A hunner key Gallowa Scots wirds
•
•
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 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
birl
bigg/mak
blaw
cannae
chap
chant
clap
courie
dae
dauner
doot
dunt
fricht/fley
footer
gaun
girn
greet
haud
hae
howk
mak
mind
skelp
shoogle
stey
tak
Verbs (action words) in English
spin around
build
blow
can’t
knock
sing
pet
cuddle
do
go for a stroll
believe/ doubt
strike or knock
frighten, startle
fiddle with, fidget
going
whine or complain
weep, cry
hold
have
dig
make, build
remember
strike, hit, smack, work with great energy, move
quickly
shake
stay, live
take
Prepositions in Scots
ahin
abin/abuin
alang
f(r)ae
oot
ower
tae
unner
Prepositions in English
behind
above
along
from
out
over
to
under
Transforming lives through learning
Adjectives (describing words) in Scots
auld
braw
clarty
crabbit
drookit
feart
glaikit
heich
laigh
ma
mackit
muckle
pechin
peekit lookin
perjink
scunnert
shilpit
slaister
sleekit
snell
thrawn
thon
tottie
wee
wersh
Adjectives (describing words) in English
old
fine
dirty, muddy, slimy, disagreeable
bad tempered
drenched
afraid
stupid
high
low
my
filthy
big, large
short of breath
sickly, not well, drawn, listless
neat
fed up
feeble
messy, awkward, clumsy
sly
very cold
stubborn, determined, headstrong
that
very small
small
lacking in taste/sour
Nouns (naming words) in Scots
baa
beas/ kye
boay
byre
cloot
claes
coup
craitur
the day
freen
gloamin
glaur
hoose
heid
lassie
the morra
tatties
toon
watter
wean
wumman
yowe
Nouns (naming words) in English
ball
cattle
boy
cowshed
cloth
clothes
rubbish dump
creature/person
today
friend
dusk
mud
house
head
girl
tomorrow
potatoes
town; farmstead; the Toon – Glasgow
water
child
woman
ewe
Transforming lives through learning
Pronouns (short words that replace
nouns) in Scots
naethin/ nocht
ocht
wha/ whae
whit
yi
Pronouns (short words that replace
nouns) in English
nothing
anything
who
what, which
you
Numbers in
Scots
yin
twa/ twae
fower
seiven
echt
eleeven
hunner
thoosan
Numbers in
English
one
two
four
seven
eight
eleven
hundred
thousand
Adverbs in Scots
doon
gey
noo
canny-like
Adverbs in English
down
very, somewhat, rather
now
carefully, cautiously
Exclamations/ Greetings
Ach away!
Hoo’s it gaun?
Hingin thegither
exclamation of surprise
How are you? Keeping well – just!
Some features of Scots grammar and speech
Negative forms of verbs are created by adding ‘nae’ at end – ‘cannae’, ‘mustnae’ etc.
Present participles end in ‘in’ – never ‘ing’ (greetin, haiverin, slaiverin), so there is no need
for an apostrophe unless it is an English word and the ‘g’ has been dropped in
pronunciation.
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’.
Transforming lives through learning