St. Patrick's Day Countdown: How to Say "Happy St Patrick's Day" in Irish
Written by Ciaran on Mar 17, 2025 | 0 Comments
It's the last day of our countdown to St. Patrick's Day - the big day has finally arrived! From all of us here at My Irish Jeweler would like to wish you a very happy St Patrick’s Day from Dublin.
Irish is a rich language, offering many different ways to wish someone a Happy St Patrick’s Day. One of the most common would be to say
Lá fhéile Pádraig sona dhuit
Which translates roughly as Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you when you are speaking to just one person. To pronounce it you would say something like ‘Law leh Paw-rik Sun-uh gw-itch.’
My personal favourite is the slightly more traditional Irish greeting:
“Beannachtaí na Féile Padraig Ort”.
This literally translates as Blessings of Patrick’s Festival Upon You or To You.
How to Pronounce "Beannachtaí na Féile Padraig Ort"
I will break the phrase up, into 9 sounds that should help with pronunciation:
Baa, Knock, Tea, Na, Faye, La, Paw, Rick, Urt.
Go on and give it a try! I hope you have a lovely St Patrick’s Day, wherever you are in the world.
More cúpla focail for St. Patrick's Day
Cúpla focail means “a few words” in Irish. We love our language and love sharing it even more. You can add to your cúpla focail for St. Patrick's Day or any other day for that matter with our Irish language posts on our blog or our videos on youtube.
Please - Le do thoil
Whether you are asking for a dance, a song, or a top up of your drink, it is always a good idea to be polite. If you would like to say please in Irish you say le do thoil. Literally translated this means "with your will" and it sounds like le-doh-hull.
Cheers! Sláinte!
If you are enjoying a drink with others on St. Patrick's day you may want to toast to their health. Well then a simple Sláinte, (said slan-cha) will suffice. The direct translation is health, but this word is pretty widely used in Ireland and not just when toasting a drink (or to refer to health), but also as a sort of stand in for thank you in informal chats!
Goodbye / Goodnight - Slán leat / Oíche mhaith
Despite the rumors that circulate about the somewhat rude “Irish Goodbye,” there are plenty of polite and friendly ways to bid farewell in our native language. An informal “Slán” which works as a cheery bye is pretty universally applied here. As an added bonus it's easy to say - Slawn. And if you have stayed up very late celebrating, you can always use Oíche mhaith - (pronounced ee-hu-wah) goodnight!
As the old Irish proverb says Is fearr Gaeilge briste, ná Béarla clíste - Broken Irish is better than clever English! Happy studying! We have a growing collection of old Irish Sayings on our blog that remind us this gift has been passed down through the generations.
What's Next
We're finished our countdown but if you missed any of our posts from the past 17 day or would like to find them again we've included a link to them below. Thank you for joining us on this little adventure - it's a real joy to connect with our friends around the globe.
- Day 1: What connects St. Patrick and the Shamrock?
- Day 2: What connects the Shamrock and the Trinity Knot?
- Day 3: What is Ireland's official colour?
- Day 4: What is the official symbol of Ireland?
- Day 5: Ten secrets of Ogham
- Day 6: What's Ireland's most beloved symbol?
- Day 7: Who are Ireland's Patron Saints?
- Day 8: Four fierce women to know for International Women’s Day
- Day 9: Warrior Saints?
- Day 10: Celtic Brooches 101
- Day 11: Ireland's Gemstone
- Day 12: Irish Dancing 101
- Day 13: Irish Stories
- Day 14: St. Patrick and the Celtic Cross
- Day 15: Traditional ways to mark St. Patrick's Day
- Day 16: Where to go in Ireland in 2025
- Day 17: How to say "Happy St. Patrick's Day" in Irish
Wear your Heritage
Learning Irish or Gaelic certainly takes a bit of work! Treat yourself to a piece of our stunning jewellery featuring an Irish phrase or word. We've several designs that incorporate beautiful Irish phrases that will spur you on your journey.
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Ciaran
My Irish Jeweler
Born in Co. Antrim and reared in Dublin, I was fascinated with Gaelic culture from an early age. I suppose it's not surprising given my mother inherited a grá for the Irish language from my grandfather, an Irish school headmaster. And that grá continues! My brother and sister are now Gaelic teachers here in Ireland, my niece is an award winning Irish dancer, and I proudly work to share Irish culture through our Irish and Celtic Jewelry at My Irish Jeweler!
I love researching and reading about the history of Irish design. It's at the core of what we do here at My Irish Jeweler. I find much of it so interesting that I have to share what I find. I hope you enjoy it!
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