Lá Idirnáisiúnta na mBan faoi mhaise duit
The English phrase "happy international women's day" in Irish is Lá Idirnáisiúnta na mBan faoi mhaise duit.
This phrase is a greeting used to wish someone a happy International Women's Day.
What does it mean word for word?
The term na mBan uses the genitive plural form of "women" to indicate "of the women".
Is it said differently in some regions?
In the standard Irish language, you may see Lá Idirnáisiúnta na mBan shona duit. In some dialects, such as Connacht Irish, the form Lá Idirnáisiúnta na mBan shona ort. is used.
How does it change in a sentence?
The phrase Lá Idirnáisiúnta na mBan faoi mhaise duit is addressed to a single person. To address a group of people, you change duit to daoibh to form Lá Idirnáisiúnta na mBan faoi mhaise daoibh.
Did you know?
- The word faoi in this greeting technically translates to 'under', but it has evolved over centuries to mean 'about' or 'concerning' in this specific context.
- Instead of using a direct adjective for 'happy' like in English, the phrase faoi mhaise duit uses a structure that effectively wishes 'goodness upon you'.
- The word lá shares a common Proto-Indo-European ancestor with many other words for 'day' across different ancient languages.
Examples in context
- Lá Idirnáisiúnta na mBan faoi mhaise duit.Happy International Women's Day to you.
Example conversation
Oisín is greeting Saoirse in the office.
- OisínLá Idirnáisiúnta na mBan faoi mhaise duit, a Saoirse!Happy International Women's Day, Saoirse!
- SaoirseGo raibh maith agat, a Oisín!Thank you, Oisín!
- OisínAn bhfuil tú ag dul amach anocht?Are you going out tonight?
- SaoirseTá, táim ag dul amach le mo chairde.Yes, I am going out with my friends.
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries duit, faoi, idirnáisiúnta, lá, CC BY-SA 4.0.
