ Correct	Why
He is a doctor.	Tá sé dochtúir.	Is dochtúir é.	Classification → copula.
He is in the shop.	Is é sa siopa.	Tá sé sa siopa.	Location → tá.
The file is open.	Is oscailte an comhad.	Tá an comhad oscailte.	State → tá.
This is a directory.	Tá sé eolaireacht.	Is eolaire é seo.	Classification → copula.
It is possible.	Tá sé féidir.	Is féidir. / Is féidir é.	"Possible" is a classificatory predicate.
You can save (it is possible for you to save).	Tá tú in ann sábháil. (OK conversational)	Is féidir leat sábháil.	Standard idiom uses copula.

Mnemonic: "X is a Y" / "X is (description)" → copula is. "X is at/in/here/now/feeling/state" → tá.

6. No verb "to have" — use tá X ag Y construction (severity 2.0)

Irish has no direct equivalent of "to have." Instead, possession is expressed with tá + the thing + ag (at) + the possessor.

Literal: "Is [thing] at [person]" = "[Person] has [thing]"

English	✓ Irish	Literal
I have a book.	Tá leabhar agam.	Is book at-me.
You have a file.	Tá comhad agat.	Is file at-you.
She has the password.	Tá an pasfhocal aici.	Is the password at-her.
We have three messages.	Tá trí theachtaireacht againn.	Is three messages at-us.
Do you have an account?	An bhfuil cuntas agat?	Q: is account at-you?

Note the prepositional pronouns agam, agat, aici, againn, agaibh, acu — these are fused forms of ag + pronoun (see Rule 7).

Anti-pattern: Do NOT invent *tá mé leabhar or *tá mé ag leabhar ("I have book") — these are not Irish. Use Tá leabhar agam.

7. Inflected prepositional pronouns (forainmneacha réamhfhoclacha) (severity 2.0)

In Irish, prepositions fuse with pronouns into single inflected forms. You must use the fused form. Never write ag mé, ar tú, le sibh — these are ungrammatical.

Most common prepositional pronoun paradigms

Preposition (English)	mé (I)	tú (you-sg)	sé (he/it-m)	sí (she/it-f)	sinn (we)	sibh (you-pl)	siad (they)
ag (at) → "have"	agam	agat	aige	aici	againn	agaibh	acu
ar (on)	orm	ort	air	uirthi	orainn	oraibh	orthu
as (out of, from)	asam	asat	as	aisti	asainn	asaibh	astu
chuig (towards)	chugam	chugat	chuige	chuici	chugainn	chugaibh	chucu
de (off, of)	díom	díot	de	di	dínn	díbh	díobh
do (to, for)	dom	duit	dó	di	dúinn	daoibh	dóibh
faoi (under, about)	fúm	fút	faoi	fúithi	fúinn	fúibh	fúthu
i (in)	ionam	ionat	ann	inti	ionainn	ionaibh	iontu
le (with)	liom	leat	leis	léi	linn	libh	leo
ó (from)	uaim	uait	uaidh	uaithi	uainn	uaibh	uathu
roimh (before)	romham	romhat	roimhe	roimpi	romhainn	romhaibh	rompu
trí (through)	tríom	tríot	tríd	tríthi	trínn	tríbh	tríothu

UI examples

✗ Wrong (separate)	✓ Correct (fused)	English
Tá leabhar ag mé.	Tá leabhar agam.	I have a book.
Cliceáil ar é.	Cliceáil air.	Click on it.
Le sibh:	Libh: / Daoibh:	For you (pl):
Theip ar an íoslódáil ar mé.	Theip orm ar an íoslódáil. / Theip ar an íoslódáil orm.	The download failed for me.

8. Numbers + singular noun + mutation by range (severity 2.0)

Irish numbers behave completely unlike English. Three rules:

1. The noun stays SINGULAR after numbers 1–10 (and often higher). Never 5 chomhaid ; correct is 5 chomhad.
2. Numbers 1–6 trigger lenition (séimhiú).
3. Numbers 7–10 trigger eclipsis (urú).
4. Numbers 11+ generally take no mutation and noun stays singular.
5. 0 takes the plural noun form.

Cardinal numbers + comhad (file)

Number	Word	Result	Why
0	náid / a náid	0 comhaid (plural)	Plural form.
1	aon	aon chomhad amháin	Lenition + amháin ("one only").
2	dhá	dhá chomhad	Lenition. (Note: dhá itself is dá lenited.)
3	trí	trí chomhad	Lenition.
4	ceithre	ceithre chomhad	Lenition.
5	cúig	cúig chomhad	Lenition.
6	sé	sé chomhad	Lenition.
7	seacht	seacht gcomhad	Eclipsis (c → gc).
8	ocht	ocht gcomhad	Eclipsis.
9	naoi	naoi gcomhad	Eclipsis.
10	deich	deich gcomhad	Eclipsis.
11	aon … déag	aon chomhad déag	Lenition (from 1), déag after.
20	fiche	fiche comhad	No mutation; singular.
100	céad	céad comhad	No mutation; singular.

ICU plural form mapping (Irish has 5 categories):

ICU category	Range	Form	Example
one	n = 1	lenition, singular	1 chomhad (or aon chomhad amháin)
two	n = 2	lenition, singular	2 chomhad
few	n = 3..6	lenition, singular	3 chomhad, 6 chomhad
many	n = 7..10	eclipsis, singular	7 gcomhad, 10 gcomhad
other	else (0, 11+)	no mutation, singular usually	0 comhaid, 11 comhad, 20 comhad

For UI ICU plural keys, you usually need all 5 forms: one / two / few / many / other because Irish distinguishes 2 (dual remnant), 3–6, and 7–10 with different mutations.

People counting (system of numbering people)

There is a separate set of numbers used for counting people (1–12), based on the old "personal" numerals: duine, beirt, triúr, ceathrar, cúigear, seisear, seachtar, ochtar, naonúr, deichniúr, aon duine déag, dáréag. These trigger lenition on the noun after them (beirt fhear = two men). For UI, you'll rarely need this — but DON'T use cardinal numbers for people contexts in marketing copy where it sounds natural to say beirt úsáideoirí (two users) idiomatically — though in software UI, generic cardinal 2 úsáideoir is also accepted.

9. No indefinite article; definite article = an (sg) / na (pl) (severity 2.0)

Irish has no indefinite article. The bare noun does double duty:

English	Irish	Notes
a cat	cat	No "a" word in Irish.
the cat	an cat	Definite article an.
cats	cait	Bare plural.
the cats	na cait	Plural article na.

Effects of an (singular definite article)

Context	Mutation	Example
Masculine noun, nom/acc	none	an fear (the man)
Feminine noun, nom/acc	lenition	an bhean (the woman) (b → bh)
Feminine noun starting with s + vowel (or s + l/n/r)	s → ts	an tsráid (the street); an tsiopa? No — siopa is masc. — better example: an tseachtain (the week, fem.) (Note: s + sc/sm/sp/st keeps s.)
Masculine noun starting with vowel	t- prefix	an t-úsáideoir (the user); an t-ainm (the name); an t-uaslódáil (the upload)
Feminine noun starting with vowel	no mutation	an aiste (the essay); an oifig (the office)
Singular genitive masculine (after the genitive an)	lenition	leabhar an fhir (the man's book) (fear → fhir)
Singular genitive feminine (after na)	varies	carr na mná (the woman's car)

Effects of na (plural definite article)

Context	Mutation	Example
Nominative/accusative plural	none on noun	na cait (the cats); na comhaid (the files)
Genitive plural (all genders)	eclipsis	leabhair na bhfear (the men's books); luach na gcomhad (the value of the files)
Plural starting with vowel	h- prefix	na hoifigí (the offices); na hainmneacha (the names)

Common UI errors:

• úsáideoir → "the user" must be an t-úsáideoir (masc. vowel → t-prefix), NOT an úsáideoir.
• bean → "the woman" must be an bhean (fem. → lenition), NOT an bean.
• na úsáideoirí → "the users" must be na húsáideoirí (plural vowel → h-prefix).

10. Genitive case (an tuiseal ginideach) — possession + verbal noun (severity 2.0)

Irish has 4 cases (nominative, vocative, genitive, dative — dative is mostly merged with nominative in modern Irish except in fixed phrases), but the genitive is alive and load-bearing.

The genitive is triggered by:

1. Possession: leabhar an fhir (the man's book) — fear → fhir.
2. After a verbal noun (ainm briathartha): ag sábháil an chomhaid (saving the file) — comhad → chomhaid.
3. After compound prepositions: i ndiaidh an chomhaid (after the file), os comhair an úsáideora (in front of the user).
4. After certain simple prepositions in some dialects: chun an chomhaid (towards the file).

Genitive formation patterns (some examples)

Nom. sg.	Gen. sg.	Pattern
comhad (file)	chomhaid	broadening with séimhiú after article
fear (man)	fhir	slenderization + séimhiú
bean (woman)	mná	irregular
úsáideoir (user)	úsáideora	-oir → -ora
Éire (Ireland)	na hÉireann	irregular + h-prefix after na
teach (house)	tí	irregular
baile (town)	bhaile	séimhiú only
sábháil (saving, vbn)	na sábhála	-áil → -ála

UI examples

✗ Wrong (nominative used after vbn)	✓ Correct (genitive)	English
ag sábháil an comhad	ag sábháil an chomhaid	saving the file
ag íoslódáil an comhad	ag íoslódáil an chomhaid	downloading the file
ag scriosadh an úsáideoir	ag scriosadh an úsáideora	deleting the user
suíomh an úsáideoir	suíomh an úsáideora	the user's location

Genitive is one of the most common UI errors in machine-translated Irish — auto-translators often skip it. Always check verbal noun + noun pairs.

11. Two genders + adjective agreement (severity 2.0)

Irish has two grammatical genders: firinscneach (masculine) and baininscneach (feminine). Neuter does not exist.

Rough heuristic (not absolute)

Tendency	Ending suggests	Examples
Masculine	-ach, -aire, -aí, -ín, -úr, -óir	fear, úsáideoir, comhad, carr, leabhar, ríomhaire
Feminine	-acht, -íocht, -eog, -óg, -lann, -is, -áil (vbn)	bean, oifig, fuinneog, scoil, obair, Gaeilge, sábháil

There are exceptions everywhere. Use a dictionary. Native speakers also gender-correct each other on rare nouns.

Effects of gender

1. Definite article an + feminine = lenition (rule above).
2. Adjective after feminine singular noun = lenition.
3. Adjective genitive form differs.

Gender	Pattern	Example
Masculine	adj. unchanged after noun	carr mór (big car); fear mór (big man)
Feminine sg	adj. takes séimhiú	bean mhór (big woman); oifig bheag (small office)
Plural (any gender)	adj. agrees in number; pl. attributive adj has its own form	fir mhóra (big men); carranna móra (big cars)

✗ Wrong	✓ Correct	Why
bean beag	bean bheag	fem. → lenite adj.
an cat mhór	an cat mór	cat is masc. → no lenition.
oifig mór	oifig mhór	fem. → lenite.
carr mhór	carr mór	carr is masc. → no lenition.

12. No yes/no — answer with the verb (severity 1.5)

Irish has no words for "yes" and "no." You answer a yes/no question by repeating the verb (in positive or negative form).

Question	"Yes" answer	"No" answer
An bhfuil tú anseo? (Are you here?)	Tá. (Am.)	Níl. (Am not.)
An sábhálann tú é? (Do you save it?)	Sábhálann. (Save.)	Ní shábhálann. (Don't save.)
An bhfaca tú é? (Did you see it?)	Chonaic. (Saw.)	Ní fhaca. (Didn't see.)
An mian leat dul ar aghaidh? (Do you wish to continue?)	Is mian.	Ní mian.
An raibh tú ann? (Were you there?)	Bhí.	Ní raibh.

UI implications

• Confirmation dialogs: do NOT use Sea / Ní hea or Tá / Níl as universal yes/no buttons unless the dialog actually asks An…? with the matching verb.
• Safe modern UI convention: use action labels:
  • Lean ar aghaidh (Continue) / Cealaigh (Cancel)
  • Sábháil (Save) / Caith amach (Discard)
  • Deimhnigh (Confirm) / Cealaigh (Cancel)
• Where a literal "Yes / No" is forced (e.g., a generic dialog whose verb is unknown): Tá / Níl is the conventional fallback in modern Irish UI, but it is not universally correct grammar. Prefer action verbs.

Béarlachas alert: Sea exists as a particle for emphasis/affirmation in some contexts (e.g., answering identity questions: An tú Seán? — Is mé. or in Munster Sea), but it is NOT the universal "yes" of English. Don't lean on it as a generic translation.

---

UI Conventions

Buttons — verbal noun (ainm briathartha) form

Irish UI buttons use the verbal noun (ainm briathartha) form, which is also the form used after ag for progressive aspect. This is the standard convention in Irish software localization, consistent with terminology from tearma.ie and established Microsoft/Apple/Google Irish localizations.

English	✓ Irish	Avoid
Save	Sábháil	Sábháiltear (autonomous), Sábháiligí (sibh imperative — only if formal-sibh)
Cancel	Cealaigh	—
Delete	Scrios	Scrios é (redundant pronoun)
Send	Seol	—
Edit	Cuir in eagar / Eagraigh	—
Search	Cuardaigh	—
Confirm	Deimhnigh	—
Continue	Lean ar aghaidh	—
Submit	Seol isteach	—
Sign in / Log in	Logáil isteach	Logála isteach (wrong form)
Sign out / Log out	Logáil amach	—
Sign up	Cláraigh	—
Next	Ar aghaidh / Ar Aghaidh	—
Back	Ar ais	—
Done	Críochnaithe / Réidh	—
OK	OK / Ceart go leor	—
Close	Dún	—
Open	Oscail	Oscail é
Upload	Uaslódáil	Uploadáil (Béarlachas)
Download	Íoslódáil	Downloadáil (Béarlachas)
Refresh	Athnuaigh	—
Settings	Socruithe	—
Apply	Cuir i bhfeidhm	—
Reset	Athshocraigh	—
Select all	Roghnaigh gach rud	—
Add more	Cuir tuilleadh leis	Cuir níos mó leis (less natural)
Copy	Cóipeáil	—
Paste	Greamaigh	—
Choose / Pick file	Roghnaigh comhad	Brabhsáil le haghaidh comhad (browser-language for picker)

Status messages — Ag + verbal noun (ongoing) / autonomous past (completed)

Irish progressive aspect is ag + ainm briathartha (literally "at saving"). This is the natural Irish way to express ongoing actions.

English	✓ Irish	Notes
Loading…	Ag lódáil… / Ag luchtú…	Either accepted; ag luchtú is more native.
Saving…	Ag sábháil…
Sending…	Ag seoladh…
Processing…	Á phróiseáil… (it being processed)	Or Ag próiseáil…
Connecting…	Ag nascadh…
Searching…	Ag cuardach…
Translating…	Ag aistriú…
Uploading…	Ag uaslódáil…
Downloading…	Ag íoslódáil…
Please wait	Fan nóiméad / Fanaigí nóiméad (sibh)	"Wait a moment"

Completion messages — autonomous past or past participle

For completed states, Irish uses either the autonomous past form (Sábháladh) or the past participle / verbal adjective (Sábháilte):

English	✓ Irish
Saved	Sábháilte (adjective form) / Sábháladh é (autonomous past, "it was saved")
Done	Críochnaithe / Déanta
Translation complete	Aistriúchán críochnaithe / Tá an t-aistriúchán réidh
File uploaded	Comhad uaslódáilte
Sent	Seolta
Payment successful	Íocaíocht éirithe / D'éirigh leis an íocaíocht

Failure / error messages — Theip ar + noun

The idiomatic Irish for "X failed" is Theip ar X (literally "failed on X") — using the prepositional pronoun pattern.

English	✓ Irish
Upload failed.	Theip ar an uaslódáil.
Connection failed.	Theip ar an nasc.
Login failed.	Theip ar an logáil isteach.
Something went wrong.	Chuaigh rud éigin amú. / Tharla earráid.
File not found.	Níor aimsíodh an comhad. (autonomous past negative — Níor + lenition)
No results found.	Níor aimsíodh aon torthaí.
Try again.	Bain triail eile as. / Triail arís.

Empty states — Níl aon / Gan

✗ Wrong / weak	✓ Native
Níl torthaí	Níl aon torthaí ("There are no results")
Níl rud roghnaithe	Níl aon rud roghnaithe / Gan aon rud roghnaithe
Folamh	Folamh (OK) or Gan ábhar ("without content")
Tá tú gan teachtaireachtaí	Níl aon teachtaireachtaí agat ("you have no messages")

Drag-and-drop

• drag → tarraing (native verb)
• drop / release → scaoil (let go) / lig (let)
• NOT dragáil (Béarlachas), saor (= free/liberate, wrong sense)

✗ Wrong	✓ Correct
Dragáil comhaid anseo	Tarraing comhaid anseo
Saor chun uaslódála	Scaoil chun uaslódála

File picker — Roghnaigh, not Brabhsáil

For file pickers, use the action-oriented verb roghnaigh (choose / select), NOT the navigation verb brabhsáil (browse). The user's goal is to choose, not to wander.

✗ Browse-language	✓ Action-language
Brabhsáil le haghaidh comhad	Roghnaigh comhad
Cliceáil chun brabhsála	Cliceáil chun roghnaithe

---

Punctuation, Numbers, Dates, Currency

Punctuation

Mark	Irish	Notes
Question mark	?	Same as English.
Comma	,	Different conjunction rules — see below.
Period	.	Same as English.
Colon	:	Same.
Quotation marks	"…"	Standard. Some style guides use „…" (Germanic) but "…" is dominant in modern Irish UI.
Apostrophe	Used in elided forms: d'éirigh, n'fheadar, b'fhéidir	Mandatory in elisions.
En-dash	–	For ranges.

Comma rules

Rule	Example
NO comma before agus (and) / is (and, contraction) / nó (or)	Cliceáil agus oscail é. / Comhad nó fillteán.
Comma before go (that, subordinating)	Tá súil agam, go n-éireoidh leat.
Comma before má (if) / dá (if-hypothetical)	Sábháil é, má tá tú réidh.
Comma before nuair (when)	Cliceáil, nuair atá tú réidh.
Comma before mar (because, as)	Theip ar an uaslódáil, mar níl ceangal idirlín ann.
Comma before a (relative — non-restrictive)	An comhad, a sábháladh inné, …

Numbers — Anglo style (UNLIKE most of Europe)

Ireland follows UK/Irish conventions, which match English: period (.) for decimals, comma (,) for thousands. This is different from continental Europe.

Format	Pattern	Example
Thousands separator	comma (,)	1,234,567
Decimal separator	period (.)	3.14 / 99.99
Negative	-25
Percent	25% (no space, English-style)

✗ Wrong (European)	✓ Correct (Irish/UK)
3,14	3.14
1.000	1,000
1 234,56	1,234.56

Dates — DD/MM/YYYY

Format	Example	Use
DD/MM/YYYY	15/01/2024	Default numeric.
D Month YYYY	15 Eanáir 2024	Long-form prose.
D Month, YYYY	15 Eanáir, 2024	Also acceptable with comma.
YYYY-MM-DD	2024-01-15	Technical / ISO only.

Irish month names (CAPITALIZED — months are capitalized in Irish, unlike English convention in some style guides):

#	Irish	English
1	Eanáir	January
2	Feabhra	February
3	Márta	March
4	Aibreán	April
5	Bealtaine	May
6	Meitheamh	June
7	Iúil	July
8	Lúnasa	August
9	Meán Fómhair	September ("middle of harvest")
10	Deireadh Fómhair	October ("end of harvest")
11	Samhain	November
12	Nollaig	December (also = Christmas)

Irish weekdays (with Dé- prefix for "day of"):

English	Irish
Monday	Dé Luain
Tuesday	Dé Máirt
Wednesday	Dé Céadaoin
Thursday	Déardaoin (irregular — historically Dé Ardaoin)
Friday	Dé hAoine (h-prefix because Aoine starts with vowel)
Saturday	Dé Sathairn
Sunday	Dé Domhnaigh

Week starts Monday (ISO 8601, Irish convention).

Time

• 24-hour preferred: 14:30.
• 12-hour acceptable with a.m. / i.n. (iarnóin = afternoon) or r.n. (roimh nóin = before-noon = morning):
  • 9.30 r.n. = 9:30 AM
  • 2.30 i.n. = 2:30 PM
• Use period (.) between hours and minutes in 12-hour format (Irish convention), but : is also accepted in modern UI.

Currency — Euro (EUR / €) — Ireland is in the eurozone

Ireland adopted the euro on 1 January 2002, replacing the Irish pound (punt). Use EUR.

Format	Pattern	Example
Symbol before amount	€	€1,234.56
ISO code	EUR	EUR 1,234.56 / 1,234.56 EUR

Number format with euro: Anglo style — period decimal, comma thousands.

• ✓ €1,234.56
• ✓ €99.99
• ✗ €1.234,56 (continental style — wrong for Ireland)
• ✗ €1 234,56 (French style — wrong for Ireland)

For "cent" subdivisions: cent is borrowed; ceint exists but cent is dominant. €0.50 reads as "caoga cent" colloquially.

---

Terminology — Preferred Irish Terms (Caighdeánach)

Use established Irish terminology from An Caighdeán Oifigiúil and the tearma.ie national terminology database. Reference also teanglann.ie (dictionary), focloir.ie (English–Irish dictionary), abair.ie (text-to-speech for pronunciation).

English	✓ Irish	Avoid (Béarlachas)
user	úsáideoir	—
account	cuntas	akkúint
password	pasfhocal ("pass-word", calque) / focal faire ("watch-word", more native)	password
settings	socruithe	settings
dashboard	deais / painéal	dashboard
email	ríomhphost ("computer-mail")	email, mejl
link	nasc	link
website	suíomh gréasáin / láithreán gréasáin	website
folder	fillteán	folder
file	comhad	file
device	gléas	divice
phone	fón / guthán	telephone
computer	ríomhaire	kompúter
application / app	feidhmchlár / app / aip	applikéisean
update (v.)	nuashonraigh / uasdátaigh	updatáil
save	sábháil	seibheáil, saveáil
delete	scrios	delete-áil
upload	uaslódáil	uploadáil
download	íoslódáil	downloadáil
sign in / log in	logáil isteach / sínigh isteach	login
sign up	cláraigh	—
search	cuardaigh	search-áil
click	cliceáil / clic	klikáil
share	comhroinn / roinn	share-áil
profile	próifíl	—
notifications	fógraí	—
privacy	príobháideacht	privacy
terms	téarmaí / coinníollacha	—
support	tacaíocht	—
help	cabhair	—
feedback	aiseolas	feedback
menu	roghchlár ("choice-list")	menu
home	baile / leathanach baile	home
browser	brabhsálaí	browser
screen	scáileán	screen
keyboard	méarchlár ("finger-board")	keyboard
mouse	luch	mouse
software	bogearraí	software
hardware	crua-earraí	hardware
video	físeán / fís-	video
photo	grianghraf / pictiúr	foto
window	fuinneog	—
menu bar	barra roghchláir	—
search bar	barra cuardaigh	—
icon	deilbhín ("little-image")	icon
error	earráid	error
warning	rabhadh	warning
language	teanga	—
font	cló	font
size	méid	size
color	dath	colour
copy (v.)	cóipeáil	—
paste (v.)	greamaigh ("stick")	pasteáil
cut (v.)	gearr	—
open (v.)	oscail	—
close (v.)	dún	—
print (v.)	priontáil / clóigh	—
send (v.)	seol	—
select (v.)	roghnaigh	—
build (software)	tóg / cruthaigh	buildáil
deploy	imscar / cuir i bhfeidhm	deployáil
pipeline (CI/CD)	pipeline (keep)	—
commit (git)	commit (keep)	—
merge (git)	cumaisc / merge (keep in code contexts)	mergeáil
repository	stór / stóras / repository	—
sync	sioncronaigh / comhshioncronaigh	—
API	API (keep — Latin always)	—
cache	taisce	—
log (n.)	logchomhad / loga	—
URL	URL (keep) / seoladh idirlín	—
WiFi	WiFi / gan sreang ("without wire")	—
internet	idirlíon	—

Place names — Ireland uses Irish forms in Irish text

English	Irish
Ireland	Éire
Republic of Ireland	Poblacht na hÉireann
Dublin	Baile Átha Cliath (BÁC)
Cork	Corcaigh
Galway	Gaillimh
Limerick	Luimneach
Belfast	Béal Feirste
Northern Ireland	Tuaisceart Éireann
United Kingdom	An Ríocht Aontaithe
United States	Stáit Aontaithe Mheiriceá (full) / SAM (abbreviated — preferred in UI)
European Union	An tAontas Eorpach (AE)
Europe	An Eoraip

Tech identifiers — keep in Latin

Inside Irish text, these stay as-is, even if they would mutate phonetically:

• Brand names: Google, Microsoft, Apple, GitHub, iPhone, Android, Facebook, Twitter/X
• Protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, REST, GraphQL, OAuth, JWT, SSH, FTP
• Formats: JSON, XML, YAML, CSV, PDF, PNG, JPEG
• Tools: Git, Docker, npm, pip, yarn
• Commands, paths, URLs, code, placeholders

Hard rule: Do NOT lenite or eclipse brand names. Google stays Google even after mo (which would normally lenite). Write mo chuntas Google (my Google account), NOT mo Ghoogle.

---

Calque / Anti-Pattern Blocklist — Béarlachas

Béarlachas (literally "English-ness") is the named, well-known anti-pattern in Irish: producing Irish text that is grammatical word-by-word but is actually just English with Irish words. It is the #1 quality failure in machine-translated Irish.

Idiom calques

✗ Béarlachas (English-shaped)	✓ Native Irish	Reason
Tá mé sorry.	Tá brón orm. ("Sorrow is on me.")	"I'm sorry" — never use English sorry.
Conas tá tú?	Conas atá tú?	Indirect relative — must include atá.
Bris cos!	Go n-éirí leat! / Ádh mór ort!	"Break a leg" — use Irish good-luck idiom.
Píosa cáca	Furasta go leor / Is beag an rud é	"Piece of cake" — calque.
Déanann sé ciall	Tá ciall leis / Is réasúnta é	"Makes sense" — calque.
Ag deireadh an lae	Ar deireadh thiar thall / Sa deireadh	"At the end of the day" — calque.
Ar an leathanach céanna	Ar aon intinn / Ar aon fhocal	"On the same page" — calque.
Tóg é go dtí an chéad leibhéal eile	Téigh níos faide / Téigh chun cinn	"Take to next level" — calque.
Tá mé ag súil chun tosaigh le	Tá mé ag tnúth le	"Look forward" — use ag tnúth le.

Vocabulary anglicisms

✗ Béarlachas	✓ Native Irish
jab (for job)	post / obair
brocáilte (for broken)	briste / lochtach
víosa (for visa — political, OK as is)	víosa (loan, fine in tech)
seibheáil	sábháil
delete-áil	scrios
download-áil	íoslódáil
upload-áil	uaslódáil
update-áil	nuashonraigh
sín-áil (signáil)	sínigh
klikáil	cliceáil
dragáil	tarraing
search-áil	cuardaigh
share-áil	comhroinn / roinn
build-áil	tóg
email-áil	seol ríomhphost

Structural calques

✗ Calque structure	✓ Native Irish	Reason
I n-ord le sábháil (in order to save)	Chun sábháil / Le haghaidh sábhála	i n-ord le is overly verbose / direct calque.
Ní féidir an comhad a bheith aimsithe	Níor aimsíodh an comhad / Comhad gan aimsiú	Passive calque → use autonomous past.
Tá sé á rá go…	(acceptable Irish)	—
Bunaithe ar	De réir / Ar bhonn	"Based on" as sentence opener — prefer concise prepositional.
Bain triail as é	Bain triail as	Pronoun é redundant — Irish already encodes object in as.
Cuir níos mó leis	Cuir tuilleadh leis	"Add more" — tuilleadh is the natural Irish word.
Taispeáin níos mó	Taispeáin tuilleadh	"Show more" — tuilleadh more natural.

Compound-adjective calques

English forms like "AI-powered", "X-driven", "X-aware" do NOT have direct Irish equivalents using hyphens. Restructure:

✗ Hyphen calque	✓ Native Irish
AI-tiomáinte	le cumhacht AI / ag úsáid AI / le cabhair AI
Cumhachtaithe-AI	le cumhacht AI
X-tiomáinte	bunaithe ar X / ag úsáid X
Data-driven	bunaithe ar shonraí
User-friendly	éasca le húsáid / so-úsáidte

False friends (focail bhréige)

Irish word	What it actually means	English looks like	Correct for the English
actually does NOT exist; aktually is wrong	—	"actually"	i ndáiríre / go fíor
eventually does NOT translate directly	—	"eventually"	ar deireadh / sa deireadh
originally does NOT translate directly	—	"originally"	ó thús / i dtosach
Béarla	the English language	"Béarla" looks borrowed	(means "English")
Sasanach	English person	—	(means "English person")
Cárta	card	(loan, fine)	—

---

Self-Check Checklist (Run Before Returning Output)

Mutations (auto-fail on miss)

• Séimhiú (lenition) applied after mo, do, a(his), an+fem.sg, numbers 2–6, past particle, vocative a, prepositions de/do/ó/faoi/ar/roimh/mar/trí/um.
• Urú (eclipsis) applied after ár, bhur, a(their), i (in), numbers 7–10, interrogative an, dependent particles go/nach/mura/dá.
• L, N, R, vowels NOT lenited (no lh, nh, rh).
• L, M, N, R, S NOT eclipsed.
• Vowel after eclipsis trigger gets n- prefix (e.g., ár n-úsáideoirí, i n-Albain).
• Fem. sg. starting with vowel takes NO mutation after an (an oifig, NOT an hoifig).
• Masc. sg. starting with vowel takes t- prefix after an (an t-úsáideoir).
• Fem. sg. starting with s + vowel/l/n/r takes ts after an (an tseachtain, an tsráid).
• Plural starting with vowel takes h- prefix after na (na hoifigí).
• Numbers 2–6 lenite the following SINGULAR noun (trí chomhad).
• Numbers 7–10 eclipse the following SINGULAR noun (seacht gcomhad).

Special characters (auto-fail)

• Fadas (´) preserved on long vowels: á é í ó ú. Never Eire, failte, cead. Always Éire, fáilte, céad.
• Common UI words spelled correctly: Gaeilge, Éire, fáilte, sábháil, íoslódáil, uaslódáil, úsáideoir, comhad, socruithe.

Orthography

• Caol le caol, leathan le leathan preserved — surrounding vowels match in quality (slender e/i with consonant; broad a/o/u with consonant).

Grammar (high-severity)

• VSO word order — verb first in declarative main clauses (Shábháil an t-úsáideoir an comhad, NOT An t-úsáideoir shábháil…).
• Copula is vs substantive tá correctly chosen — Is dochtúir é (classification) vs Tá sé sa siopa (location/state).
• No verb "to have" — use tá X ag Y (Tá leabhar agam, NOT Tá mé leabhar).
• Prepositional pronouns used — agam/agat/aige/aici/againn/agaibh/acu, etc. NEVER ag mé, ar tú, le sibh.
• Singular noun after numbers 1–10 (5 chomhad, NOT 5 chomhaid).
• Genitive case after verbal nouns (ag sábháil an chomhaid, NOT ag sábháil an comhad).
• Genitive case after compound prepositions (os comhair an úsáideora, i ndiaidh an chomhaid).
• Feminine sg. adj. lenited (bean bheag, oifig mhór).
• Masc. sg. adj. unchanged (carr mór, fear mór).
• Plural article na triggers eclipsis in genitive (luach na gcomhad).

UI conventions

• Buttons use verbal noun (ainm briathartha) form: Sábháil, Scrios, Cealaigh, Cóipeáil.
• Status messages use Ag + verbal noun for ongoing: Ag sábháil…, Ag íoslódáil….
• Completion uses past participle / autonomous past: Sábháilte, Sábháladh é, Seolta.
• Failures use Theip ar: Theip ar an uaslódáil, Theip ar an nasc.
• Empty states use Níl aon or Gan: Níl aon torthaí, Gan aon rud roghnaithe.
• Drag-drop uses Tarraing + Scaoil — NOT Dragáil / Saor.
• File picker uses Roghnaigh — NOT Brabhsáil.
• No yes/no buttons unless dialog asks An…? with a matching verb. Prefer action labels (Sábháil/Cealaigh, Lean ar aghaidh/Cealaigh).

Béarlachas (anti-calque)

• No anglicism-verb hybrids: NO seibheáil, deleteáil, updateáil, downloadáil, uploadáil, klikáil, searcháil, shareáil, dragáil, signáil.
• No anglicism nouns when native exists: NO email, password, dashboard, software, browser, screen, mouse, keyboard. Use ríomhphost, pasfhocal, deais, bogearraí, brabhsálaí, scáileán, luch, méarchlár.
• No structural calques: NO i n-ord le for "in order to"; use chun. NO tá mé sorry; use tá brón orm.
• Idiomatic phrases use Irish forms: Conas atá tú? (NOT Conas tá tú?); Tá brón orm (NOT tá mé sorry); Ar aon intinn (NOT ar an leathanach céanna).
• Brand names not mutated: Google, Apple, Microsoft stay as-is even after mo/do/ár.

Formatting

• Numbers: period for decimal, comma for thousands (Anglo style — 1,234.56).
• Dates: DD/MM/YYYY (15/01/2024) or 15 Eanáir 2024.
• Months capitalized: Eanáir, Feabhra, Márta…
• Currency: EUR € (Ireland is in eurozone since 2002) — €1,234.56.
• No comma before agus / nó / is.
• Comma before go / má / dá / nuair / mar / a (relative).

Register

• tú or sibh consistent throughout — never mixed within the same product.
• Possessive matches register: do + lenition (tú-form); bhur + eclipsis (sibh-form).
• Verb endings match register: roghnaigh (2sg imperative for tú); roghnaígí (2pl imperative for sibh).

---

Worked Examples

Example 1 — Standard UI (informal tú, native vocabulary)

Source (English):

Welcome back! You have 3 new files in your account. Click Continue to review them or Cancel to stay here. Saving your changes…

Register check: Consumer product UI → casual tú, native Irish vocabulary, no Béarlachas.

Translation:

Fáilte ar ais! Tá 3 chomhad nua agat i do chuntas. Cliceáil ar Lean ar aghaidh chun iad a athbhreithniú, nó ar Cealaigh chun fanacht anseo. Ag sábháil do chuid athruithe…

Why this works:

• Fáilte ar ais! — native greeting.
• Tá 3 chomhad nua agat — uses tá + ag for "have"; 3 chomhad (number 3 + lenition + singular noun); agat (prepositional pronoun for "at you-sg" = "you have"); nua (adjective unchanged, since comhad is masc.).
• i do chuntas — i (in) + do (your-sg, lenites) + cuntas → chuntas. The preposition i would normally eclipse, but combined with possessive do we get lenition from do.
• Buttons: Lean ar aghaidh, Cealaigh (verbal noun / imperative form).
• chun iad a athbhreithniú — chun + obj. pronoun iad + particle a + verbal noun (purpose construction).
• Ag sábháil do chuid athruithe… — ag + verbal noun sábháil (progressive); do chuid athruithe (your changes — do chuid is the partitive possessive construction used for abstract/plural nouns).
• All fadas preserved.

Example 2 — Anglicism rejection

Source: Click here to download the software update.

✗ Béarlachas-heavy:

Clikeáil anseo chun an software update a downloadáil.

✓ Native Irish:

Cliceáil anseo chun nuashonrú na mbogearraí a íoslódáil.

Notes:

• Clikeáil → Cliceáil (native verb form).
• software update → nuashonrú na mbogearraí (compound noun — "update of the software"). na mbogearraí is the genitive plural with na + eclipsis on b (bogearraí → mbogearraí).
• downloadáil → íoslódáil (native verb).
• Word order: VO with a + verbal noun infinitive construction (chun X a íoslódáil = "to download X").

Example 3 — Mutations after possessives

Source: My file is in our folder, but their folder is empty.

Translation:

Tá mo chomhad inár bhfillteán, ach tá a bhfillteán siúd folamh.

Notes:

• mo chomhad — mo (my) + lenition: comhad → chomhad.
• inár bhfillteán — i (in) + ár (our) contracts to inár; ár triggers eclipsis: fillteán → bhfillteán.
• a bhfillteán siúd — a (their) + eclipsis on fillteán → bhfillteán; siúd is emphatic ("their, that one over there").
• folamh (empty) — adjective; fillteán is masc., so no lenition on adj.
• VSO: Tá first in both clauses.

Example 4 — VSO and copula vs tá

Source: The user is an administrator. The administrator is in the system.

Translation:

Is riarthóir é an t-úsáideoir. Tá an riarthóir sa chóras.

Notes:

• Sentence 1: classification ("user is an administrator") → copula is. Structure: Is [pred. noun] [subj. pron.] [subj.] = Is riarthóir é an t-úsáideoir.
• Sentence 2: location ("administrator is in the system") → substantive tá. VSO.
• an t-úsáideoir — masc. noun starting with vowel → t- prefix after an.
• sa chóras — sa (in the) is contraction of i + an and triggers lenition: córas → chóras.

Example 5 — Numbers + mutations

Source: You have 1 file, 3 files, 8 files, 12 files.

Translation:

Tá 1 chomhad amháin agat. Tá 3 chomhad agat. Tá 8 gcomhad agat. Tá 12 chomhad agat.

Notes:

• 1 → lenition + amháin: aon chomhad amháin (or 1 chomhad amháin).
• 3 → lenition (numbers 2–6): 3 chomhad.
• 8 → eclipsis (numbers 7–10): 8 gcomhad.
• 12 → no mutation in standard (numbers 11+ generally take no mutation, but some style guides still apply lenition with déag constructions). For UI ICU other form, 12 comhad is also acceptable. Above we used 12 chomhad reflecting the older convention; both are defensible.

Example 6 — Genitive after verbal noun

Source: Saving the file… The file has been saved.

Translation:

Ag sábháil an chomhaid… Sábháladh an comhad. / Tá an comhad sábháilte.

Notes:

• Ongoing: Ag sábháil an chomhaid — ag + verbal noun sábháil + genitive an chomhaid (comhad → chomhaid with lenition + slenderization). Wrong would be ag sábháil an comhad.
• Completion: Sábháladh an comhad (autonomous past — "it-was-saved the file") OR Tá an comhad sábháilte (state — "the file is saved").

Example 7 — Failure message

Source: Upload failed. Please try again.

Translation:

Theip ar an uaslódáil. Bain triail eile as, le do thoil.

Notes:

• Theip ar (failed on) + an uaslódáil — the idiomatic Irish for failure. Theip is the past tense of teip (fail).
• Bain triail eile as — "take another try out of [it]" — idiomatic for "try again". as is the preposition; no redundant é.
• le do thoil — "with your-sg will" = "please" (informal). For sibh: le bhur dtoil.

Example 8 — Currency and dates

Source: Your subscription costs €9.99 per month. Next payment: 15/01/2024.

Translation:

Cosnaíonn do shíntiús €9.99 in aghaidh na míosa. Chéad íocaíocht eile: 15/01/2024 (15 Eanáir 2024).

Notes:

• EUR with period decimal: €9.99 (Anglo style — Ireland uses period decimals).
• do shíntiús — do (your-sg) + lenition on síntiús → shíntiús.
• in aghaidh na míosa — "per month" (literally "in face of the month"); na míosa is genitive sg. of mí (month).
• Date format: 15/01/2024 numeric or 15 Eanáir 2024 long-form. Month capitalized.

---

When in Doubt

1. Default to Irish (ga-IE), An Caighdeán Oifigiúil, informal tú form (unless explicitly formal sibh requested), native Irish vocabulary (no Béarlachas), DD/MM/YYYY dates, EUR with period decimals.
2. If you wrote an anglicism-verb hybrid (seibheáil, deleteáil, updateáil, downloadáil, klikáil) → fix to native Irish verb (sábháil, scrios, nuashonraigh, íoslódáil, cliceáil).
3. If you stripped a fada (Eire, failte, cead) → restore (Éire, fáilte, céad).
4. If you used SVO word order (An t-úsáideoir shábháil…) → fix to VSO (Shábháil an t-úsáideoir…).
5. If you wrote ag mé, ar tú, le sibh → use the prepositional pronoun (agam, ort, libh).
6. If you confused is and tá (used Tá sé dochtúir for classification) → switch to copula (Is dochtúir é).
7. If you forgot the genitive after a verbal noun (ag sábháil an comhad) → apply genitive (ag sábháil an chomhaid).
8. If you applied mutation to a brand name (mo Ghoogle) → leave brand names unchanged (mo chuntas Google).
9. If you used English plural noun after a number (5 chomhaid) → use singular with mutation by range (5 chomhad, 8 gcomhad).
10. If you mixed tú and sibh (or do and bhur) → pick one and apply throughout.
11. If a feminine singular noun is missing lenition after an (an bean) → apply (an bhean).
12. If you forgot the t- prefix on a masculine vowel-initial noun after an (an úsáideoir) → apply (an t-úsáideoir).
13. If you used Sea / Ní hea or Tá / Níl as universal yes/no without checking the question verb → use action labels (Sábháil / Cealaigh, Lean ar aghaidh / Cealaigh).
14. If currency uses European number format (€1.234,56) → fix to Anglo style (€1,234.56).
15. If the source has a "powered by X" or "X-driven" hyphenated calque → restructure to le cumhacht X, bunaithe ar X, ag úsáid X.
16. If you didn't apply eclipsis after i (in) on a place name (i Gaillimh) → apply (i nGaillimh).
17. If you broke broad/slender vowel harmony in an inflected form → use the dictionary (teanglann.ie, tearma.ie) rather than inventing the form.
18. If your translation reads like word-by-word English with Irish vocabulary → stop and rewrite from the meaning. This is Béarlachas, the named anti-pattern. Read the Irish out loud — would a Gaeltacht speaker say this?

Final reminder — Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam. Irish UI is read by a small, motivated, language-conscious audience that includes the Government, RTÉ/TG4, language activists, Gaeltacht communities, and tens of thousands of L2 learners. The grammatical bar is high. The political bar (no Béarlachas, no English calques, no anglicism-verb-hybrids) is even higher. Translate it WELL.