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Halò agus fàilte air ais gu Blasad Beag, am pàirt dhan phrògram a tha aig ìre a tha beagan nas sìmplidh agus a tha air a dhealbh dhuibhse a tha a’ tòiseachadh ag ionnsachadh. Hello and welcome back to Blasad Beag. In this part of the programme, we’ll teach you some simple Gaelic, that will be useful if you’re new to the language.

An t-seachdain sa, tha sinn a’ dol a thoirt sùil air ainmean airson diofar bheathaichean. This week, we’re going to look at names of different types of animals. Beathaichean. Animals. Beathaichean. Or beathach for the singular form. Beathach, animal. Beathach. You might also hear the words ainmhidh or ainmhidh used, in Gaelic for an animal, ainmhidh or ainmhidh depending on your accent. If you were speaking about pets, however, you would use the word Peataichean. Pets. Peataichean. Peataichean. We’ll look at the words for different animals in their singular forms, and later on, we’ll look at their plural forms.

Nach tòisich sinn ma-thà? Let’s get started. We’ll begin with some of the most common animals.

The Gaelic for dog is cù. Cù.

A rabbit is coineanach. Coineanach. Although, you may also hear, specifically in Lewis, rabaid. Rabaid or coineanach.

A cat is quite an easy one to remember, as the Gaelic word for cat is.... cat! Cat.

What about a sheep? Caora. A sheep. Caora.

A pig is muc in Gaelic. Muc. A pig. Muc.

The Gaelic for a chicken or a hen is cearc or cearc. Cearc or cearc.

The word for a cow is bò. A cow. Bò.

Three more now. The Gaelic for a horse is each or each. A horse. Each or each.

Iasg is the Gaelic word for a fish. Iasg.

And finally, the Gaelic word for a bird is eun. A bird. Eun. You might also hear the word isean used in some areas. Isean or eun.

Ceart ma-thà. Èistibh ris a’ chòmhradh a leanas mu pheataichean. Listen to this conversation about pets, and try to follow what’s being said!

Guth 1 (Calum): A bheil peataichean agad?
Guth 2 (Eilidh): Tha, tha dà chù agam. A bheil peataichean agad fhèin?
Guth 1 (Calum): Tha each agam, agus tha dà chat agam cuideachd!

A bheil fios agaibh dè na peataichean a th’ aig Calum agus Eilidh? Did you figure out which animals Calum and Eilidh have?

Thuirt Eilidh gu bheil dà chù aice. Eilidh said she has two dogs. Cù. A dog. However, dà chù, two dogs. The consonant usually lenites after the word dà – although there are some instances where this doesn’t happen, for example, with vowels. Therefore, instead of dà cù, you would say dà chù. Two dogs. Dà chù.

Thuirt Calum gu bheil each aige, agus thuirt e gu bheil dà chat aige cuideachd. Calum said he had a horse. Each. Horse. He also said that he had two cats. Dà chat. Two cats. Notice how the word cat lenites after the word dà, just like the word cù was lenited previously. Dà chat. Two cats. Dà chù. Two dogs.

Uill, tha mi an dòchas gun do dh’ionnsaich sibh uile rudeigin ùr an-diugh! I hope you’ve all learnt something new today. A podcast of the Blasad Beag episodes from the previous series is available on our website – if you want to continue to practise your Gaelic, agus cuimhnichibh cuideachd sùil a thoirt air an làraich-lìn airson tuilleadh Gàidhlig shìmplidh ionnsachadh. Remember to have a look at the website to learn more simple Scottish Gaelic! Tioraidh an-dràsta!