Blasad Beag - Episode 9: Colours
Fàilte air ais gu Blasad Beag còmhla riumsa Catriona Mhoireach. Welcome back to Blasad Beag with me, Catriona Murray. ’S ann do luchd-ionnsachaidh na Gàidhlig a tha dìreach air tòiseachadh o chionn ghoirid a tha am pàirt seo dhen phrògram. This section of the programme is for those of you who have only recently started learning Gaelic.
Anns a’ phrògram seo, tha sinn a’ dol a dh’ionnsachadh mu dhathan. Today, we’re going to teach you some colours. Now, some people might use different words for different colours depending on where they’re from. I’ll give you a few examples of that later on, but first, let’s go through the main colours.
We’ll start with green. Uaine. Green. Uaine.
What about yellow? Buidhe. Yellow. Buidhe.
Blue is gorm. Blue. Gorm.
Red? Dearg. Red. Dearg. However, if you’re describing someone with red hair, you would use the word ruadh. Ruadh.
What about brown? Donn. Brown. Donn.
For purple, you would say purpaidh. Purple is purpaidh.
Black. Dubh. Black. Dubh.
And white? Geal. White. Geal.
Now, how would you ask what colour something is? You would say Dè an dath a tha air? What colour is it? Dè an dath a tha air? Dè an dath a th’ air? And you would answer by saying Tha e..., followed by the colour.
Dè an dath a th’ air? Tha e uaine. It’s green. Tha e uaine.
Tha e buidhe. It’s yellow. Tha e buidhe.
Tha e gorm. It’s blue. Tha e gorm.
Tha e dearg. It’s red. Tha e dearg.
Èistibh ris a’ chòmhradh seo eadar Calum agus Eilidh is iad a’ bruidhinn mu na dathan a tha air na càraichean aca. In the following conversation, Calum and Eilidh are discussing the colour of their cars.
Eilidh: Dè an dath a th’ air do chàr?
Calum: Tha e dubh. Dè an dath a th’ air do chàr fhèin?
Eilidh: Tha e dearg.
Eilidh asked Calum what colour his car was. Thuirt Calum gu robh e dubh. Calum said it was black. Calum then asked Eilidh what colour her car was. Thuirt i gu robh e dearg. She replied that it was red. An do lean sibh an còmhradh? Did you manage to follow their conversation?
Nise, thuirt mi aig an toiseach gun robh diofar fhaclan aig diofar dhaoine airson cuid de dhathan. I mentioned at the start that some Gaelic-speakers, depending on where they come from, have different words for certain colours. For instance, some people might say that gorm can be green, as well as blue. Also, liath can be used to describe something which is light blue or grey. Another word for grey is glas, although this could also be used to describe something which is green. Now who said Gaelic was confusing?!
Tha mi an dòchas gun dh’ionnsaich sibh rudeigin ùr an-diugh. I hope you found this lesson useful. If you have any questions, feel free to email us at . And to learn some more simple Gaelic phrases, why not visit land download the Beginner’s App? Tillidh mi an ath sheachdain le leasan eile dhuibhse a tha ag ionnsachadh na Gàidhlig! I’ll be back next week with more everyday Gaelic. Tìoraidh an-dràsta!
