Practise for the Irish oral. Free.

The oral in short

• Higher and Ordinary level sit the same oral. It is 240 of the 600 marks: 40% of your Irish.
• It takes about 15 minutes, in four parts.
• In 2027 the orals are planned for Saturday 20 March to Thursday 25 March. Dates can change, and your school confirms your time.

Practise each part

Tell Niamh at the start what you want to practise, in Irish or in English. English is fine when you are stuck.

1. An Fáiltiú: The greeting

   5 marks

   The examiner asks for five details: your name, age, home address, date of birth and examination number. Say them to Niamh until they come out without thinking, so the exam starts calmly.

   Start talking

2. Léamh na Filíochta: Reading a poem

   35 marks

   The examiner chooses one of the five prescribed poems and you read it aloud. For 2027 and 2028 they are Dínit an Bhróin, Deireadh na Feide, Iníon, Glaoch Abhaile and Úirchill an Chreagáin (verses one and two).

   Read yours aloud to Niamh to get used to saying it to someone. Her review works from a transcript, not the sound of your voice, so it cannot judge your pronunciation or rhythm: your teacher is the one for that.

   Start talking

3. An Comhrá: The general conversation

   120 marks

   The biggest part of the oral. It starts close to home and goes further as you show what you can say. Pick a topic, tell Niamh about it, and let her ask you more. These are topics to practise with, not an official list:

   • An scoil (school)
   • An ceantar (where you live)
   • An teaghlach (your family)
   • Caitheamh aimsire (pastimes)
   • An samhradh (the summer)
   • Pleananna don todhchaí (plans for the future)
   Start talking

4. An tSraith Pictiúr: The picture series

   80 marks

   Your school has twenty series of six pictures. In the exam you get one at random and a short time to prepare, tell its story, and then you and the examiner ask each other questions. For 2027 you prepare 10 of the 20. Niamh cannot see your pictures, so keep your series in front of you, tell her the story picture by picture, then ask her to ask you questions about it.

   Start talking

Which Irish Niamh speaks

Niamh speaks Connacht Irish. If you learned Munster or Ulster Irish, she never marks your forms as mistakes: she accepts them and may mention, in a few words, how Connacht says it.

For teachers

Testera for Teams is how we work with schools. If you would like to talk about Niamh for your Leaving Cert class, get in touch through Testera for Teams.

Questions

Is it free?

Yes. As a guest you get one conversation with Niamh a day, of up to ten minutes. Sign in, also free, for three a day and to keep your flashcards.

Does Niamh mark my Irish?

No. Niamh gives practice feedback: a review of what you said, corrections, a level estimate and flashcards made from your own words. The level is an estimate for practice. It is not an exam mark or a grade, and it is not how the oral is marked.

Can I type instead of speaking?

Yes. You can type a line during a conversation, or start a typed conversation if you have no microphone or are somewhere noisy. For the oral itself, speaking out loud is the practice that counts.

Is my voice kept?

Only if you ask for it. The conversation runs on ElevenLabs, which turns your voice into a transcript; we use the transcript to write your review and do not store it. Since 17 October 2026 ElevenLabs keeps no audio, and deletes the transcript once your review is saved, or after 7 days at most. If you are signed in, 18 or over, and switch on “Keep a recording of my voice”, we store your side of each conversation in our EU database: your 50 most recent, until you delete them, delete your account, or 730 days pass without practice. Only you can play them. The privacy policy has the details.