Irish Toasts

Sláinte is the whole of most people's Irish, and it is a good place to start: it simply means health, offered to the person you are drinking with. It is not a sentence and does not need to be one.

Past that, Irish toasting language runs to longer forms. Wishes for long life, for a hundred years, for the health you are about to drink to. Several are the same subjunctive constructions used in blessings, which is why a toast and a blessing in Irish often sound alike. Go maire tú an céad works at a birthday and at a wedding and over a glass.

There is also a small body of proverb about drink and hospitality, and it is drier than the sentimental material usually sold as Irish toasts. Is túisce deoch ná scéal (a drink comes before a story) is advice about how to treat someone who has arrived at your door, not a drinking slogan.

Pronunciation guides here are approximations written for English speakers. They will get you close enough to be understood, which is the practical bar for a toast.