"Tá cóta gorm uaithi."
Translation:She wants a blue coat.
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Which part of this suggests the want (or need)? It can only be "Tá [..] uaithi", but I'm not understanding how something that seems to mean "is from her" becomes need or want. A previous sentence was "Teastaíonn bricfeasta uainn" (We need breakfast / Breakfast is needed by us), so I can see that the "need" part comes from "teastaíonn". Is there a literal way of getting want/need from "Tá [..] uaithi" or is it just something that is idiomatic and/or needs to be memorized? Could it possibly mean anything else for example?
Tá ... uaithi does indeed mean "she wants ...", as does teastaíonn ... uaithi. If you're on mobile and haven't read the tips & notes, I suggest you read them once for each unit on a computer. They cover this topic (and many others) and I think they're essential for the Duolingo Irish course.
Why haven't they included the notes on the app like the other languages have?
Has the tá … uaim vs. teastaíonn … uaim distinction which Lancet posted about in this discussion since been reconsidered?
By the by, someone wrote in the 'Colours' section that 'gorm' can be used in much broader contexts, e.g. to refer to black people. And here, could it also mean any sort of dark-coloured coat?
If using a mobile device, you may have to login to Duolingo using your browser instead of the app to access the "tips and notes" section.
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Why not "the blue coat"? Anything in the hints suggested it was "a" in fact it didnt showed me any article to be used. How would i know if is "the" or "a"?
Irish doesn't use indefinite articles. English only uses an indefinite article for singular nouns - it doesn't have an indefinite article for plurals.
The singular definite article in Irish is an (an cóta - "the coat), and the plural definite article is na (na cótaí* - "the coats").
You use "a" in this translation because English needs an indefinite article in this example, even though Irish doesn't.
(Articles get slightly more complicated in the Genitive case, later in the course).
This means "She has a blue coat." Yet Duolingo somehow puts "Wants" in there
Tá cóta gorm aici. - "She has a blue coat"
Tá cóta gorm uaithi. - "She wants/needs a blue coat"
Tá cóta gorm uaithi. - "She wants/needs a blue coat"
Tá cóta gorm uirthi. - "She has a blue coat on"
Ní hionann iad uaithi" agus "uirthi.