Yin hundur Borders Scots words
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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 Scots Dictionary 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
biggin
cannae
clap
clype
courie
dae/div
gaun
gein
greet
haety
haud
hiv/hae
howk
ken
mind
saffen
tummel
Verbs (action words) in English
stay, live
spin around
blow
build
building
can’t
pet
to tell on
cuddle
do
going
giving
weep, cry
have to
hold
have
dig
know
remember
soften
roll/knock over
Prepositions in Scots
afore
agin
ahint
atween
eftir
frae/fri
inby
oot
owur
owurby
ti
Prepositions in English
before
again
behind
between
after
from
close
out
over
a short distance away
to
Adjectives (describing words) in Scots
abin
auld
clatty
Adjectives (describing words) in English
above
old
dirty, muddy, slimy, disagreeable
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crabbit
daft
daunner
derk
drookit
dreich
feart
gallus
glaikit
hap
ither
mad
muckle
oos
scunnered
shilpit
sleekit
snell
stannin
stoorie
teemin
wee
Nouns (naming words) in Scots
ba
byre
cloot
claes
craitur
daud
ferm
freen
gloamin
guff
glaur
haaf
hame
heid
hoose
kirk
kye
laddie
lassie
pocky
tatties
toon
wean
wife, wifie
yowe
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bad tempered
foolish, stupid
wander
dark
drenched
miserable
afraid
cheeky
stupid
cover
other
angry
big
bobbly
fed up
feeble
sly
Of weather: biting, keen, piercing, bitter,
severe
standing
dusty
crowded
small
Nouns (naming words) in English
ball
cowshed
cloth
clothes
creature/person
lump/piece
farm
friend
dusk
smell
mud
half
home
head
house
church
cattle
boy
girl
pouch
potatoes
town; farmstead; the Toon – Aberdeen
child
woman,
married or not
ewe
Pronouns (short words that replace
nouns) in Scots
mi
oor
thaim
thit
whae
whit
ye, youse (pl)
Pronouns (short words that replace
nouns) in English
my
our
them
that
who
what, which
you
Numbers in Scots
yin
twae
fower
hundur
Numbers in English
one
two
four
hundred
Adverbs in Scots
ayewis
doon
gey
hie
noo
whair
Adverbs in English
always
down
very, somewhat, rather
high
now
where
Contractions in Scots
husnae
Contractions in English
hasn’t
Idiomatic expressions in Scots
chuckin it doon
insteido
ower yur wulkies
Idiomatic expressions in English
raining a lot
instead of
head over heels
Some features of Scots grammar and speech
Negative forms of verbs are created by adding ‘nae’ at end – ‘cannae’, ‘couldnae 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’.
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