There were a few words and phrases there which you can use when talking about An dùthaich ùr agus an t-seann dùthaich (The new country and the old country). Let’s look at some of them again in context.
‘S fhada bhon a chaidh sinn thall thairis.
It’s a long time since we went abroad.
Gu tric a bha mi …
Often I have …
… a’ miannachadh a dhol ann
… wished to go there
An dùthaich ùr
The new country
Alba Nuadh
Nova Scotia
An t-seann dùthaich
The old country
Muinntir na dùthcha ùire
The people of the new country
Muinntir na seann dùthcha
The people of the old country
Anns an t-seann dùthaich
In the old country
Dhan dùthaich ùir
To the new country
Anns an dùthaich ùir
In the new country
Beò an dòchas
Ever hopeful
… gun tuig sinn Gàidhlig na dùthcha ùire
… that we will understand the Gaelic of the new country
We’ll catch up with some more of these as well as adding some new words and phrases to our vocabulary as we progress through this lesson.
Before we leave this section, it’s worth noting that an t-seann dùthaich is a good example of a buadhair ron ainmear (adjective preceding the noun), something which doesn’t happen often in Gaelic. Here are a couple of other examples:
deagh bheachd!
good idea!
droch rud
a bad thing
droch shìde
bad weather
deagh dhùrachd
good wish(es)