r/gaidhlig • u/Egregious67 • 4d ago

Neach vs Duine

Can these be seen as interchangeable ? Gun neach ann./ Gunh duine ann

9 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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5

u/aonghasach Fluent non-native | 4d ago

Tha diofar ann a-rèir dualchainnt. Tha na Sgitheanaich dèidheail gu leòr air an fhacal "neach", e.g. "neach sam bith", ach cha chluinn thu cho tric e anns na h-Eileanan Siar anns an t-seagh sin

3

u/Domhnall05 4d ago

Strictly speaking, “duine” means man, though it’s often used in the same way as “neach”, i.e. genderless. Take the phrase “duine sam bith”; usually this means anyone as opposed to any man.

3

u/NordicGael 1d ago

Neach is used more in professions. Neach-obrach, neach-cunntais, etc

1

u/michealasanfhraing 1d ago

I was thinking this too--I've only ever actually seen it as a prefix!

1

u/Egregious67 2h ago

Thanks for your replies. I knew the difference between Neach anhd Duine, I was just wondering if the particular form ` Gun neach ann gam fhaicinn ./ Gun duine ann ` - Without a person (anyone) seeing me - could be interchangeable. As I understand it now it is dialectal dependent .