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- Lesson 9
The Police
The Police
Now you'll learn the words for police officer and teacher.
You'll also learn more words to describe locations, like at the church and at the shop.

aig an doras
at the door
aig an teine
at the fire
aig an taigh
at the house / at home
aig a' bhùth
at the shop
aig an sgoil
at the school
aig an eaglais
at the church
Making Sentences
Now you’ve learnt new ways to describe location, let’s add the word for police officer and make some new sentences.

Grammar Note
In Gaelic, the police are am poileas.
Poileas can also refer to a single policeman as can the word poileasman, which we use in this lesson.
A policewoman is ban-phoileas.
Making Sentences
Now you can make some new sentences to say where the policeman – am poileasman – is.

Tha am poileasman aig an doras.
The policeman is at the door.
Tha am poileasman aig an teine.
The policeman is at the fire.
Tha am poileasman aig an taigh.
The policeman is at the house.
Tha am poileasman aig a' bhùth.
The policeman is at the shop.
Tha am poileasman aig an sgoil.
The policeman is at the school.
Tha am poileasman aig an eaglais.
The policeman is at the church.
Mixing it up!
Now that you have learnt these new words, let’s mix them up and see if you can understand these new sentences.
But first, you’re going to need the word for teacher.

Tha am balach a tha tinn aig an teine.
The boy who is sick is at the fire.
A bheil an nighean chaol aig a' bhùth?
Is the slim girl at the shop?
Chan eil an tidsear aig an sgoil.
The teacher is not at the school.
Chan eil duine sam bith aig an doras.
There's no one at the door.
A bheil an rud sin aig an taigh?
Is that thing at the house?
Tha am boireannach sin aig an eaglais.
That woman is at the church.
Time to talk!
Great! You’ve learnt six new ways to describe location, as well as the words for police officer and teacher.
Now see if you can understand this conversation between Donald and Iain.

Dòmhnall: Feasgar math, Iain, càit a bheil mamaidh?
Iain: Tha i shuas aig an eaglais.
Dòmhnall: Agus càit a bheil Màiri?
Iain: Tha ise a-muigh cuideachd. Tha i shìos aig a' bhùth.
Dòmhnall: Chan eil duine sam bith aig an taigh ach thu fhèin?
Iain: Chan eil duine eile ann.
Extra Vocabulary
ise
she (emphatic form of i)
ach
but / except
ach thu fhèin
except yourself
eile
else / other / another
ann
here / there (in existence)
Gaelic transcript
DÒMHNALL: Feasgar math, Iain, càit a bheil mamaidh?
IAIN: Tha i shuas aig an eaglais.
DÒMHNALL: Agus càit a bheil Màiri?
IAIN: Tha ise a-muigh cuideachd. Tha i shìos aig a' bhùth.
DÒMHNALL: Chan eil duine sam bith aig an taigh ach thu fhèin?
IAIN: Chan eil duine eile ann.
English transcript
DONALD: Good afternoon, Iain, where is mummy?
IAIN: She's up at the church.
DONALD: And where's Mairi?
IAIN: She's out as well. She's down at the shop.
DONALD: There's no one at home but yourself?
IAIN: There's no one else here.
Time to talk!
Now you'll try Donald's role.
The text you should speak will be highlighted in pink.

Dòmhnall: Feasgar math, Iain, càit a bheil mamaidh?
Iain: Tha i shuas aig an eaglais.
Dòmhnall: Agus càit a bheil Màiri?
Iain: Tha ise a-muigh cuideachd. Tha i shìos aig a' bhùth.
Dòmhnall: Chan eil duine sam bith aig an taigh ach thu fhèin?
Iain: Chan eil duine eile ann.
What’s this?
You may find the gap left in the audio for ”your” line is not long enough. Use this control to increase the delay by a set number of seconds. For example, leaving it at zero (the default) will result in the gap being the same length as the audio was in the original dialog. Setting it to ‘2’ will make the gap two seconds longer, and so on.
Extra Vocabulary
ise
she (emphatic form of i)
ach
but / except
ach thu fhèin
except yourself
eile
else / other / another
ann
here / there (in existence)
Gaelic transcript
DÒMHNALL: Feasgar math, Iain, càit a bheil mamaidh?
IAIN: Tha i shuas aig an eaglais.
DÒMHNALL: Agus càit a bheil Màiri?
IAIN: Tha ise a-muigh cuideachd. Tha i shìos aig a' bhùth.
DÒMHNALL: Chan eil duine sam bith aig an taigh ach thu fhèin?
IAIN: Chan eil duine eile ann.
English transcript
DONALD: Good afternoon, Iain, where is mummy?
IAIN: She's up at the church.
DONALD: And where's Mairi?
IAIN: She's out as well. She's down at the shop.
DONALD: There's no one at home but yourself?
IAIN: There's no one else here.
Dòmhnall: Feasgar math, Iain, càit a bheil mamaidh?
Iain: Tha i shuas aig an eaglais.
Dòmhnall: Agus càit a bheil Màiri?
Iain: Tha ise a-muigh cuideachd. Tha i shìos aig a' bhùth.
Dòmhnall: Chan eil duine sam bith aig an taigh ach thu fhèin?
Iain: Chan eil duine eile ann.
What’s this?
You may find the gap left in the audio for ”your” line is not long enough. Use this control to increase the delay by a set number of seconds. For example, leaving it at zero (the default) will result in the gap being the same length as the audio was in the original dialog. Setting it to ‘2’ will make the gap two seconds longer, and so on.
Extra Vocabulary
ise
she (emphatic form of i)
ach
but / except
ach thu fhèin
except yourself
eile
else / other / another
ann
here / there (in existence)
Gaelic transcript
DÒMHNALL: Feasgar math, Iain, càit a bheil mamaidh?
IAIN: Tha i shuas aig an eaglais.
DÒMHNALL: Agus càit a bheil Màiri?
IAIN: Tha ise a-muigh cuideachd. Tha i shìos aig a' bhùth.
DÒMHNALL: Chan eil duine sam bith aig an taigh ach thu fhèin?
IAIN: Chan eil duine eile ann.
English transcript
DONALD: Good afternoon, Iain, where is mummy?
IAIN: She's up at the church.
DONALD: And where's Mairi?
IAIN: She's out as well. She's down at the shop.
DONALD: There's no one at home but yourself?
IAIN: There's no one else here.