Welsh challenge (8)

This post is the 8^th instalment of the Welsh leg of my current Celtic challenge. It covers chapter 7 of Colloquial Welsh. For earlier instalments, please see Welsh Archives – Language Miscellany

I’ve used bold type below to highlight words affected by mutations, ^SM  after words that induce soft mutation and ^SM before words affected by ^SM.

Imperfect of bod (‘be’)

Table 1 shows the imperfect of bod (‘be’), showing the form used (in singular S and plural P):

• for affirmative statements and questions;
• in more formal Welsh.

Table 1. Imperfect of bod

• to form the negative, append the negative ddim and optionally add /d/ at the start:
  (d)o’n i ddim (‘I was not’)
• for the negative of the formal form, replace the initial /r/ with /d/:
  doedd e (‘he was not’)
• for a formal question, delete the initial /r/:
  oedden ni? (‘were we?’)
• to answer ‘yes’ to a a question beginning with the imperfect of bod, use the form for a formal question, without the personal pronoun:
  Q. O’ch chi   yn y ^SMdre neithiwr
      were you in  the town last.night?
  A. Oeddwn
      Was.1P
     ‘yes = [I] was’  
• to answer ‘no’, prefix nag to either spoken or written forms.
• to form a tag question, place on’d before the question form (with o without the following pronoun):
  on’d oedd (hi)?
  ‘wasn’t it?’

Future of bod

Table 2 shows the future of bod (‘be’) in affirmative statements.

Table 2. Future of bod

As is the case for all inflected verbs:

• to form questions, apply soft mutation to the verb, eg fydda i (‘will I be?’).
• to form negative statements, apply soft mutation to the verb and append the negative ddim, eg fydda i ddim (‘I will not be’).
• in colloquial Welsh, even the affirmative forms sometimes undergo soft mutation.

Other points:

• to answer ‘yes’, simply repeat the future of bod in the appropriate person and number.
• to answer ‘no’, use na^SM, followed by the soft mutated future form of bod.
• in answers, the 1^st person singular is often byddaf (with added /f/).
• to form tag questions, use on’ followed by the affirmative form (usually unmutated), with or without the pronoun following, eg on’ byddwyn (ni)? (‘won’t’ we?)

Imperfect and future of other verbs

To form the imperfect or future of other verbs, place the verbal noun after the imperfect or future of bod, linking them with the particle yn. Example:

oedd y     ^SMbobol   yn        eistedd draw fan’na
were the    people particle sit        over  there
‘the people were sitting over there’

bydda  i’n           gofyn
will.be I particle ask
‘I will ask / be asking’

Imperfect of verbs expressing mental state

Unlike English, Welsh uses the imperfect of verbs expressing mental states, such as nabod (‘know a person’), gwybod (‘know a fact’) and meddwl (‘think’):
O’n  i’n           meddwl hynny
was I particle think      that
‘I thought so’.

Expressing a more definite intention

To express a definite intention to do something, use na i^SM plus the verbal noun:

bydda i’n sgrifennu atat ti ar ôl Nadolig
(‘I’ll be writing to you after Christmas’)
na i’n sgrifennu atat ti ar ôl Nadolig
(‘I’ll write to you after Christmas’—a definite promise)

na is the inflected future of gwneud (‘do’). The 1^st person plural form nawn appears in be’ nawn ni? (‘what will we do?’)

Affirmative markers fe and mi

In colloquial Welsh, the particle fe^SM (southern and central areas) or mi^SM (northern areas) can (optionally) precede an inflected verb in affirmative statements (but not in questions, negative statements or commands):
fe       fydd    Sioned yn     mynd
PART  will.be Sioned PART go
‘Sioned will go / be going’

Time expressions

Table 3. Some time expressions

Pnawn is usually written prynhawn. Heddiw is often pronounced heddi.

Amser (‘time’), dydd (‘day’), diwrnod (‘day’), wythnos (fem. ‘week’), mis (‘month’), blwyddyn (fem. ‘year’).

These can be combined with ^SMbob (‘every’) or trwy’r (‘all’), eg trwy’r dydd (‘all day’)

I haven’t yet found a clear explanation of the difference between the words for ‘day’ (dydd, diwrnod)

I listed the Welsh words for the days of the week and the months alongside the Irish names at https://languagemiscellany.com/2026/08/irish-challenge-7/

Place names and geography

In an earlier post, I mentioned the name components Aber (‘river estuary’) and llan (‘church’). https://languagemiscellany.com/2026/07/welsh-challenge-5/

Other place name components are afon (‘river’), allt (‘cliff’), bryn (‘hill’), bwlch (‘gap / pass’), cors (‘bog’), cwm (‘valley rounded scoop’), Dyffryn (‘broad flat river valley’), glyn / ystrad (‘vale’), pant (‘hollow’), glan (‘bank shore’), llwyn (‘grove’), mynydd (‘mountain’), nant, (‘stream / brook’), pen (‘top end’)

Caer fortified originally roman settlement’): Caerfyrddin Carmarthen’) (‘Merlin’s fortress myrddin’), Caergybi (‘Holyhead cyhi’s fortress’), Caergaint (‘Canterbury = fortress of Kent’). Also, Caer (‘Chester’, originally Caerlleon) and the confusingly similar Caerllion (‘Caerleon’), as discussed at https://languagemiscellany.com/2022/02/confusing-name-for-chester/

croes (‘cross’), gwaum (‘meadow’), Waunfawr (‘big meadow’), llys / cwrt (‘court’), melin (‘mill’), (‘rhyd ford’), tre(f) (‘town’), pont (‘bridge’). The Cornish for ‘bridge’ is pons https://languagemiscellany.com/2024/12/pub-name-in-cornish/

isa(f) (‘lower’), ucha(f) (‘upper’)

Tree names: derw (‘oak’), coed (‘wood’), bedw (‘birch’), Celyn (‘holly’), onn (‘ash’). Add -en for a single tree eg derwen (‘oak tree’).

Caerdydd (‘Cardiff’), Dinbych (‘Denbigh’), Aberteifi (‘cardigan’), Abertawe (‘Swansea’), Aberdaugleddau (‘Milford Haven’), Yr Wyddrug (‘Mold’), Aberhonddu (‘Brecon’), Y Trallwng (‘Welshpool’)

Words about the weather

tywydd (‘weather’), tywyll (‘dark’), tywyllu / nosi (‘get dark’, nos f. = ‘night’), poeth (‘hot’), helog ‘sunny’, braf (‘fine’), rhewi (‘freeze’), gwynt (-oedd, ‘wind’), storm (-ydd, ‘storm’), ysbaid (ysbeidiau, ‘interval, spell’), rhagolygon (‘forecast’), gradd ‘degree’

disglair (‘bright’), ysgafn’ (‘light’), trwm (‘heavy’), cynnes (‘warm’), oer (‘cold’), sych (‘dry’), gwlyb (‘wet’), cymlog (‘cloudy’), gwyntog (‘cloudy’), niwlog (‘foggy’), stormus (‘stormy’), eglur (‘clear’)

glaw (‘rain’), glaw mân (‘drizzle’), bwrw glaw (or glawio, ‘to rain’), eira (‘snow’), brwr eira (‘to snow’), cawod (-ydd, ‘shower’), ymbarél (‘umbrella’)

chwythu ‘blow’)

ardal (-oedd, f. region), gwlad (gwledydd f. country), cefu gwlad (‘inland / country areas’), ledled y wlad (‘across the entire country’), ger y glannau (‘on the coast’), arfordir (‘coastal region’, dros Gymru gyfan (‘across the whole of Wales’)

Other words and phrases

Nouns: bwyd (‘food’) sglodion (‘chips’), seimllyd (‘greasy’), cwrw (‘beer’),  tebygrwydd o^SM (‘a likelihood of’), ymwelwyr (‘visitors’), awyr (‘air’)

Adjectives: gwan (‘weak’), (cyfeillgar ‘friendly’, cyfaill ‘friend, pl. cyfeillion), diflas (‘miserable’); crac (‘angry’), nesa (‘next’), posib (‘possible’), cyffredinol (‘general’), blynyddol (‘annual’), presennol (‘present, in attendance’), ansefydlog (‘unsettled’), iach (‘healthy’), sâl (‘ill’)

Adverbs and adverbials: yno ‘there—place not in sight’), mewn pryd (‘in time’) yn bennaf (‘mainly’), yn enwedig (‘especially’), rywbryd (‘sometime’), (e)to (‘again’), gwaetha’r modd  (‘unfortunately’), pryd bynnag (‘whenever’)

Verbs: hala (‘send’), gwadu (‘deny’), caniatáu (‘allow, permit’), cynyddu (‘increase’), lleihau (‘decrease’), gostwng (‘drop’), gwella (improve’), gwaethygu (‘worsen’), diflannu (‘disappear’), ymddangos (‘appear’), cyrraedd (‘arrive, reach’), parhau (continue’), disgwylir (‘is / are expected’), dybynnu (‘depend), cwyno (‘complain’)

Prepositions: cyn (‘before’), ar ôl / wedi (‘after’), erbyn (‘by (time’), yn fynion fel (‘exactly like’), o flaen (‘in front of’)

Pronouns: neb (‘no-one’)

Conjunctions: is (‘if’)

Phrases:
– yn hytrach na (‘rather than’)
– swnio’n gyfarwydd (‘sounds familiar’)
– mama man i ti (+VN) fod wedi (‘you might as well have’)
– cafon no (‘we had /got’(S))
– gawn ni weld ‘we’ll see’

Source

Colloquial Welsh, Gareth King (2008)