How to Say "Something" in Irish

rud éigin

/ˈɾˠɞd̪ˠ ˈeːɟɪnʲ/word by word

The English word 'something' is translated into Irish as rud éigin.

rud éigin is used to refer to an unspecified object.

Meaning: unspecified object (pron)

How does it change in a sentence?

In Irish, instead of using a single word as in English, rud éigin is a construction where the pronoun éigin follows the noun rud.

/ˈɾˠɞd̪ˠ ˈeːɟɪnʲ/

The word éigin shares a common ancestor with the word éigean, which refers to 'trouble' or 'distress' in Irish.
The word rud can mean 'something' or 'a thing' but it is also used to describe a quality or characteristic of a person.
Irish speakers often use rud as a filler word in conversation to avoid repeating a complex noun, similar to how English speakers use 'thingy'.

Tá rud éigin briste agam.
I have broken something.
This example shows how to say you have broken something using rud éigin.
Tatoeba #10471153 by koala, translation #10272438 by SabukHitam
Tá sé ag déanamh rud éigin ansin.
He's doing something there.
This example shows how to say someone is doing something using rud éigin.
Tatoeba #871647 by kemushi69, translation #871644 by CM
Tá Tomás ag triail rud éigin nua.
Tom is trying something new.
This example shows how to say someone is trying something new using rud éigin.
Tatoeba #10317545 by koala, translation #8558555 by CK
9 more sentences on Tatoeba

Siobhán and Conor are in the kitchen.

Sources

Wiktionary, “something” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
IPA marked “word by word” joins the Wiktionary pronunciations of each word (rud, éigin) and can differ in connected speech.
Word origins: Wiktionary entries rud, éigin, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.

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