Haigh, a chairde.

I am pretty new with making sentences, so I tried to practice by writing "My girlfriend gave me a book" as Gaeilge. What I came up with was:

Thug mo cailín* mé leabhar.

Or, being more specific, thug mo cailín mé An Hobad.

I thought it might also be something like thug mo cailín leabhar dom.

Am I on the right track at all, or completely wrong? Should cailín be chailín when after mo?

*I wasn't sure what the best term for "girlfriend" was, so I just used cailín. Is there a better term?

GRMA for your help.

it's not right



It is "thug mo chailín leabhar dom" in standard Irish and "thug mo chailín leabhar domh" in Ulster Irish.
If it's "an Hobad" it is "thug mo chailín 'An Hobad' domh".
If it's a gift you can use "bhronn" (Ulster "phronn") instead of "thug".
"Mé" cannot be used to say "to me" as in "to give me something/to give something to me".

"Cailín" preceded by a possessive is the common word for "girlfriend" as far as I know.

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

Yes, mo chailín for "my girlfriend".

As Lughaidh said above, you need to keep dom in the Irish. (Standard and Munster Irish use dom, Connemara uses dhom (Munster Irish also uses dhom after a vowel or silent consonant), and Ulster Irish uses domh.)

The standard versions are:

Thug mo chailín leabhar dom. "My girlfriend gave me a book" (CO)
Thug mo chailín "An Hobad" dom. "My girlfriend gave me 'The Hobbit'" (CO)
Thug mo chailín dom é. "My girlfriend gave it to me." (CO)

In Connemara, leabhar is mixed gender and so the pronoun is í:

Thug mo chailín dhom í. "My girlfriend gave it to me." (GC)

If you use bronn, then dom changes to orm:

Bhronn mo chailín "An Hobad" orm. "My girlfriend gave me 'The Hobbit' as a present" (CO)

But I think they use agam in Connemara, i.e., Bhronn mo chailín "An Hobad" agam. (possibly originally chugam?)

(Corrections welcome.)

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

In Ulster too (it's not mixed gender in Ulster, it's really feminine: leabhar bheag...)



in Ulster too : Phronn mo chailín 'An Hobad' orm.

_________________
Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

In Connemara, it can be leabhar mór or leabhar mhór, etc., and ainm an leabhair bháin for the genitive, but the pronoun is usually feminine.

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

In Munster leabhar is masculine, leabhar mór never *leabhar mhór. However you use í to refer to a book always.

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The dialect I use is Cork Irish.
Ar sgáth a chéile a mhairid na daoine, lag agus láidir, uasal is íseal

Ficrí aisteach anseo ach deirtear dom i dToraigh

Ghníom dearmad air sin i dtólamh
Tuighe a n-abrann siad sin "dom", ffs ?
Grma a Bhen

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

Tá sé aisteach gan dabht ar bith - tá mé cheapadh go raibh siad i dteaghmháil le muintir Mhaigh Eo fadó ó shoin ag iascach agus chuile rud (céard a deir siad i Maigh Eo ar aon chaoi?) agus chuaigh dom i bhfeidhm ar a gcuid cainte. An scéal céanna in Oileán Acla tá a gcuid Gaeilge faoi thionchar muintir Dhún na nGall mar d'aistrigh go leor acab go dtí an t-oileán sin i bhfad siar sa gcéad aimsir.