Learning the Irish numbers or uimhreacha is one of the basic things that can help you get by in the land of Emerald Isle. Aside from expanding your vocabulary in the Irish language, numbers can provide one an opportunity to express important concepts with clarity- may you be ordering food, purchasing something from the market, visiting the tax office, or even when you are paying your fare.
Also, if you are a traveler, learning this will prevent you from making costly mistakes! To help you get started, we have prepared a simple guide that will walk you through the numbers (ordinal and cardinal) in Irish and say it like a real native speaker.
There are basically three ways to count in the Irish language, making it quite challenging for new learners. The locals have the basic cardinal numbers for describing the quantity, and this can be further divided into two categories: basic Irish numbers and cardinal numbers with a noun. We also have the Irish ordinal numbers to tell positions. Before we discuss all the translations for this, let us first identify some of the basic vocabulary terms which you have to master first:
| English | Irish | Language Function |
| Number | Uimhir | Noun |
| The number | An uimhir | With singular article |
| Numbers | Uimhreacha | Plural |
| The numbers | Na huimhreacha | With plural article |
How To Count Things In Irish
If you have been watching native speakers count aloud, you might realize that the locals usually add the letter “a” before the actual cardinal number. Due to this phenomenon, some numbers like a haon (one) or a hocht (eight) also transform to include an -h prefix. Below are the cardinal translations that you must master to be confident in the Irish language.
| Number | Irish |
| 1 | a haon |
| 2 | dó |
| 3 | trí |
| 4 | ceathair |
| 5 | cúig |
| 6 | sé |
| 7 | seacht |
| 8 | a hocht |
| 9 | naoi |
| 10 | deich |
| 11 | a haon déag |
| 12 | dó dhéag |
| 13 | trí déag |
| 14 | ceathair déag |
| 15 | cúig déag |
| 16 | sé déag |
| 17 | seacht déag |
| 18 | ocht déag |
| 19 | naoi déag |
| 20 | fiche |
| 21 | fiche a haon |
| 22 | fiche a dó |
| 23 | fiche a trí |
| 24 | fiche a ceathair |
| 25 | fiche a cúig |
| 26 | fiche a sé |
| 27 | fiche a seacht |
| 28 | fiche a hocht |
| 29 | fiche a naoi |
Notice the pattern in the Irish numbers there? To continue counting until 1000, all you need to do is add the number’s translation in the tens place first and then continue adding the numbers. Below are the Irish translations for the tens.
| Number | Irish |
| 30 | tríocha |
| 40 | daichead |
| 50 | caoga |
| 60 | seasca |
| 70 | seachtó |
| 80 | ochtó |
| 90 | nócha |
| 100 | céad |
| 1000 | míle |
Irish Numbers In Ordinal Format
When it comes to describing the different orders and positions, may it be for competitions, ranking things, or the day of the month, we use ordinal numbers or Orduimhreacha. See the details below on the translations so that you start using them when speaking with the locals.
| Number | Irish |
| 1 | an chéad |
| 2 | an dara |
| 3 | an tríu |
| 4 | an ceathrú |
| 5 | an cúigiú |
| 6 | an seú |
| 7 | an seachtú |
| 8 | an t-ochtú |
| 9 | an naoú |
| 10 | an deichiú |
| 11 | an t-aonú … déag |
| 12 | an dóú … déag |
| 13 | an tríu … déag |
| 14 | an ceathrú … déag |
| 15 | an cúigiú … déag |
| 16 | an séú … déag |
| 17 | an seachtú … déag |
| 18 | an t-ochtú … déag |
| 19 | an naoú … déag |
| 20 | an fichiú |
| 21 | an t-aonú … is fiche |
| 22 | an dóú … is fiche |
| 23 | an ceathrú … is fiche |
| 24 | an cuígiú … is fiche |
| 25 | an cuígiú … is fiche |
| 26 | an séú … is fiche |
| 27 | an seachtú … is fiche |
| 28 | an ochtú … is fiche |
| 29 | an naoú … is fiche |
As you can find from the table above, the pattern is the same, and all you need to do is to add the same translation to the end of the word. Below is a continuation for Irish numbers 30 to 1000.
| Number | Irish |
| 30 | an tríochadú |
| 40 | daicheadú |
| 50 | caogadú |
| 60 | seascadú |
| 70 | seachtódú |
| 80 | ochtódú |
| 90 | nóchadú |
| 100 | an chéadú |
| 1000 | an míliú |
Irish Numbers For People
In the case of Ireland and the Gaelic language, the locals make use of another counting system when they are referring to people. This counting system is known as personal numbers. I’ll be listing below the basic counting from one to twenty to help you get started.
| Number | Irish |
| One | duine |
| Two | beirt |
| Three | tríur |
| Four | ceathrar |
| Five | cúigear |
| Six | seisear |
| Seven | seachtar |
| Eight | ochtar |
| Nine | naonúr |
| Ten | deichniúr |
| Eleven | aon duine dhéag |
| Twelve | dáréag |
| Thirteen | trí dhuine dhéag |
| Fourteen | ceithre dhuine dhéag |
| Fifteen | cúig dhuine dhéag |
| Sixteen | sé dhuine dhéag |
| Seventeen | seacht dhuine dhéag |
| Eighteen | ocht dhuine dhéag |
| Nineteen | naoi dhuine dhéag |
| Twenty | fiche dhuine |
As we reach this part of the page, we hope that you were able to understand how the Irish people count using their native language. And now that you are done with it, we hope that you’ll find the courage to put the words into use when speaking with the locals or Ireland. Finally, if you enjoyed this post, we invite you to stick around and read out updated posts, such as the basic languages in Ireland, the most common Irish verbs, and how to construct a meaningful question-based statement.
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One Response
Looking forward, first real attempt attempt and always had tough time w all languages even me own