Irish Gaelic Terms of Endearment—with approximate
pronunciations
I love you. Tá grá
agam duit. /tau grau AH-gum dit/
I’m in love with you. Táim i
ngrá leat. /toym ih nraw laht/
You are my love. Is tú mo
ghrá /iss too muh ghraw/ or /iss too
muh hraw/
The following, except for “mo
chuisle,” are in the vocative case—used when
addressing someone directly, in writing or orally. You could replace the “A”
with “Mo,” but that seems less common.
A Ghrá Mo Chroí Oh
darling; Beloved of my heart! /ah ghraw muh khree/
A Ghrá Geal Oh bright love! /ah ghraw gyall/ or /ah hraw
gyall/
A Rún Oh love! Oh Darling! [ah roon/ Pretty common phrase.
A Mhuirnín My dear /ah WEER-neen/
A Stór! My darling /ah store/ Another
common phrase.
A Thaisce My treasure /ah
HAHSH-kuh/
Mo Chuisle Literally, “my pulse” /muh KWISH-luh/
A Chuisle Mo Chroí! O pulse of my
heart! /ah KWISH-luh muh khree/ This is
my favorite.
Closing a letter: Le
grá (with love) /luh graw/
Note: the Irish “ch” sound is
close to the “ch” in the Scottish word “loch.” Very similar also to German “ch.”
The Irish “gh” can be transcribed in different ways. The “g” has a bit of a
fricative sound. I transcribe the word “ghrá” either as /ghraw/ or /hraw/.
Irish vowels with accent marks (fadas) over them are long. The long “a” sounds
like “aw” in many dialects of Irish.
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