Scottish Gaelic phrasebook
Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) is spoken by around 1.2% of the Scottish population and in parts of Nova Scotia, Canada, and in Australia. It belongs to the Goidelic branch in the Celtic language family, alongside Irish and Manx.
Gaelic speakers are usually very happy to speak English to visitors, and all essential business can readily be done in English. Studying Gaelic may increase your enjoyment of a visit to the Scottish Highlands and Hebrides, but is not necessary to get around. There are no monolingual Gaelic speakers.
Pronunciation guideStress the first syllable on every word.
Phrase listSlashes generally indicate the difference between the informal and formal/polite form in that order (e.g. leat/leibh - leat is informal, leibh is formal)
Sources and licences
- Guide text adapted from the Wikivoyage article "Scottish Gaelic phrasebook" by its contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikivoyage · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0