"Is maith liom mairteoil."
Translation:I like beef.
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So...the way Irish expresses a like for something, is along the lines of "is good with me"?
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In the present and conditional tense, haha. To do future tense you'd say "It shines with me"
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Cornish does the same :)
Da yw genev kig bewin. "Good is with-me meat beef."
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Kernewek Dre Lyther (Cornish By Letter) ("Cornish by email" nowadays, of course).
I later got a couple of textbooks (Bora Brav, Skeul an Tavas, Desky Kernowek) to supplement that but KDL was my main tool.
Extremely handy if you can't attend a face-to-face class; much better to have a real teacher at the other end of an email who can answer questions and correct errors before they sink in, compared to just working by yourself from a book with no feedback beyond the answers at the back.
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You are the second person to tell me about that. I probably ought to look into it. Thanks
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No, it's more like "I have a like for ..." or more literally, there is a like upon me for ....
When a feminine noun is preceded by the definite article 'an' then the noun is lenited. So the feminie noun 'mairteoil' means 'beef' but 'an mhairteoil' means 'the beef'. I don't know if there are exceptions to this rule but I believe this is what is happening here.
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Is there a difference between mairteoil and mhairteoil? Feel like I've seen it both ways here...
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No, it's depends of syntax, other grammar stuff and phonetics. Sometimes consonant is weak and we mark it by put "h" after the weak consonant. For example:
cos - leg, BUT: Tá an chos tinn arís. - Leg is hurt again.
cathaoir - chair, BUT: Tá an chathaoir compordach. - The chair is comfortable.
bean - woman, BUT: Níl an bhean ag caint. - Woman isn't talking.
This rule is very complicated, so don't worry, if you have problem with that. For more, read about lenition in Irish.
(Sorry for unclear answer, but English isn't my naitive language, and my every try to explanation of Irish grammar is like a nigtmare...)
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The only difference between them (mhairteoil is just a lenited version of mairteoil ) is how their initial consonants are pronounced. The m in mairteoil is pronounced like an English M, and the mh in mhairteoil is pronounced like an English W or V (depending upon dialect).
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Mairteoil is its fundamental form, without any lenition applied. Mhairteoil is its form when lenited.
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I wish I could tell you exactly why - but I asked the same question early on - I think we see this example before we get to the lesson on lenition. :)
So "Is maith liom mairteoil" would be like "Is Good ___ Beef"? Whats the meaning of Liom?
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"with me". liom is from le "with" + mé "me". (Like agam "at me" is from ag + mé.)
I just have to remember Irish follow Verb-Suject-Object word order and soon saying the sentence like "it's good I like beef" becomes second nature.