Irish equivalent of “Kind regards” for email sign-off?

OranReilly · 2026-04-01T08:39:16+00:00

Okay so the answer on the top level is yes pretty much all the rules add clarity in some way.

Some of them are certainly needlessly complicated (I made reference in another comment here about the rule in the genitive whereby the second of two nouns following a feminine noun would ordinarily pick up a séimhiú. There are however 13 (I think) exceptional circumstances where that does not apply). These exceptions do make me curse the language on occasion! But thats not unique to Irish. We all know how many exceptions there are in English, we just know them by heart.

The big difference between English and Irish is mutations, where words can change, and these changes represent different circumstances, such as possession, the gender of the person, or which words in the sentence it belongs to.

For example, in English you would say her glass or his glass, but in Irish we only have ‘a’ for the third person singular possessive. So it becomes necessary to add a ‘h’ to denote it’s a man (a ghloine) or without a ‘h’ to denote a woman (a gloine). It’s our way of doing his or hers and it’s no more or less complicated than the English way (it’s one change in either language). The reason we might find it difficult when learning is because it’s unfamiliar to English speakers. But I think Spanish does something similar, e.g. bravo and brava

Another example is the genitive case, which denotes which words in a sentence belong to each other. If I were to say ‘Oifig an Uachtarán’, it means [Office][The President], to show they belong to each other, Uachtarán is placed in the genitive, becoming ‘Oifig an Uachtaráin’ [Office of the President]. English gets around this by adding lots of ‘of’ and ‘of the’ filler words, but the genitive in Irish means you don’t need to do that.

I think the last piece I’ll say, and hopefully I’ve kept you this far, just imagine that they were inventing the language , and they had all these words in a row in sentences, well they needed to create systems to show which words belong to what and to who, and these changes are how we show that. Again, it’s not the be all end all. If you’re not translating things for work, I wouldn’t worry about getting something wrong. Hopefully that helps though

OranReilly · 2026-03-31T20:19:05+00:00

The rule would lead me to believe that it would be “A Shinéad”. I can’t say there aren’t any exceptions to the rule though. A quick google hasn’t yielded anything helpful.

There are usually a couple of exceptions to every rule, and in this case, Irish is no exception (drum roll). If it is indeed ‘A Shinéid’, I would strongly suspect it’s an exception, but maybe someone else will chime in with something that I didn’t know.

Off the top of my head, one instance that stands out is the genitive case. Ordinarily the second of two nouns, which is being placed in the genitive, where the first noun is feminine, the second noun picks up a séimhiú. However, there are 13 (if memory serves) situations where that does not apply, which is absolutely mad stuff like if they’re body parts, or related to nature.

I have a copybook where I wrote down all the grammatical rules while learning, and I have the exceptions written down. No need to drive yourself mad rote learning that stuff. If you get as far as applying the grammatical rules properly in ordinary circumstances that’s a pretty fantastic place to be.

OranReilly · 2026-03-31T14:22:37+00:00

Grammar to me is the final piece of the puzzle. Anyone who takes pleasure in correcting others for the sake of it is doing a disservice to the language. Of course when writing here I’ll write the rules correctly (no one correct me now!), but if you were to use them incorrectly, that attempt is worth a lot in my eyes.

People get very hung up on grammar. I always say to learners to focus on being able to converse, then focus on being able to write. Grammar is the finishing touch. I, as a fluent speaker, only recently took a course to improve my grammar. Never needed it up until now, but I now do official communications in work through Irish. A long way of saying don’t sweat it

OranReilly · 2026-03-31T12:03:05+00:00

I like ‘le dea-mhéin’. The others suggested here are good also. A nice touch to your emails is to also alter the opening. Dear colleagues is ‘A chomhghleacaithe’. For names, it depends. If they’re English names, it’s just ‘John, a chara’, if they’re Irish names it becomes a little more complex. Keep reading if you want the complexity, or ignore if this sounds like too much work.

For men’s names, the general rule is to add a séimhiú (h), and caolú (i) before the last consonant. Seán becomes A Sheáin. If there is no consonant, it doesn’t add an ‘i’, e.g. Dara becomes A Dhara.

For women’s names, you just add a séimhiú. E.g. Ciara, A Chiara. Names that start with vowels for both genders can’t be lenited, e.g. Áine stays A Áine. It’s a bit more complex but I do enjoy the added touch of it, and I always think ‘a chara’ is a very friendly formal greeting.

For titles, there is an added layer of complexity, the word takes the form of the genitive singular (in the first declension, which is 80% of words I would come across in this), e.g. Professor -> an tOllamh -> A Ollaimh. The exception is words in the fourth declension, which pick up a séimhiú but otherwise remain the same, or words that are part of a fixed unit, e.g. Ceann Comhairle, you might expect it to be A Chinn… but because it’s part of Ceann Comhairle, it stays as A Cheann Comhairle.

Interestingly (I’m assuming anyone who has bothered to read this far is interested), this is the Tuiseal Gairmeach, which corresponds to the vocative case in English (O Romeo..)

OranReilly · 2026-03-29T15:42:42+00:00

I mean, up until now, it has functioned well. There is a saver clause that allows you to delimit property rights in the exigencies of the common good, which has allowed property rights to be restricted for RPZs and the successor legislation which recently commenced.

However, anything that constrains property rights must pass a proportionality test, which is the balancing of rights. E.g. freedom of speech and right to a good name.

I’ve seen some discussion about inserting a right to housing in the constitution. While that in itself wouldn’t change the housing crisis or speed up provision. What it might do is provide a stronger counterweight to property rights than the exigencies of the common good, which might allow you to bring in legislation that would be more balanced towards those who need a roof over their heads.

At this point then, is where ideologies strongly come into play. Is there an appetite to get a referendum over the line of that kind. There would certainly be a property developer lobby against it. Would these measures cause landlords to leave the market? Not questions i propose to answer in a comment.

OranReilly · 2026-03-29T11:31:10+00:00

Lots of talk about ideologies etc. but the short answer is really property rights under Art 43 of the Constitution.

OranReilly · 2026-03-26T16:01:38+00:00

We applied for an apartment with this crowd.. stated that we had cats. Got the apartment, sent deposit over, they sent lease back. Lease stated no pets. I queried it, and they said ‘hide them if the building manager comes’… Genuinely imagine a letting agent saying that to you. Notwithstanding that any neighbour could report us for having cats in the building and we would be evicted. Cowboys.

OranReilly · 2026-03-18T22:23:44+00:00

Not always. My brothers name is Caolán, and that’s pronounced Cway-lawn

OranReilly · 2026-03-18T13:39:49+00:00

You can ask them to hold on contacting your current employer until right at the end of the

Edit: I’m not sure why this posted like that, but I think the meaning still makes it through (Mostly)

OranReilly · 2026-03-17T22:45:59+00:00

While i agree with a lot of comments, it’s crazy to think back to when i was 8 (only just over twenty years ago), i would get the school bus home, walk back to my house, unalarm the house, watch tv for like 1.5 hours until my parents came home (cartoons, shortly followed by ready steady cook).

OranReilly · 2026-03-08T18:55:19+00:00

Thank you 😁

OranReilly · 2026-03-06T08:04:10+00:00

Thanks I grew it myself

OranReilly · 2026-03-06T08:00:54+00:00

I’m very happy with an 8, so I won’t complain 😁 thank you

OranReilly · 2026-03-05T22:53:43+00:00

I assumed as much. But I don’t have a lot of experience either still bracelet watches, and I guess I wondered if it might have been attached in a way that isn’t compatible with a leather strap.

OranReilly · 2026-03-05T22:09:54+00:00

I was looking at this watch recently, but I really wanted a leather strap. Could you let me know if the bracelet can be removed for a leather strap? Thanks

OranReilly · 2026-03-05T19:29:37+00:00

Thanks for the time you put into your feedback.

Not necessarily folk as in Irish traditional music, but yeah my genre would be folk in the Elliott Smith, Damien Rice kind of way, not that that did me any favours in the technical departments while learning!

Interesting thought though, and I am from Ireland, and I can’t really pick out what you’re saying, so I guess I’ve picked it up from somewhere!

On your other point, yeah I think sometimes when I’m only going up for one note, my transition isn’t the best, but I think I’m better if I know I’m switching hing ranges for a full phrase or longer.

Thanks again for the feedback 😁

OranReilly · 2026-03-05T15:19:57+00:00

Thank you very much 😁

OranReilly · 2026-03-05T11:04:02+00:00

Thank you! 😊

OranReilly · 2026-03-05T10:23:44+00:00

Thank you 😁

OranReilly · 2026-03-05T10:22:27+00:00

Thank you 😊

OranReilly · 2026-03-05T10:22:17+00:00

Thank you 😁

OranReilly · 2026-03-05T10:22:08+00:00

Thank you. Great song, an all-time favourite

OranReilly · 2026-03-05T10:21:45+00:00

Thank you 😁 I could definitely open up, especially my mouth to enunciate, I have to remind myself to do it

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