Hi guys,

I need a translation for a tattoo:

"I love you. I miss you.
I will always carry you in my heart."

For the first two sentences I found a translation:

Tá grá agam ort. Airím uaim thú. - is that correct?

And for the last sentence I found two solutions:

Béarfaidh mé liom i mo chroí thú i gcónaí.
or
Iompróidh mé thú i mo chroí i gcónaí.

What's better or more correct?

Or should I go with go deo instead of i gcónaí?

Thank you,
tide

Hi Tide! (not to be confused with "high tide"!)

I'd lean toward something like:

Iompróidh (or Béarfaidh) mé istigh i mo chroí thú go deo

I think that either "iompróidh" or "béarfaidh" will work in this context, but I'd want to get more input on that.

I lean toward "go deo" because it has more the meaning of "forever," whereas "i gcónaí" has more the meaning of "constantly."

Do wait for more input on this!

Redwolf

Bump! We need more eyes on this, please!

Redwolf

I think I'd go with Iompróidh...

Béarfaidh could work, but perhaps le (liom) is necessary to give it its correct sense?

The position of thú in the sentence should be considered. It's probably fine though.

I'd thought about putting "thú" after "go deo"...do you think it would sound better there? I went back and forth on it.

Redwolf

Redwolf's correction seems fine to me, but I think I would prefer something more idiomatic, although perhaps less close to the original:

Mo ghrá thú.
Cronaím thú.
Beidh mo chroí istigh ionat go deo.

or simply:

Cronaím thú.
Grá mo chroí go deo thú.

This is standard spelling obviously.

I'm fond of "Beidh mo chroí istigh ionat go deo," too, but the OP should know that this literally means "my heart will be within YOU forever" rather than "I will carry you in MY heart forever." Perhaps we could flip it around and say "Beidh do chroí istigh ionam go deo" (?)

In the other place, folks weren't terribly fond of "Cronaím thú," though I can't remember why.

Redwolf

Yeah, true, but this is why I like the second proposal:

Grá mo chroí go deo thú.

It captures two lines of the original - I love you, carry you in my heart forever etc. Less ink, more idiom.

You hear cronaigh in Ulster (spoken more like crothnaigh) but maybe not elsewhere...

Sounds like a worthy catch phrase!

_________________

Let's sum up what we have so far:

A very literal translation of "I will always carry you in my heart":

Iompróidh mé istigh i mo chroí go deo thú

Anbraonach is very right, though, that terribly literal translations don't always work as intended, and offered some very good idiomatic suggestions:

Grá mo chroí go deo thú (literally "You are the love of my heart forever")

Beidh mo chroí istigh ionat go deo (literally "My heart will be within you forever")

Both are well-established Irish idioms, and there's no likely they'd be misinterpreted. If you like either of them, I can second them.

I asked if the second one could be turned around:

Beidh do chroí istigh ionam go deo (literally "Your heart will be within me forever")

I don't think we've heard back on that yet.

As far as "I love you, I miss you" goes, I can back:

Mo ghrá thú (I love you)
Cronaím thú (I miss you)

My only reservation was that people in the old place didn't seem to like "Cronaím thú," but if it's used in Ulster, that's good enough for me.

Can we get more input/confirmation, so our friend here can schedule the tattoo appointment?

Redwolf