Lessoon Shiaght Feed as Shiaght-Jeig: Apag Aghtal
Lesson One Hundred and Fifty-Seven: A Clever Monkey

shiaght feed as shiaght-jeig (SHAKH-FEED-azz-SHAKH-jegg) -157
apag (AAP-ag) - monkey
aghtal (AKHT-al) - clever

Co-loayrtys
Catreeney: Yn apag shen ren scapail veih Pairk ny Beiyn, ta mee credjal dy vel eh
er-ash ayns shen reesht.
Ealish: Vel? V’ad gra dy vel ny h-apagyn shen goaill aggle roish yn ushtey, agh roie y fer shoh magh trooid yn ushtey mie dy liooar.
Catreeney: Apag voght! Cha beagh eh coontey monney jeh’n earish er y gherrid.
Ealish: V’ad gra neesht dy vel yn apag shoh cho mooar as kayt, agh s’goan y kayt ta ny smoo na meadar er lhiurid.

scapail (skayp-AYL) - escaping
Yn apag shen ren scapail veih... (in-AAP-ag-SHEN-renn-skayp-AYL-vy) - That monkey which escaped from....
Pairk ny Beiyn (PERK-na-BA-een) - The Wildlife Park
dy vel eh er-ash (the-VELL-ay-err-ASH) - that it is back
Vel? (vell) - Is (it)?
v’ad gra (vadd-GRAA) - they were saying
If we’re being strict, we put ‘h’ before plural nouns which start with a vowel if ‘the’ precedes them: ny h-apagyn (na-HAAP-ag-un) - the monkeys.
goaill aggle roish (goyl-AHGL-rohsh) - being afraid of
ushtey (USH-cha) - water
roie (ra-ee) - run! running
If we take the imperative (order form) of a regular verb and (if necessary) change the first letter, we automatically get the simple past tense. The letter ‘r’ cannot be changed, so ‘roie’ can mean ‘ran’:
roie y fer shoh magh (RA-EE-a-FERR-shaw-MAKH) - this one ran out.

Apag voght! (AAP-ag-VAWKH) - Poor monkey!
‘Apag’ is a feminine noun, so the ‘b’ in ‘boght’ is changed to ‘v’. This is an example of lenition, or aspiration, if the older term is used.

cha beagh eh (ha-BEE-ukh-a) - it would not be
coontey monney (KOON-da-MONN-a) - reckoning much
earish (IRR-ish) - weather
er y gherrid (ERR-a-GHERR-id) - recently
cho mooar as kayt (ho-MOOR-azz-KETT) - as big as a cat
goan (gawn) - scarce
ny smoo na (na-SMOO-na) - bigger than
meadar er lhiurid (MAYD-ar-err-L’YOOR-id) - a metre in length
In Manx, we say ‘on length’ - ‘er lhiurid’. Similarly, we say ‘er lheead’ (err-L’YEE-ud) for ‘in width’, and ‘er yrjid’ (err-ERR-jid) for ‘in height’.