Maith thú, a Labhrás!

I'll take a stab at these . . .



1. "Nuair a mharcaím isteach i gcath . . ." (OR maybe "Nuair a mharcaím go cath")
2. "Tar ais chugam, a rún." (OR "Return to me . . ." > "Fill chugam . . ." but I prefer "Tar ais . . ."

Wait for more input.

Just saw these. Thanks so much!!!

Here is a linguistic question. My understanding is that there are no "yes" and "no" words in Irish. So, for example, to a question "Do you live here?" asked in Irish, the answer would be "I do not" instead of "No." Is this correct? Are there any other pronounced differences when compared to English? My novel is written in English, but the characters are 16th century Gaelic Irish, so they're speaking Irish almost exclusively. My goal is to make the dialogue as authentic as possible while avoiding the common caricaturish tropes. (I am not writing brogue.) Thanks for any insight!

P.S. I'm so lucky to have discovered this forum!

That's true, there are no exact words for "yes" and "no" so questions are usually answered with whichever verb is in the question.
In English, because we have the "helping" verbs "do", "be", or other auxiliaries in their various forms, we can answer like you said above, which would be right.
Irish may form the answer differently depending on the context, sometimes using the full verb in it conjugation, but it's the same concept, that is, not using "yes" or "no".

For example,

Do you live here? I do or I do not

although the literal Irish would use a different verb:

An bhfuil tú i do chónaí anseo? (literally, Are you in your living here?) Táim. I am.

Will you give me some advice? I will.

Can you help me? I can.

I have heard more of this from older people in England, Scotland, and Ireland than in North America but the tendency now seems to lean toward using "yes" or "no". Even in Irish, I have sometimes heard people answer a question with "yes" or "no" in English but this I think this is a recent borrowing.

More or less. Strictly speaking, you answer a question using the verb that was used to ask the the question. So, in your example, "do you live here/an bhfuil tú i do chónaí anso?" you're right in answering "I do/tá mé", however, in questions based on verbs other than the substantive verb, "to be", you would still use the verb. For example, "saw you .../an bh'feaca tú ...?", you would answer "I saw/Do chonac"




There would be quite a few pronunciation differences. 16th century Irish was quite different to modern standard Irish. Think about the difference between Shakespeare and the English that's spoken today.

Historically, also, things were quite different in 16th century Ireland. Most Irish written at the time was written by a small group of learned families; poets, nobility, etc. So, it tends to be in quite a high register. It's only around the turn of the last century that we see a lot of Irish being written based on the standard spoken by remaining native speakers. Again, think of the difference between the Queen's English, and what you might hear spoken day-to-day by the average person.

Thank you so much!!

Thank you for this info!

You're welcome.

Another question
How would you say "my brave little warrior" and also "my little warrior" in a dialogue, e.g. "I'm proud of you, my brave little warrior."

Thanks!

mo ghaiscíoch beag cróga, lit. "my warrior little brave"

Tá bród orm asat, a ghaiscígh bhig chróga = I'm proud of you, my brave little warrior.

There's no "my" (mo) in addressing in Irish. But there's an extra case (vocative) and an extra particle ("a") for addressing.