Learning Irish: the mistakes to expect, by first language

Verb first (VSO word order): Irish opens the sentence with the verb: "Ólaim tae" = I drink tea, "Itheann Seán arán" = Seán eats bread. Action, then who, then what. Two verbs "to be": tá vs is: tá describes a state or a place ("Tá mé tuirseach", "Tá mé sa bhaile"); is classifies or identifies ("Is dochtúir mé", "Is mise Seán"). "Tá mé dochtúir" is always wrong. No words for yes and no: You answer by echoing the verb: "An bhfuil tú go maith?" → "Tá" / "Níl"; "An ólann tú tae?" → "Ólaim" / "Ní ólaim". No word for "a/an": A bare noun is already indefinite: leabhar = a book, an leabhar = the book. There is simply nothing to add for "a". Séimhiú — lenition, the added h: Possessives, prepositions, the past tense and the numbers 2–6 soften the first consonant: cat → mo chat, bean → an bhean, ceannaigh → cheannaigh mé, trí chapall. Urú — eclipsis, a new letter in front: After "ár", after "i", after the question particle "an" and after 7–10, a new consonant takes over the sound: bád → ár mbád, cat → ár gcat, Gaillimh → i nGaillimh, "An dtuigeann tú?". Prepositional pronouns (agam, orm, liom): Preposition and pronoun fuse into one word: ag + mé = agam, ar + mé = orm, le + mé = liom. They carry a huge share of everyday Irish. There is no verb "to have": The thing is AT you: "Tá leabhar agam" = I have a book, "Tá Gaeilge agam" = I speak Irish. Feelings sit ON you: "Tá ocras orm" = I am hungry. Genitive case + noun gender: Every noun is masculine or feminine, and "of" reshapes it: teach → doras an tí, bóthar → barr an bhóthair, Éire → muintir na hÉireann. The autonomous (impersonal) verb: Instead of a passive, Irish uses a one-word form with no subject at all: "Labhraítear Gaeilge anseo" = Irish is spoken here; "Rugadh i nGaillimh mé" = I was born in Galway. ag + verbal noun for "-ing": "Tá mé ag ól tae" = I am drinking tea, beside the habitual "Ólaim tae" = I drink tea. And the object comes BEFORE the verbal noun with "a": "Ba mhaith liom é a dhéanamh". Broad vs slender consonants: Every consonant has two flavours — broad (next to a, o, u) and slender (next to i, e). "bó" and "beo" differ in nothing else: caol le caol, leathan le leathan. Silent-looking letter clusters: bh/mh = v or w (leabhar, samhradh), th = h (athair), dh/gh often vanish, ch = the /x/ of "loch". Never pronounce Irish the way the English eye reads it. The fada is length, not stress: A síneadh fada makes the vowel long and changes the word: "sean" (old) is not "Seán" (John), "caca" is not "cáca". Stress in Irish usually sits on the first syllable anyway.

Yes. Your first language shapes the mistakes you make: its sounds, word order and grammar leak into Irish. That is why WordSlick shows different traps for, say, English speakers and Spanish speakers, and coaches each one separately.

Yes. AskSlick, WordSlick’s AI tutor, holds Irish conversations at your level, role-plays real situations and corrects you gently, explaining in your own language.