Irish: The Living Language
Like Duolingo, but for Irish: The Living Language. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.
95 levels across 10 sections, about 190 minutes end to end, roughly 38 days at five minutes a day. It moves through The First Words, How the Language Works, The Magic of Sound Changes, Describing Your World, People and Identity, The Logic of Numbers, Relationships and Belonging, The Living Language, Mastering the Hard Parts, and Heritage and the Future. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Irish: The Living Language
- The greeting is a traditional blessing rather than a secular 'hello'
- The response must include 'Muire' (Mary) to build upon the initial blessing
- Dia means God
- A simple 'Dia dhuit' back is considered incomplete in traditional etiquette
- The phrase 'Dia is Muire dhuit' is the standard polite reply
- Irish social interactions often have roots in religious well-wishing
- The 'step-up' logic of responding to an Irish greeting
- Slán is the root word for health/safety/goodbye
- The literal meaning and cultural origin of the standard Irish greeting
- The preposition changes based on whether you are the one departing or the one remaining
- Slán abhaile is specifically used for the journey home
- The language is called 'Irish' or 'Gaeilge' by locals
- 'Gaelic' is often used to describe the broader family of languages or Scottish Gaelic, but not the specific language of Ireland
- Using 'Gaeilge' shows respect for the local identity
- Distinguishing between farewells based on who is moving
- Correct terminology for the native language when speaking English in Ireland
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Irish: The Living Language the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
When someone blesses you with a greeting, what is the traditional way to 'step up' the blessing in your reply?
Get it right to open this lesson and 94 more in the app.
Where Irish: The Living Language takes you
Discover the beauty and logic of Gaeilge, the native language of Ireland. This mastery course guides you from basic greetings to the complex mutations and rich idioms that give the Irish language its unique spirit.
- 1
The First Words
- Greetings and Farewells
- Essential Politeness
- 2
How the Language Works
- The Verb-First Rule
- The Missing 'Yes' and 'No'
- The Sounds of the Alphabet
- 3
The Magic of Sound Changes
- The 'H' Effect: Lenition
- The Hidden Letter: Eclipsis
- 4
Describing Your World
- Colors and Shapes
- The Two Ways to be 'Is'
- 5
People and Identity
- Family and Relationships
- Irish Names and Surnames
- 6
The Logic of Numbers
- Counting Things
- Counting People
- 7
Relationships and Belonging
- Prepositional Pronouns
- Expressing Possession
- 8
The Living Language
- The Gaeltacht Regions
- Hiberno-English
- 9
Mastering the Hard Parts
- The Genitive Case
- Plurals and Irregularities
- 10
Heritage and the Future
- Proverbs and Wisdom
- Ogham and Ancient Roots
- Modern Gaeilge and Media
- Irish in the World
- Putting it Together
10 sections · 24 units · 95 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
Irish: The Living Language is taught in the The Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start Irish: The Living Language today.
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