how would I translate into gaelic...

"you are my love, my dream, my soulmate, forever"

also with a few variations if possible...

"you are my love, my soulmate, forever"
"love of my life"
"true love of my heart, eternally (or forever)"
"I would do anything for you, yes I would"

Please help!!

The love of my life is in the end stages of Lou Gehrig's disease and would like to show him this tattoo before he passes, so time is of the essence. Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!!!

Hi, welcome to ILF. Sorry to hear about your friend.

To get you started:

Is tusa mo ghrá, m'aisling, cara mo chléibh go deo "you are my love, my dream, my soulmate, forever"

Is tusa mo ghrá, cara mo chléibh go deo "you are my love, my soulmate, forever"
Mo chuid den tsaol "love of my life"
Fíorghrá mo chroí go deo "true love of my heart, eternally (or forever)"
Dhéanfainn rud ar bith dhuit, agus fáilte. "I would do anything for you, yes I would"

Await further input ...

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

thank you very much, your swift response is more appreciated than I could possibly express. I will await other replies for verification, as one of these phrases will be permanently inked in my skin

Is there any way I could trouble you to assist me with the pronunciation or possibly direct me to a website or program that can? Also, are these phrases in connacht or munster? and where might I go to have the phrase written in old irish? Sorry, I apologize for all of the questions, but it truly means alot to me, so I want to get it right.

Thank you so much for your help!!

Mine are in Connemara dialect.

We can help you with the pronunciation once we have narrowed down the field.

If you mean old script we can also help you with that once the translation is decided upon.

Others may offer GM translations shortly ...

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

okay, that sounds great. I am about 95% sure that I will be going with the first phrase, "you are my love, my dream, my soulmate, forever"

Again, thank you for all of your help!!

Hi, welcome to the forum , sorry to learn of your situation.

I second Breandán's options!

There is not a whole lot of difference in dialectal phrasing here as all these terms of endearment exist with the same meaning in all the dialects.

(GM) Is tusa mo shearc You are my love (Although, grá is perfectly appropriate)

m'aisling my dream or (mo thaibhreamh (though aisling is more appropriate here as aisling covers the whole vision and aisling poetry is connected with women and some sort of love for them or Ireland personified as a woman)..."brionglóid" the other word for dream is not really used in Munster.

"grá mo chléibh/chléibhe*" soulmate literally the love of my chest/ breast (as the chest holds the heart) "the love of my heart", soulmate is difficult to translate as it means something different in Ireland; its more a spiritual advisor more than compatible couples in love.

Breandán has given you "cara mo chléibh" the friend of my chest, that's perfect as well and carries the same meaning. Cara (carae, Old Irish, for friend), coincidentally, is related to the old Irish verbs caraid and ro-car meaning "to love", so its all relative.

Is tusa mo shearc, m'aisling, grá mo chléibh/chléibhe*

Different genetive form, though both forms are common in Munster.

What do mean by Old Irish exactly? As there is a lot of ambiguity concerning what Old Irish is among people:

Do you mean Ogham? (that would be primitive Irish 300/400-600AD),

the language between 600-900 AD? (Old Irish),

the Irish between the 10-12th century? (Middle Irish),

Early Modern Irish? (13-17/18th century, later Classical Irish/ langauge of the bards (literary language of the bards and other professionals))

or the language before the 1940s and 50s standardisation and spelling reform?

Regards,

Cian

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Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice

I would recommend "anamchara" for soulmate as it is a closer cognate

"Is tusa mo ghrá, m'aisling, m'anamchara go deo (na ndeor)

It depends on what Lennoxlye means by "soulmate"; the American interpretation (i.e truly compatible lovers) or the Irish interpretation of "soulmate" meaning a friend of the soul (i.e a spiritual adviser)

See here for a discussion regarding "anamchara":

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=926&view=next

Dineen's Foclóir Gaedhilge agus Béarla, page 44

Anam-chara, anam-charad, -cháirde, m. and f., a soul-friend, a confessor, a chaplain, spiritual adviser.

Ó Dónaill's Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, page 44

Anamchara, m (gs. ~d, pl. -chairde). Spiritual adviser.

Why has "cáirde" lost its fada in the standard. Initially, I thought there was a mistake in Ó Donaill's but then I checked focal.ie under "cara" and "anamchara" and there was also no fada. Do people here spell "cáirde" without the fada on the "a"?

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Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice

I think the modern spelling convention is not to explicitly write the long vowel before certain double consonants, such as rd, nn, etc., because they are handled differently in different dialects. So while cáirde makes sense in Munster and Connacht, it might not in Donegal.

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).