Irish Sayings & Blessings

100 Irish blessings for every occasion, in English and Irish with easy pronunciation: the 10 most famous, short ones for cards, everyday blessings in Irish, and blessings for family, friends, a new baby, travel, luck, health, Christmas, weddings, birthdays, St Patrick’s Day, grace and sympathy. Each is labelled with where it really comes from, plus the famous ‘old Irish blessings’ that turn out to be modern.

Happy birthday in Irish is Lá breithe sona duit, literally “a happy day of birth to you”. Here’s how to pronounce it in each dialect, why it’s sona and not shona, how to say it to Mam, Dad, Granny or your love, old wishes like Go maire tú an lá, how to sing it to the usual tune, card messages, and the Irish birthday customs that are real (plus two online “Irish traditions” that need a second look).

Real Irish house blessings for a new home, in English and Irish with pronunciations, and the moving-in customs Irish schoolchildren recorded in the 1930s: salt and holy water first, bread and a sod of turf, a Brigid’s cross and a horseshoe over the door, and ‘Saturday flit, short sit’. Plus where the bread, salt and wine blessing first appears (It’s a Wonderful Life, 1946) and why ‘Bless the four corners of this house’ is an American poem.

Good luck in Irish is ádh mór (great luck) or go n-éirí leat (may it go well with you), the same verb hiding in ‘May the road rise up to meet you’. Here are 30 ways to wish someone luck: 24 in Irish for exams, the Leaving Cert, interviews, new jobs, journeys and match days, each with its literal meaning and pronunciation, plus six popular English ‘Irish blessings’ marked genuine or modern, and the real Irish folklore of magpies, horseshoes and the four-leaf clover.

Thank you in Irish is go raibh maith agat, literally “may there be good at you”. Here’s how to say it to one person or a group, the bigger go raibh míle maith agat and míle buíochas, how to say thank you for something, the replies (tá fáilte romhat, ná habair é, go ndéana a mhaith duit), Munster, Connacht and Ulster pronunciations, how the Irish say thanks in English, thank-you card wording and Happy Thanksgiving in Irish.

The real Irish names for grandma and grandpa: Mamó, Móraí, seanmháthair, Daideo and seanathair, with dictionary-checked pronunciations, regional notes, the English names Irish families use, words for great-grandparents and grandchildren, card wording in Irish, and the “Gaelic grandma names” on gift sites that are really Welsh, Scottish or misspelled.

Old Irish curses were wishes of real harm, not swear words. Here are the bardic satires said to raise blisters, the widow’s and priest’s curses from the 1930s Schools’ Collection, the cursing stones of Killinagh and Inishmurray, a dozen real curses in Irish with pronunciations (and the truth about ‘may the cat eat you’), and the legend of the 1951 Mayo curse, laid to rest by Mayo’s All-Ireland win in July 2026.

Anam cara is Irish for soul friend. Here’s what anam and cara mean, how to say and spell it (anamchara, m’anamchara, never mo anam cara), the soul friends and confessors of the early Irish church, the truth about St Brigid’s ‘body without a head’ saying, John O’Donohue’s 1997 bestseller, and how to write it on a card, ring or tattoo.

Irish grace before meals, in Irish and English with plain pronunciations: the five loaves blessing Douglas Hyde printed in 1906, Beannaigh sinn (Bless us, O Lord in Irish), the grace after meals Moladh leis an Rí nach gann, St Brigid’s lake of ale, old Irish hospitality, the Choctaw gift of 1847 and toasts to end a Thanksgiving meal.

The usual way to say I love you in Irish is tá grá agam duit, literally “there is love at me for you”. Here’s how to say it to one person or the whole family, what your nana’s alanna, acushla, asthore, mavourneen and machree really mean, why is breá liom thú usually sounds lighter, 27 terms of endearment with pronunciation, the Million Dollar Baby spelling, and what to write in a card.

Irish funeral blessings, prayers and readings, with what they mean, how to say them and where they really come from: why “May the road rise to meet you” is read at funerals, the Eternal Rest prayer in English and Irish, Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam (and a hanam for a woman), how to say “sorry for your trouble” in Irish, what to write in a sympathy card, and three short public-domain Irish poems for a funeral reading.

Irish wedding blessings, toasts and readings with an honest note on where each comes from: the 1930s folklore toasts to health and long life, the famous English verses (and which are modern), short Irish wishes such as Go maire sibh bhur saol nua with pronunciation, toasts for the best man and father of the bride, and public-domain readings from Yeats, Ledwidge and St Patrick’s Breastplate.

How do you pronounce Saoirse? It’s SEER-sha. Watch Saoirse Ronan explain her own name, plus what Saoirse means and how to say other Irish names people get wrong.

Two hearts, a dot for each child and one unbroken line. Here’s what the Celtic motherhood knot means, how to show your children in it, and the honest story of where this modern design came from.

What the Celtic love knot and Serch Bythol mean, how old they really are, the documented love knots of Chaucer, sailors, Welsh lovespoons and Scottish brooches, and how to choose one for a wedding or anniversary.