Basic Irish: A Grammar and Workbook (Routledge Grammar Workbooks)

I've just completed the exercises in this workbook. I've learned a lot, but it's been a bit of a slog.As a workbook, I think the title is a bit misleading. It's called Basic Irish, but it definitely isn't for beginners. For context: I came to this book having completed Duolingo Irish, the first eight modules of Dublin City University's 'Introduction to Irish Language and Culture', and the Irish Sentence Builders workbook, and I found some of the exercises hard work and a bit lengthy. I felt some questions required a level of Irish not covered in the book. There's a huge amount of material, densely packed, so you definitely get your money's worth. But just be aware this is more of a college textbook than a phrasebook to help you prepare for a visit to your Granny in the Old Country.As a reference grammar though, this work really comes into its own. It introduces each subject in instalments of manageable size and with reasonable clarity (though oftentimes the explanations required a level of English grammatical knowledge beyond the level suggested in the introduction). It will definitely be a keeper, and I'll go back to it and revisit the relevant chapters whenever I feel the need to re-work trickier concepts. I found the lesson on the Genitive particularly helpful.To sum up: as a workbook it's helpful but challenging. As a reference book, it's extremely useful and I will refer to it often. If you're a rather new beginner, maybe just finished Duolingo and looking for something with basic exercises in simple sentences to help cement the concepts you've learned, Irish Sentence Builders might be a better choice.

I've been looking forward to writing this review since I read the first page of this book. My decision to purchase it was based on some of the reviews I read here, and' therefor I've felt the responsibility to `pay it forward' by adding my own review. I am a divergent language learner; I have not found success in working my way through basic language courses, and have felt like I was banging my head against the proverbial wall in trying to make progress the same way I saw others doing successfully. Felt like a dunderhead and a failure until I finally came to peace with knowing I had to design a way of learning that worked for me, made use of my strengths and aptitudes, and once I did that, this finally began to flow for me. I say this to give hope to others that might be struggling. It's such a great feeling when you hear the language coming out of your mouth, almost a `where did that come from?' feeling. This book is not, as has been said here, a basic instructional course. It is a very useful supplement, as intended, that `connects the dots'. Many, many a-ha! moments in reading this; things that I've noticed in the language but had no clear understanding of how it fit together into a cogent whole became clear in reading here. I've underlined so many points in here. I felt like I'd gotten my money's worth of the purchase in the first chapter.I'm not saying that I think this would work for everyone, but it has been the right book for me at the right time, and may be for you as well. I'm not saying that other grammar books are not good, but I feel now that when I've absorbed what this and her Intermediate book have to offer, I will be able to get more out of the other grammar books I have.Some suggestions: buy the hard copy, not the Kindle. I can't see myself having gotten nearly as much from a Kindle version. This is a book to do, not just to read. I find myself flipping back and forth, revisiting things as other points become clear, making `see pg X' notes in the margins.My other suggestion is one I haven't gotten around to but it's on the list: take it to a copy shop and have them trim the back off and put a spiral wire through as a binding. This will allow more interactive use.Comments have been made about the absence of audio files with this, and I have wished for that myself. But the author keeps referring readers back to local pronunciations for authenticity, and I think there's a lot of value to be gained in that, especially since I'm more interested in the Ulster dialect. I think she's avoiding by choice saying, "This is the One Right Way to Say Something'.The youtube video and accompanying printout to be found at Sounds and Spelling of Irish / Fuaimniú & Litriú na Gaeilge by Karen Reshkin may be helpful for those who are still working on understanding the letter/sound correspondence of the language.No one resource is going to do it all for everyone, but if you find a way of learning that feels like so much fun you have to force yourself to stop, rather than slogging through the chore of studying, you're on the right track for you. And that way will be different for different people--your happy-language-learning path will be someone else's do-I-have-to? Just wanted to offer encouragement to the strugglers. I'm far from where I hope to someday be, but now I'm just enjoying the journey and I know it'll just keep getting better. Wishing you all success.

Would purchase books from them again

Keep in mind that this book is not the place to start if you haven't studied Irish before (or studied other languages from a grammar-intensive perspective). If you are just starting, save this for later and get a basic course that includes audio (you MUST have audio with Irish). If you can find it, Irish on your Own is a good starting place, or if you're really serious, Learning Irish. With that disclaimer, here's my review:I studied Irish some years ago fairly intensively, and I was always annoyed by the lack of a book JUST LIKE this one. I've had it only a few weeks, but have had a chance to examine it and work through some of the exercises. It is something that has been sorely needed for a long time. If you are familiar with Irish language resources, you may recognize the author's name--Nancy Stenson (she is a linguistics and Irish language professor at the University of Minnesota). She compiled a huge series of worksheets to accompany "Learning Irish" in the early 1990's (I was lucky enough to find and print them out some years ago from an internet server archive). She has now written two Irish grammar workbooks. I don't have the second yet--Intermediate Irish--but soon will.Stenson's Basic Irish is wonderful. It covers all the basic grammar/structure concepts AND offers page after page of various types of practice problems--filling blanks, sentence manipulation, verb conjugation, sentence negation, translation both ways, correcting errors, and more... just tons of good stuff!Here's a summary of the sections: Spelling and pronunciation, word order, lenition, mutations, nouns and articles, classes and cases, ... , prepositions, numbers, verbs I & II & III, irregular verbs I & II, copula, verbal nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and a few other topics.As you can see, a lot of info--and it all has in-depth explanation and tons of practice problems. This is a lot like the types of grammar workbooks that are available for all of the major languages. With some of the latest Irish learning materials available, there is now a pretty rich pool of resources out there and this book, especially, fills a huge void that has been there for years.

This is a good foundation book to revise and renew your early school Irish learning. It is very precise without being too esoteric. I would recommend it. Hugh

Instruction are easy to follow. Units are well set out. A good backup for my class lessons.Some dialect differences between the book and my teacher, but all part of the language learning process.

Ich mag diese Grammatik, da die Übungen am Ende jeder Lektion einem die Gelegenheit geben, das gelesene praktisch anzuwenden. Sehr zu empfehlen. Von Nancy Stenson gibt es übrigens auch eine Webseite mit Übungen zu "Learning Irish" von Micheal O'Siadhail.

Excellent book

I am very pleased with this book and can highly recommend it.The explanations and exercises are very helpful. A big thanks to the author.