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- "Itheann na mná ceapaire agus…
"Itheann na mná ceapaire agus ólann siad bainne."
Translation:The women eat a sandwich and they drink milk.
21 Comments
Multiple women eating one sandwich? I think this sentence should be altered.
Why so? Two women could be sharing a sandwich...maybe they're on a diet? Or maybe a groups of woman are sharing a massive sandwich for the sake of it? We can't judge these women for eating the one sandwich...
My guess is that if they were eating sandwitches, it would be plural in the Irish sentence, and we should be able to catch that. Given my current level in Irish I wouldn't be able to make the plural "sandwiches", though :D
I kinda agree with Ditty, maybe accept both? Seems like both can be used. Just a thought.
Both can't be used. This sentence can only mean "The women eat a sandwich ..."
In Philadelphia, it's common to have a hoagie the length of the table sliced into small segments at catered luncheons. https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-50af4cde5151b5f2674aaa9f67cd5254
Y'know, I wouldn't have thought of that, but I think that's pretty widespread. I remember doing that at a couple of companies where I worked.
Use of singular implies one sandwich per person. In a more general context if each person has or can have only one of an item the singular is always used. For example "their heads" in English goes into Irish as "a gceann" (their head) - "a gcinn" (their heads) would sound most strange as it would that they had more than one each. The sentence as it stands is correct.
When I hear the word "mná" it sounds like "mraw". I keep hearing an "r" sound.
How is it pronounced?
According to wiktionary, mná is pronounced /mˠɾˠɑː/ in Connacht. Link: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mn%C3%A1
For people who don't understand the International Phonetic Alphabet, a link to the sound database at www.teanglann.ie might be more helpful:
https://www.teanglann.ie/en/fuaim/mn%c3%a1
In both Ulster Irish and Connacht Irish, certain worlds that are spelled with an "n" have an "r" pronunciation. (cnoc is another example that crops up on Duolingo). In Munster Irish, and for most people who aren't native speakers from Connacht or Ulster, the "n" is pronounced as an "n".
Could mean simply two women. My mom and I split sandwiches still when we get together, just like we did when I was younger. I think it is fine ;)
I think we should here the "d" in siad as I thought she was saying "se" ie he
Although the d in siad might not be easily heard in this recording, the two vowel sounds are clear, so it still makes sense to conclude that siad was spoken rather than sé.
One of two acceptable pronunciations. In the south it's pronounced "mnaw" as spelt.
