White belt. Tell me if it makes anything more digestible.
Tá mé ag iarraidh (I want)
Tá — “to be” verb, present tense. This variant of “to be” is used when we want to say something about something (but not in A=B patterns where we want to classify something as something).
Ag — preposition “at”
Iarraidh — verbal noun. With preposition ag it literally translates as “at wanting”, which is equivalent to present continuous in English. Forms of the verb “iarr” can also refer to asking, demanding, attempts to do something or requirements.
Mé — me, naturally. So, “I am at wanting” or “I want something [now]” (also, I’m asking, or I’m demanding, or I’m trying, or I require, depending on context).
Vowels with fada (á, é) are long vowels, they have deeper sound.
Labhairt (to speak)
Another verbal noun (literally translated as “speaking”). Irish does not have a true infinitive form of the verb!
Bh is pronounced as w.
T here doesn’t sound the way it sounds in Tá. That’s because one is slender T, the other is broad T. Slender consonants are those that are surrounded by slender vowels (i and e). Broad consonants are consonants surrounded by broad vowels (a, o, u). In modern Irish orthography a consonant should always be surrounded by vowels of the same type, it can’t have slender vowel on the left and broad on the right. Broad/slender is a very important distinction for Irish phonetics.
In various dialects words can sound differently, you can check pronunciation variants at https://www.teanglann.ie/en/fuaim/. Try how labhairt sounds in Ulster, Connacht and Munster Irish.
Tá mé ag iarraidh labhairt (I want to speak)
Depending on the context, might as well mean that I’m trying to speak. Literally that would translate as “I am at wanting/attempting speaking”.
Tá mé and táim are both correct forms of “I am”.
Gaeilge (Irish)
Literally translates as Gaelic, but Scottish Gaelic already uses this designation, so usually Gaeilge is translated as Irish, and that’s how kids in Irish schools are usually taught to translate it. Older people might still translate it as Gaelic. Every Gaelic language calls itself Gaelic by default, in Irish it would be spelled as Gaeilge, in Scottish Gaelic as Gàdhlig, in Manx language as Gaelg. If you need to specify that you’re talking about Irish Gaelic as opposed to Scottish Gaelic, it’ll be called Gaeilge na hÉireann.
There’s unwritten vowel after l, so it’s written Gaeilge, but pronounced more like Gaeilige (which makes it much easier to pronounce).
Gaeilge a labhairt (to speak Irish)
With “a” verbal noun functions as infinitive. In this pattern object (Gaeilge) comes first, verbal form (a labhairt) comes second. With “ag” it works the other way around. So, táim/tá mé ag labhairt Gaeilge (I’m speaking Irish), but Gaeilge a labhairt (to speak Irish).
Tá mé ag iarraidh Gaeilge a labhairt (I want to speak Irish)
Fun fact: compared to people who learned Irish at school, native speakers of Irish use twice as many complex constructions.
In constructions with labhairt we imply actually speaking language, not the ability to speak it or language proficiency.
Leat (with you)
Say hello to the first prepositional pronoun in this course. Prepositional pronouns are combinations of preposition and pronoun.
Leat is le (with) + tú (you).
Irish has a lot of prepositional pronouns. Kids at school learn them a lot like multiplication tables.
Labhairt leat (to speak with you)
Speaking with you, technically, because that’s a verbal noun.
Gaeilge a labhairt leat (to speak Irish with you)
Now that’s more like infinitive — it has “a” before verbal noun.
Tá mé ag iarraidh labhairt leat (I want to speak with you)
Literally, “I am at wanting/attempting speaking with you”.
Tá mé ag iarraidh Gaeilge a labhairt leat (I want to speak Irish with you)
Literally, “I am at wanting Irish to speak with you”. Master Yoda vibes. Irish syntax has plenty of them.
Anois (now)
This is slender S, because it’s next to a slender vowel i. Slender S is pronounced as Sh.
Tá mé ag iarraidh labhairt leat anois (I want to speak with you now)
I am at wanting/attempting speaking with you now.
Tá mé ag iarraidh Gaeilge a labhairt anois (I want to speak Irish now)
I am at wanting/attempting Irish to speak now.
Tá mé ag iarraidh Gaeilge a labhairt leat anois (I want to speak Irish with you now)
I am at wanting/attempting Irish to speak with you now.
Gaeilge a labhairt leat anois (to speak Irish with you now)
That’s it. Again, we’ve only been talking about actually speaking Irish here, not language proficiency.