Skills on AI

Locale Gd 001

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Use when working with the Scottish Gaelic locale (`gd-001`) — its endonym Gàidhlig, Latin script, left-to-right (LTR) direction, or spoken-population data. Reference data and translation guidance (register, grammar, idiom, typography) for this specific locale; see [[locale]] for general i18n/l10n concepts (BCP 47, plural rules, RTL) that apply across all locales.

Reference data for the Scottish Gaelic locale — endonym Gàidhlig, written in the Latin script, left-to-right (LTR).

Identifiers

  • BCP 47 tag: gd-001
  • ISO 639-1: gd
  • ISO 639-3: gla
  • Script: Latn (Latin)
  • Region: 001 (World)
  • Text direction: ltr — left-to-right (LTR)

Speakers (approximate)

  • L1 (native): 20,000
  • L2 (additional): 70,000
  • L1+L2 (total): 90,000

Regional variants

This is the base/macro locale for Scottish Gaelic. Region-specific variants in this dataset:

Pluralization

CLDR plural categories for this locale: one, two, few, other (4 forms).

  • one — n = 1,11 (e.g. 1, 11)
  • two — n = 2,12 (e.g. 2, 12)
  • few — n = 3..10,13..19 (e.g. 3~10, 13~19)
  • other — everything else (e.g. 0, 20~34, 100, 1000, …)

See Unicode Messageformat for writing plural messages using these categories.

Translating into this locale

Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) is a Celtic language of Scotland, closely related to Irish. Written Gaelic follows the Gaelic Orthographic Conventions (GOC) used in Scottish education and public bodies. See Locale Gd Gb. This guidance is lower-confidence; have a native reviewer check it.

Translate ideas, not words.

  • Scottish Gaelic is verb-subject-object. Reorder English sentences.
  • Gaelic has no verb "to have"; possession uses aig (Tha faidhle agam, "a file is at me"). It has no single words for "yes" and "no"; the answer repeats the verb.
  • Two verbs for "to be": bi (states, locations) and the copula is (identity, classification). Map English "is" correctly.
  • Use terms from the Faclair na Pàrlamaid and other approved Gaelic resources where they exist.

Grammar that trips translators.

  • Initial mutations: lenition (bàta to bhàta) and, less often, eclipsis; articles, prepositions, and possessives trigger them. Missing mutations are the commonest error.
  • Broad and slender consonants; vowels must agree ("caol ri caol, leathann ri leathann").
  • Prepositional pronouns fuse a preposition and a pronoun (agam, agad, aige, aice).
  • Verbal nouns replace the English infinitive and gerund.

Register.

  • Thu (singular) and sibh (plural or polite). Use sibh in public, formal, and service text; thu for friends and children. Do not mix.
  • UI commands use the imperative or verbal noun.

Orthography and typography.

  • Gaelic uses only the grave accent (à, è, ì, ò, ù) after the GOC; do not use acute accents, which belong to Irish.
  • Quotation marks ‘…’ or “…”; dates 17 an Dàmhair 2026; £; 24-hour clock.

Common pitfalls

  • Using Irish spelling or acute accents.
  • Missing lenition.
  • Using English word order.

Learn more

  • Locale for BCP 47 identifiers, locale-sensitive formatting, pluralization, and text-direction concepts that apply across all locales.
  • Unicode Messageformat for writing plural/selection messages correctly for this locale's grammar.
  • Bòrd na Gàidhlig (https://www.gaidhlig.scot)
  • Faclair na Pàrlamaid (Scottish Parliament Gaelic terminology)

View locale-gd-001/SKILL.md on GitHub