Hey everyone,

Being of celtic decent I am interested in having the words; no regrets or regret nothing tattooed in gaelic. Now i'm not silly enough to believe that google translate is gonna be accurate or gramatically correct. However, I have read some forums and have come across phrases like "gan aiféala" but I wanted to know the opinion of people who'd probably know better. Any help would be greatly appreciated

The usual thing suggested for "no regrets" would be aiféala ar bith, which is a pretty literal translation. You might also use just gan aiféala ["without regret(s)"]. The expression "regret nothing" would end up being longer in Irish than in English, due to the differences in sentence structure. Perhaps something like Ná bíodh aiféala [ar bith] ort, meaning "May you have no regrets [at all]" or "Let you have no regrets [at all]".

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

but be careful, "ar bith" when it's not used with a negative word, also means "any". Aiféala ar bith may mean "any regret" too.
Have to say "gan aiféala ar bith" to say "no regret" without ambiguity...

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

A less ambiguous way to say "no ~" is to use diabhal or dheamhan:

Diabhal aiféala "No regrets" literally "devil a regret"
Dheamhan aiféala "No regrets" literally "demon a regret"

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

I do like that.




Usually we say "ort".

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It is recommended that you always wait for three to agree on a translation.
I speak Connemara Irish, and my input will often reflect that.
I will do an mp3 file on request for short translations.
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Yes, I keep forgetting that the simple use of ar bith (or sam bith in Scotland) is a northern thing.

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

I can see where you're going with that but it's not quite the meaning i'm looking for. For me this is sort of a personal thing where i've let things i've done in my past affect how i feel about myself as a person. I want the tattoo to act as a symbollic reminder to myself not to regret what is now in the past. Hence my preference for something like "regret nothing".

In that case, the shortest form you're likely to get away with is "Ná bí aiféala ort," at least if you want it to sound like a command to yourself.

I'm not sure there's any problem with "gan aiféala," to be honest. That kind of construction is used a lot in songs and the like. It translates directly to "without regret/shame."

Redwol

bíodh - is what I would say.

Like Redwolf said I think Breandán suggestions works well with what you want.

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It is recommended that you always wait for three to agree on a translation.
I speak Connemara Irish, and my input will often reflect that.
I will do an mp3 file on request for short translations.
___________________________________________________________

Ná bí....Redwol

Textspeak is really taking over everywhere