A hunner key Scots wirds
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These Scots words, phrases, and grammatical features can be enlarged, printed, and placed in
windows or other locations round the school. Learners can work in threes to find and record as
many as possible.
Learners can use the Concise Scots Dictionary, the online Dictionary of the Scots Language
(http://www.dsl.ac.uk/) or the following vocabulary sheets to find definitions. (Words generally
need to be heard or said at least seven times before they will enter the learners’ vocabulary.)
Verbs (action words) in Scots
bide
birl
blaw
big
cannae
chap
chant
clap
courie
dae
doot
dreep
dunt
fleg
footer
gaun
girn
greet
haud
hiv
howk
keenie
mak
mind
skelp
shoogle
tak
targe
Prepositions in Scots
afore
ahint
atween
eftir
frae
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Verbs (action words) in English
stay, live
spin around
blow
build
can’t
knock
sing
pet
cuddle
do
believe/ doubt
to do something slowly, without interest, to
descend a wall by stretching full length
before dropping
strike or knock
frighten, startle
fiddle with, fidget
going
whine or complain
weep, cry
hold
have
dig
cry, mourn, weep
make
remember
strike, hit, smack, work with great energy,
move quickly
shake
take
scold, beat, push through a
crowd forcefully
Prepositions in English
before
behind
between
after
from
oot
ower
tae
overby
out
over
to
a short distance away
Adjectives (describing words) in Scots
auld
clatty
crabbit
daft
drookit
fantoosh
feart
gallus
glaikit
haiverin
hackit
haunless
mad
muckle
peelie-wally
scunnered
shilpit
sleekit
stoorie
tapsalteerie
thrawn
towtie
unca/unco
wee
Adjectives (describing words) in English
old
dirty, muddy, slimy, disagreeable
bad tempered
foolish, stupid
drenched
fancy, elaborate
afraid
cheeky
stupid
chatty
ugly
clumsy
angry
big
sickly, not well
fed up
feeble
sly
dusty
upside down
stubborn, determined, headstrong
subject to recurrent minor illness/ailments
strange, unfamiliar
small
Nouns (naming words) in Scots
ba
wean
byre
cloot
claes
craitur
the day
freen
gloamin
guff
glaur
hoose
heid
lassie
laddie
the morra
tatties
kye
Nouns (naming words) in English
ball
child
cowshed
cloth
clothes
creature/person
today
friend
dusk
smell
mud
house
head
girl
boy
tomorrow
potatoes
cattle
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toon
watter
wife, wifie
yowe
town; farmstead
water
woman
(married or not)
ewe
Pronouns (short words that replace
nouns) in Scots
it
ma
yon
wha
whit
oor, wir
ye, youse (pl)
Pronouns (short words that replace
nouns) in English
it
my
that
who
what, which
our
you
Numbers in Scots
yin
twa
fower
hunner
Numbers in English
one
two
four
hundred
Adverbs in Scots
doon
gey
Adverbs in English
down
very,
somewhat,
rather
now
carefully,
cautiously
noo
canny-like
Exclamations/ Greetings
Ach away!
Hoo’s it gaun?
No sae bad!
exclamation of surprise
How are you?
Not bad at all!
Some features of Scots grammar and speech
Negative forms of verbs are created by adding ‘na’ at end – ‘canna’, ‘mustna’ etc.
Present participles end in ‘in’ – never ‘ing’ (greetin, haiverin, slaiverin), so there is no need
for an apostrophe.
Scots uses older, short vowel sounds in words like ‘hoose’, ‘moose’ and ‘coo’ (like
Norwegian) instead of ‘house’, ‘mouse’ and ‘cow’ (like English).
In Scots, the plural of ‘year’ is ‘year’, not ‘years’. E.g. ‘siven year ago’.
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