How To Say Happy St. Patrick’s Day In Irish

Do you want to learn how to say Happy St. Patrick’s Day in Irish Gaelic? 

In Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day is a day of cultural and religious celebration that takes place every year on March 17. According to popular belief, St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17th to commemorate the death date of St. Patrick, Ireland’s foremost patron saint.

While the day is observed as a religious holiday by the Catholic Church and other religious organizations, it has evolved into a day to commemorate Ireland as a nation and to celebrate all things, Irish.

This day has been a public holiday since 1903, and the first-ever St. Patrick’s Day parade took place in Waterford.

Knowing how to wish someone a “Happy St. Patrick’s Day” in Irish is important when celebrating the holiday, especially as St. Patrick’s Day approaches.

However, this day is more than parades, overflowing beer, and toasting a few “sláinte” (good health). If you want to be a little Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, here are a few simple Irish phrases to use.

 

“Happy St. Patrick’s Day” in Irish

1. Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit! – Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you!

The simplest way to wish someone a happy St. Patrick’s Day is with this simple greeting. The phrase “Law leh Paw-drig suna ghit” means “Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you!”

In this greeting, Lá Fhéile Pádraig translates to “St. Patrick’s Day”. Sona meanwhile, translates as “happy” and Dduit means “to you” when used in a one-on-one conversation.

This St. Patrick’s Day greeting is pronounced as lah leh PAH-drig SUN-uh gwitch.

2. Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona daoibh – Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you! (Addressing a group of people)

Rather than using the singular form of “happy St. Patrick’s Day,” this sentiment uses the plural form. With this version, you can extend your greeting to more than one person.

To say “Happy St. Patrick’s Day” to multiple people, you’ll have to tweak the phrase a little bit. Here, the word “duit” becomes “daoibh,” which also means “to you,” but in the plural form. Hence, it becomes “Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona daoibh”

This Irish greeting is then pronounced as “Law leh Paw-drig suna yee-uv.”

3. Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig dhuit! – St Patrick’s Day blessings to you!

To wish someone a happy St. Patrick’s Day more traditionally and religiously, use this phrase. As a way of saying “Happy St. Patrick’s Day,” you’re wishing someone an abundance of good fortune on this day.

“Beannachta” is both a blessing and a greeting. Irish greetings have traditionally been characterized by the use of blessings in the majority of cases.

This particular St. Patrick’s Day blessing is pronounced as “Ban-ukh-tee nah Fay-leh Paw-drig ghit!”

4. Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh – St. Patrick’s Day blessings to you! (Addressing a group of people)

This is what you say when you want to wish everyone a happy St. Patrick’s Day. Use this greeting to wish a group of people a happy St. Patrick’s Day in a more traditional and slightly more religious manner.

In this traditional St. Patrick’s Day greeting,  Fhéile Pádraig means “St. Patrick’s Day.” Meanwhile, Beannachta na translates to “blessings” while the word oraibh means “to you” where “you” refers to multiple people.

This St. Patrick’s Day greeting is pronounced as BAN-ukh-tee nuh FAY-leh PAH-drig ur-iv.

5. Proposing Toasts on St. Patrick’s Day

Along with the greetings and blessings, you are most likely to encounter a lot of drinking during St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland. So, how do you properly join in the fun like a true Irish? Learn how to toast.

If you know your basic Irish, you probably know that saying “Sláinte” (Pronounced as slawn-cheh) is the standard way of toasting. However, during a big celebration like St. Patrick’s Day, you may want to say  “Sláinte is táinte!” instead. If you want to make a more emphatic toast, use this phrase to kick things up a notch.

Translated literally, this toast signifies “good health and prosperity!” In this toast, Sláinte is the Irish word for “health,”, the Irish word Is translates to “and,” and táinte means “wealth.”

This traditional Irish toast is pronounced as slawn-cheh iss toin-cheh.