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Irish pronunciation is very different to English and often people new to Irish can find it difficult to grasp. I'll try to simplify it here! Of course, you might hear in spoken differently to this, depending on the dialect.

Vowels

There are five of these in Irish:
a (pr. "ah" - closest English equivalent: ago
e (pr. "eh" - closest English equivalent: pet)
i (pr. "ih" - closest English equivalent: pick)
o (pr. "oh" - closest English equivalent: cot)
u (pr. "uh" - closest English equivalent: muck)

Irish only has one accent, unlike many European languages, and it is called the fada. The fada lengthens the sound of a vowel (fada is the irish word for "long")

á (pr. "awh" - closest English equivalent: paw)
é (pr. "ay" - closest English equivalent: say
í (pr. "ee" - closest English equivalent: seat
ó (pr. "oe" - closest English equivalent: toe
ú (pr. "oo" - closest English equivalent: soon

Consonants

Most consanants in Irish are pronounced similarly to English when they come beside a vowel. "S," "t" and "d" are exceptions to this rule.
When the closest vowel to a "t" is "i" or "e" (i.e. when "t" is slender), it sounds like the English "ch," e.g., "duit" is pronounced "ditch". When the closest vowel to an "s" is "i" or "e" (when "s" is slender) it sounds like the English "sh," e.g., "sin" is pronounced "shin". When the closest vowel to a d is "i" or "e," it sounds like the English "j," e.g "creid" is pronounced "crej." When the closest vowels to these consanants are "a", "o" or "u", they sound as they do in English.

Consonant combinations

These should be learnt because their pronunciations are completely different to how an English speaker might expect them to be!
Again, their pronunciations often depend on whether they are broad or slender. ( Broad = beside one of the vowels a, o or u; Slender = beside one of the vowels i or e)

bh (broad) - closest English equivalent: wall; Irish e.g. sa bhaile
bh (slender) - closest English equivalent: van; Irish e.g. an bhean
ch (broad and slender) - closest English equivalent: loch (throaty sound that doesn't really exist in English); Irish e.g. mo chóta
dh (broad) closest English equivalent: loch (except with more of a "guh" sound); Irish e.g. dhá
dh (slender) - closest English equivalent: yet; Irish e.g. mo Dhreoilín
fh (broad and slender) - silent; Irish e.g. an fhuinneog
gh (broad) - closest English equivalent: loch (except with more of a "guh" sound); Irish e.g. sa ghairdín
gh (slender) - closest English equivalent: yet; Irish e.g. mo gheata
mh (broad) - closest English equivalent: wall; Irish e.g. mo mhála
mh (slender) - closest English equivalent: vet; Irish e.g. ba mhian liom
ph (broad and slender) - closest English equivalent: fat; Irish e.g. fuair mé
sh (broad and slender) - closest English equivalent: hat; Irish e.g. a Shíle
th (broad and slender) - closest English equivalent: hat; Irish e.g.
thit mé

Exceptions
There are some exceptions to the above rules:
Broad dh or gh in the middle of a word is usually pronounced like a "y", e.g. fadhb "fibe." If a broad bh or mh ("w") is followed by a consonant which makes it hard to pronounce, like mo bhróga, a "v" sound is used instead. Also, sometimes a "v" sound is used when bh or mh is at the end of a word, such as creidimh "krej-iv" .

Hope that helps! biggrin

Its pronounced "Lum" smile

I'll try to practice with what you gave,,, ooh, can you give some words that i and others can practice on pronouncing (using in correct usage to wat you said), cus im am having trouble figureing out how you know what double letters ( eg dh,mh,etc.) to use and when and what to do with the other letters in the original word, and do you even refer to english words... uhh, i just need an irish dictionary... hehe^.^

hi I was wondering how would you pronounce tha gaol agam ort

it would be pronounced as 'ta gail ugum ort'
hope that helps ^^

Beidh mé ag múineadh Gaeilge roinnt daoine ach amháin más féidir iad a léamh an teachtaireacht seo.