Irish Typing Speed Test
Free Online Irish Keyboard – Type Gaeilge With Every Síneadh Fada
Welcome to the Irish keyboard online (méarchlár Gaeilge). All five long vowels sit on dedicated keys, so you can write Irish correctly on any device without installing a layout. Click the keys on screen, or type on your physical keyboard and watch the matching character appear in the box above.
What sits where. The long vowels take the spare keys around the alphabet: á and é are the two keys right of P, with í beside them, ú sits immediately right of L, and ó at the top left. Shift gives the capitals Á, É, Í, Ó and Ú, so Éire comes out right. The number row is plain digits.
The síneadh fada. The acute accent in Irish is the síneadh fada, the long mark, usually shortened to fada. It marks a long vowel and is not optional. Leaving it out produces a different word: Seán is a name, sean means old; féar is grass, fear is a man.
Eighteen letters, traditionally. The Irish alphabet is counted as eighteen letters, leaving out j, k, q, v, w, x, y and z, which occur in loanwords, scientific vocabulary and foreign names rather than in native Irish words. All of them are on this keyboard in their usual places.
From Gaelic type to Roman type. Irish was long printed in cló Gaelach, the Gaelic script, where lenition was marked by a dot above the consonant, the ponc séimhithe. Modern Irish writes that séimhiú with a following h, giving bhí, chuaigh and mhór. The standardised spelling An Caighdeán Oifigiúil appeared in 1958, and Roman type replaced Gaelic type in schoolbooks soon after.
Official status. Article 8 of the Constitution names Irish as the national language and the first official language of the State, with English as a second official language. Irish has been an official language of the European Union since 2007, with full working-language status since 2022.
In the 2022 census more than 1.8 million people in the Republic reported some ability to speak Irish, though far fewer use it daily outside education. That gap is where a keyboard helps: an easy fada removes one small obstacle to writing Irish in emails, forms and messages.
Your privacy is guaranteed — all typing happens locally in your browser. Nothing you write is sent to a server, stored or logged. Use Copy to lift the text onto your clipboard, or open the Welsh keyboard from the Layout dropdown.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I type á with a fada?
Click the key immediately to the right of P, or press that key on your physical keyboard, and you get á. Hold Shift for Á. The next key along gives é, the one beside it gives í, ú sits immediately right of L, and ó is at the top left, on the key left of 1.
What is a síneadh fada?
It is the acute accent used in Irish, literally the long mark, and it appears only on vowels: á, é, í, ó and ú. It shows that the vowel is long. Most speakers simply call it a fada, and Irish spelling treats it as part of the letter rather than as an optional decoration.
Does the fada really change the meaning?
Yes, and often. Seán is a man's name while sean means old. Féar means grass while fear means a man. Bríste means trousers while briste means broken. Dropping the fada is not a typographic shortcut in Irish, it is a spelling mistake that can produce an entirely different word.
Can I type capital fadas like Á and Éire?
Yes, all five. Hold Shift, or switch on Caps, and the same keys give Á, É, Í, Ó and Ú, because every long vowel sits on a spare key where Shift is free. That matters for words and names beginning with one, such as Éire, Áine, Úna and the surname prefix Ó.
How is this different from the official Irish keyboard layout?
On Windows and macOS Irish is typed with a UK or Irish layout where a fada comes from AltGr and the vowel, or Option and e followed by the vowel. An on-screen keyboard cannot do those modifier sequences, so this layout gives each long vowel a key of its own and leaves the number row as plain digits.
Will Irish text with fadas paste correctly into other apps?
Yes. Each accented vowel is a single precomposed Unicode character, so á, é, í, ó and ú paste cleanly into word processors, email, messaging apps, spreadsheets and websites. Click Copy and paste as normal. Every modern font supports the Irish alphabet without any extra installation.
Can I type the old Gaelic script or the dotted séimhiú?
No, and modern Irish does not need it. In cló Gaelach lenition was written as a dot above the consonant, but standard Irish has written that séimhiú as a following h for decades, so bh, ch, dh, fh, gh, mh, ph, sh and th are typed as ordinary letter pairs on this keyboard.
How many letters does the Irish alphabet have?
Traditionally eighteen: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t and u. The other eight Latin letters appear in borrowed words, technical terms and names from other languages. They are all present on this keyboard, so you can write Irish and English text side by side.
Is the Irish keyboard free, private and usable on mobile?
Yes to all three. There is no cost, no registration and no limit on how much you type, and advertising is what keeps it free. All typing happens locally in your browser and never reaches a server. The layout is responsive, so you can tap out Irish on an Android or iOS phone or tablet.
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