# Irish Gaelic: Which does not kill me, makes me stronger



## ionandoni

I would like to know the translation of the following sentence to Irish Gaelic,

"Which does not kill me, makes me stronger"

Thank you very much


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## L'irlandais

Hello
Welcome to the forums.  It would be nice if you made an attempt which we could then correct.
By the way in English it'd be more usual to say _:"What does not kill me makes me stronger."_


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## MkRoz

ionandoni said:


> I would like to know the translation of the following sentence into *Irish-Gaeilge:*
> 
> "Which does not kill me, makes me stronger"
> 
> Thank you very much


 

*WELCOME TO THE FORUM!!*

Try, too in the *General Vocabulary Forum*, if you get some replies!!

Regards,
Mk


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## L'irlandais

Hello again,
I done a little further browsing on your behalf :
What Nietzsche really said was "*Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich stärker*."
Careful, some websites give the following translation :  "What does not destroy me, makes me stronger."


> The entire quote from Nietzsche as follows :
> _"Did you ever say yes to a pleasure? Oh my friends, then you also said yes to all pain. All things are linked, entwined, in love with one another." "*What does not kill me makes me stronger*."  _from Götzen-Dämmerung (1888)  Which of these two translations is closer to the original?  Perhaps you need to find a native German speaker, who has an interest in Celtic studies, to resolve this thread.


Out of simple curiousity why would you wish to translate this phrase into Irish ?
Adding a third (unrelated) language to the equasion seems a little dodgy to me.  Please, don't tattoo this on your arm, without getting a native speaker's approval.  

PS.  Again purely out of curiousity, how would you say it in Spanish?


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## MkRoz

Hello, Gaels!!

If you wish to be considered like* " A real Gael ".*

*Which does not kill me, makes me stronger!* into Spanish:
*¡Lo que no mata, hace a uno más fuerte! *(It´s an expression).

Regards,
Mk


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## ionandoni

Thank you all,
In Spanish we say "Lo que no me destruye, me hace mas fuerte", that is like the second option you gave " What does not destroy me, makes me stronger".


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## Dlyons

ionandoni said:


> I would like to know the translation of the following sentence to Irish Gaelic,
> 
> "Which does not kill me, makes me stronger"
> 
> Thank you very much



This is to be taken with caution - hopefully a fior-Gael will happen along and improve it.

"An rud nár mharóidh mé, neartóidh mé"


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## ionandoni

I tried in the General Vocabulary forum as MkRoz suggested and they have deleted it...


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## Outsider

The General Vocabulary forum is part of the Spanish-English section. This is the proper forum for Irish. Unfortunately, we don't get Irish speakers here often. Be patient.


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## ionandoni

What about "an rud nach dtugann mo bhás dom, neartaíonn sé mé"? Which is the difference between the two?
Thanks!!


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## Frank78

Original:"Aus der Kriegsschule des Lebens - Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich stärker."

What does not destroy me, makes me stronger

This obviously seems to be the "official" translation. Has anyone read Nitzsche in English to prove?

I´ve also read "That which does not kill me, makes me stronger" and even "Whatever does not...".

Literal translation of the whole quotation:
From military college of life: What does not kill me, makes me stronger"


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## MkRoz

ionandoni said:


> I tried in the General Vocabulary forum as MkRoz suggested and they have deleted it...


 
Thank you, Iona for your try in the other Forum!

I told you that because maybe if there are some Hispanos/as-Irlandenses-Gaels in that Forum could at least to guide you where to set your post.
Anyway, as *Goidels* say:
*Some of the Celts follow the path of* _"Tãr n-aill(mell);Tãr (-innambão/-na-nog)", _*so that´s why it´s hard to find them!!*

Regards to everyone,

*MkRoz*


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## L'irlandais

ionandoni said:


> ...Which is the difference between the two?


Dia daoibh,
Well good question, Where to begin?

Both _Maraigh_ (verb for kill) and _neartaigh_ verb for strenghten (reinforce) are very similar ;  regular verbs of the second conjugation (An Dara Réimniú).  Which simply means the stem of the verb has more than 1 syllable.
Firstly, Dlyons has used the future tense (_Aimsir Fháistineach_), while you have chosen the 3rd person singular of the present tense (_Aimsir Láithreach_) of both verbs.

You both differ on the choice of relative pronoun as well.


			
				Dlyons said:
			
		

> "An rud *nár* mharóidh mé, neartóidh mé"



The relative pronoun "nár" is usually followed by lenition (Séimhiú) signified by the letter "h" in written Irish.
As I understand it, nár (negative relative verbal) is used with regular verbs in the past tense.  So perhaps Dlyons should have said _"An rud nach mharóidh mé, neartóidh mé" _ Be aware, that I'm no expert on the subject.



			
				ionandoni said:
			
		

> "an rud *nach *dtugann mo bhás dom, neartaíonn sé mé"?


Effectively 'eclipsis' is used following the relative pronoun "nach"
Though it is not used with regular verbs in the past tense ; but since "tabhair (give / bring) is an irregular verb you may still be correct.
However you had still better wait for a native speaker's input on that issue, as Dlyons suggested, as my Irish certainly isn't up to the sort of standard required.

Slán go fóill,

ps.  Don't know if others find it a struggle to write _as Gaeilge _without the broad vowels (a, o, u, á, ó, ú) & slender ones (e, i, é, í) on their keyboards.


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## Dlyons

L'irlandais said:


> Dia dhuit,
> Firstly, Dlyons has used the future tense (_Aimsir Fháistineach_), while you have chosen the 3rd person singular of the present tense (_Aimsir Láithreach_) of both verbs.
> 
> You both differ on the choice of relative pronoun as well.
> 
> So perhaps Dlyons should have said _"An rud nach mharóidh mé, neartóidh mé" _ Be aware, that I'm no expert on the subject.
> 
> However you had still better wait for a native speaker's input on that issue, as Dlyons suggested, as my Irish certainly isn't up to the sort of standard required.
> 
> ps.  Don't know if others find it a struggle to write _as Gaeilge _without the broad vowels (a, o, u, á, ó, ú) & slender ones (e, i, é, í) on their keyboards.



Thanks for that L'irlandais!  I've just come across a thread at:
http://www.irishgaelictranslator.com/translation/viewtopic.85372.html

My memory is that "nár" used in the conditional (i.e. that which _would _not kill) whereas "nach" is more "that which _does _not kill".  But quite possibly I'm wrong. 

I don't find writing _as Gaeilge _any harder than Spanish.  If I really want accents, I type in Word which has a relatively simple CTRL+accent scheme.


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## ionandoni

It is quite difficult to me to follow all these explanations, I do not know any Irish!! So the thing is that one is in the future and the other in the past?
An what about using mé or mo bhás dom in the first part of the sentence and mé or sé mé? I am a little bit lost!!

Thank you for your help


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## elirlandes

_An rud nach/nar mharóidh mé, neartóidh mé_:
I agree that "nár" is for past or conditional tenses, not future.
I find there is ambiguity here in the objects/subjects of your verbs: "Neartóidh mé" for example would more usually mean "I will strengthen". I would read this translation back into English as "The thing that I do not kill, I strengthen"...

That said, _mo chuid ghaeilge_ is not fresh enough to find a fix, so I propose a way which sound more natural to me:

*Rud nach bhfuil i ndonn mé a mharaigh, tabharfaidh sé neart dom.*
The thing that is incapable of killing me, it will give me strength.
literally:
thing not be able me to kill, will give [it] strength [to me]

I have to agree with L'Irlandais [my french counterpart  ]... it is wise NEVER to tattoo anything in Irish on your arm that has been translated from another language as what may sound clever in English/German etc. will often sound very contrived in Irish if translated literally. As you can see from my translation above, what sounds natural in Irish to explain the concept sounds totally unnatural in English.


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## ionandoni

Guau!!!This is a world!!Someome gave me this other translation:an rud nach dtugann mo bhás dom, neartaíonn sé mé. What do you think about it? Is it also literally transalted or does it have sense?
I am really grateful, thank you for the help!


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## ionandoni

Has anybody any other suggestion?


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## jamesosullivan

I'd say

Aon rud nach mharódh mé, neartódh mé-but i'm not sure


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## Conchúr

Yikes! This thread is a bit confusing. Before I clear up grammatical issues, the best translation is

*An rud nach maraíonn mé, neartaíonn sé mé*

====

The biggest confusion in this thread is nach/nár, the reason being that they are both serve THREE linguistic purposes: they can be an interrogative verb particle, and they can be a relative particle, and they are the negative form for indirect statements (that would use go/gur in the affirmative). Unfortunately, their use isn't uniform across the tenses.

*Present*
Nach is the interrogative verb particle (Nach ndéanann tú d'obair?)
Nach is the relative particle (An fear nach ndéanann a obair)
Nach is the negative form of 'go' (Dúirt sé nach ndéanann tú d'obair)

*Conditional*
Nach is the interrogative verb particle (Nach ndéanfa sin dom?)
Nach is the relative particle (An fear nach ndéanfadh an obair)
Nach is the negative form of 'go' (Dúirt sé nach ndéanfadh sé é)

*Past*
Nár is the interrogative verb particle EXCEPT for some irregular verbs, for which it's nach (Nár ól tú an tae ? Nach ndearna tú sin dom?)
Nár is the relative verb particle EXCEPT for some irregular verbs, for which it's nach (An fear nár ól an tae / An fear nach ndearna an obair)
Nár is the negative form of 'go'  EXCEPT for some irregular verbs, for which it's nach (Dúirt sé nár tú ól an tae / Dúirt sé nach nach ndearna an fear an obair)

So basically, nach is always used for PRESENT and CONDITIONAL, nár is mostly used for PAST, despite some exceptions.

THE ONLY TIME WHEN NÁR IS USED IN THE CONDITIONAL, IS WITH THE COPULA, WHICH DOESN'T APPLY HERE.
If you wanted to put the sentence in the conditional is would be "An rud *nach* maródh mé, neartódh mé.

Another big question mark is whether the subject (sé) can be left out in the second bit. Arguably, it could because

1) An rud nach maraíonn mé, neartaíonn mé DOES NOT mean ...I strengthen , but strengthens me. If it were the former, it would be neartaím.

2) Similarly, in the conditional, it would be neartóinn.

This said, I would keep the second subject in, as Irish, unlike French and English, seems to prefer it to be repeated.

Hope this clears things up.
C


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## Conchúr

jamesosullivan said:


> I'd say
> 
> Aon rud nach mharódh mé, neartódh mé-but i'm not sure



 No aspiration after 'nach'.



			
				elirlandes said:
			
		

> Rud nach bhfuil i ndonn mé a *mharaigh* , tabharfaidh sé neart dom



I quite like this translation. It's less literal, but longer, I guess. Though it should be *a mharú*



			
				L'irlandais said:
			
		

> As I understand it, nár (negative relative verbal) is used with regular verbs in the past tense. So perhaps Dlyons should have said "An rud nach mharóidh mé, neartóidh mé" Be aware, that I'm no expert on the subject.



Same as above, no aspiration after 'nach'.

Beir bua!


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## elirlandes

Conchúr said:


> I quite like this translation. It's less literal, but longer, I guess. Though it should be *a mharú*
> Beir bua!



Conchúr is correct of course... my mistake earlier.
*
* *Rud nach bhfuil i ndonn mé a mharú, tabharfaidh sé neart dom*


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## jamesosullivan

Dia Dhuit a Chonchúr
Yes I'd agree with you on most counts except for the bit about being able to say neartaíonn mé ( without the sé )
I live in Munster but I have a friend from Dublin and she always uses the 'tu' 'sé' 'sibh' part of the verb when referring to the first person plus mé
Sorry I know that sounds complicated-I mean she would say feiceann mé in the place of feicim. I knew that was possible but I didn't realise it was widely spoken in at least one dialect until I met her. Therefore, wouldn't it be possible to understand 'neartaíonn mé' as I strengthen? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm also just looking at my last thread and have seen that while I wrote 'nach mharódh mé' you wrote 'nach maródh mé'. Is this because the nach imposes an úrú therefore negating the séimhiú used in regular conditional clauses? 
Thanks for any help.


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## jamesosullivan

Oh sorry just looked up-thanks for answering my question-already! :L


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