Relationships and Family
Getting to know someone, you might want to ask and talk about your relationship status and family. You could ask A oot dewedhiot? Are you married?, to which they might reply:
- Oov, (mi oov dewedhiot) Yes, (I’m married)
- Nag oov, (ned oov dewedhiot) No, (I’m not married)
- Neth dhoar None of your business
- Dibriot oov I’m unmarried
- Skarot oov I’m divorced/separated
A good general way to find out someone’s relationship status is to ask Ais cumpar dut? Do you have a partner? Some responses are:
- Ais, ema cumpar dum Yes, I have a partner
- Nag ais, ned ais cumpar dum No, I don’t have a partner
- Nag ais, ounik oov No, I’m single
The word cumpar means mate, partner with no implication of marital status or gender. Other words to indicate a romantic partner are couvok darling, sweetheart, cardok lover, ceridh lover, gur husband, gwrek wife, priot spouse, ladd boyfriend and làs girlfriend (the last two of young people only).
A few more useful phrases:
- stret oov I’m straight
- teyt oov I’m gay
- gwerrol oov I’m celibate/asexual (the word does not have the religious overtones of English celibate)
- bai oov I’m bi
You might want to ask someone Ais (nep) plant dut? Do you have (any) children? The word plant means children in the sense of offspring only. The singular is plentinn child, but the plural is used following numbers. The word for daughter is merch and the word for son is map.
- Nag ais, ned ais (nep) plant dum No, I don’t have (any) children
- Ais, ema… Yes, I have…
- tri flant dum three children
- map dum a son
- duw verch dum two daughters
- dow vap ag oun verch two sons and one daughter
Cumbraek 