Most of the time I see "yes" as Tá, but sometimes I see it as Is ea, Bhí, and Chuir.

Can someone please explain the difference or give the literal meaning of each? Thanks.

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I'm very much a beginner learner. Don't hesitate to correct me, as long as you explain why. This is how I learn best!

It’s quite simple: there are no words in Irish for ‘yes’ and ‘no’.

Instead, the verb from the question phrase is repeated—and naturally, since so very many sentences have tá ‘is’ as their main verb, that’s the word you’ll most commonly be reaching for if replying in the affirmative. (“Are you well?” — “(I) am”.)

Bhí is simply the past tense (‘was’), while chuir is the past tense of cuir ‘put’. (“Did you put it on the table?” — “(I) put”)

Is ea is a bit of a special case. It’s the copula (is) followed by what is an old neuter pronoun (‘it’). This pronoun has a very limited range of usage nowadays (though it’s still very frequent)—I’d say it’s not worth learning yet, until you’re more under the skin of the language. Just remember that if you’re answering a copula question, you use the ‘dummy’ pronoun ea.


And just to round things off, the negative equivalents (‘no’) to these yeses are:

tá -> níl
bhí -> ní raibh
chuir -> níor chuir
is ea -> ní hea

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Not a native speaker.

Always wait for at least three people to agree on a translation, especially if it’s for something permanent.

My translations are usually GU (Ulster Irish), unless CO (Standard Orthography) is requested.

Okay, now looking back over what I'm learning now this makes sense, all the "yeses" refer back to the verb in the question. Duh.

But, how do you know which verb to answer yes to, or does it matter? For example, what if someone asked "Do you want to go back home?" Would you answer, "I do" or "I want" ? Or does it matter, since both answer the question?

Also, how would you put together something like a yes or no questionnaire?

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I'm very much a beginner learner. Don't hesitate to correct me, as long as you explain why. This is how I learn best!

In Irish you have only one verb normally The Irish language is much easier than English in that point, you don't need "to do" to ask questions:

An bhfuil tú ag iarraidh a ghabháil 'na' bhaile?
- Tá / Níl

An itheann tú iasc? (Do you eat fish?)
- Ithim / Ní ithim. (I eat/ I don't eat)



Depends on the question...

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

Just to specify a bit: in English, when you say ‘do you want to go?’, for example, ‘want’ and ‘go’ are both in the infinitive—the infinitive ‘want’ is governed by ‘do’, and the infinitive ‘go’ is governed by ‘want’. Of course, in English, the infinitive nearly always sounds like the present, so that can be hard to know instinctively. But if you consider the Hiberno-English present habitual, ‘I do be wanting’ (for example), you’ll see that ‘be’ is clearly an infinitive.

If you change the question to something habitual, like “Do you be taking the bus often?”, it’s easier to see that you have to answer ‘I do’—not ‘I be’, which is ungrammatical (it would have to be ‘I am’).

In other words, you have to repeat the finite verb.

Since Irish inflects her verbs more than English, it’s usually easier to tell which is the finite verb. Of course, it’s also quite regular that the (finite) verb comes first in the sentence in Irish.

So in Lughaidh’s Irish example, where you actually also have three verbs, it goes like so (transferred to more Connemara-ish Irish, since I seem to recall you’re using Learning Irish?):

An bhfuil tú - ag iarraidh - goil - abhaile?

Blue = finite verb
Red = nonfinite verbal forms (here verbal noun)

As in English, the finite verb is repeated.

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Not a native speaker.

Always wait for at least three people to agree on a translation, especially if it’s for something permanent.

My translations are usually GU (Ulster Irish), unless CO (Standard Orthography) is requested.

You would write each question and then give the appropriate answer for that question only. Your next question may well have two different options for the 'yes' / 'no' options.

mar shampla (for example)

C.1. An maith leat tae?
Is maith liom / ní maith liom

Q.1. Do you like tea?
I do like / I don't like (yes / no)

C.2. An bhfuil tú i do chónaí i mBaile Átha Cliath?
Tá / níl

Q.2. Are you living in Dublin?
I am / I am not (yes / no) [I am / I am not is not an accurate translation of tá and níl; tá mé and níl mé can also be said, but I don't think is as common.]

C.3. An gceapann tú go bhfuil an leabhar seo suimiúil?
Ceapaim / ní cheapaim

Q.3. Do you think this book is interesting?
I do think / I don't think (yes / no)

I hope this makes sense! I'll leave the grammar and technical stuff to Koko and co......

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Actually, in Irish, if someone asks "An maith leat tae?" the possible answers are either "Is maith" or "ní maith", but you don't say "liom".

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

That came up at the Irish immersion weekend this past fall here in SF. The teacher pointed out that what Lughaidh says is correct, but that many teachers in Irish schools (even in Gaelscoileanna) who are not themselves native speakers are mistakenly teaching students to answer with Is maith kiom.

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

Which reminds me, if someone asks you a question in the conditional, you should answer with the future:

- An ólfá deoch? "Would you like a drink?" literally "would you drink a drink?"
- Ólfad/Ní ólfad "Yes/No" literally "I will drink/I won't drink".

The -fad ending is a first person future ending meaning "I will ~".

If you don't use the future it sounds like you are refusing, i.e., "well I would but ..."

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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).

This is true, but only if the conditional is used as a way of being polite. If you’re asking if something would (in a truly hypothetical situation) occur or not, the reply will also be in the conditional.

— An dtabharfá an t-airgead di dá bhfiafraíodh sí duit é?
— Ní thabharfainn, ná dá mbíodh sé agam!

— Would you give her the money if she asked you for it?
— Certainly not, not even if I had it!


And phrases with the copula often have specific meanings that differ in past and present; in these cases, the conditional is used in the reply also, if the question is in the conditional, to avoid changing the meaning. For example is maith liom ‘I like’ vs. ba mhaith liom ‘I would like’; an miste leat ‘do you mind (=have anything against)’ vs. ar mhiste leat ‘would you mind’.

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Not a native speaker.

Always wait for at least three people to agree on a translation, especially if it’s for something permanent.

My translations are usually GU (Ulster Irish), unless CO (Standard Orthography) is requested.