I’m starting to learn some Manx for the 2nd or even 3rd time and if I had hard time in Welsh a while ago, this is something really challenging and REALLY HARD!!!. Apart from “I want to speak Manx” sentence I can’t remember anything if even I’ve heard the thing just a second ago. But something intriges me anyway. Why at one time “I think” is said “Er-lhiam” and another time “Ta mee smoolinaghtyn” What is the difference here or where to use one and where another. I can’t find the pattern of this at all. Whe I think the second thing is OK it comes to that I should say the first one.
I think they’re pretty much interchangeable - I remember Adrian trying to explain something about it to me, but it didn’t stay with me - certainly for early stage use, you’re going to get your point across with either of them… 
@adriancain?!
There’s more on this in the thread below:
Er lhiam & Ta mee smooinaghtyn - Gaelg (Manx - Course 1 Lesson 5)
‘Ta mee smooinaghtyn’ looks somehwat similar to the Irish ‘Tá mé ag smaoineamh’ which we use when we want to say that we are thinking about something or just thinking rather than ‘I think that…’ etc
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Thank you.
So, if I’d like to say for example “I think about learning Manx.” I’d use “ta mee smoolinaghtyn” and when I want to say for example “I think I can not speak yet” I’d use “Er-lhiam”, if I understood the things correctly.
That would be my understanding of it, Tatjana, but I stand corrected.
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Can only really say something from Gàidhlig view point and no money back guarantee on that lol.
Tha mi a’ smaoineachadh - I’m thinking
ar leam - I think
Looks like the ar comes from “thar” across over - so across/over and “leam” - with me - “across with me” - the latter is an insight into the Celtic way of things - to me anyway. Can’t say I’ve heard it much though, other things get said too but the tha mi a’ smaoineachadh is used a lot. A fab one is the double negative which comes out as I think/believe “cha chreid mi nach eil” “I do not think that not” - mabye there is a Manx version of that.
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Tha mi a’ dol leat. Cha chuala mi ar leam gu tric. I agree with you. I haven’t heard “ar leam” very often. However, I might be more common in Manx.
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