Nia is an aspiring writer from Powys, Wales. She attended Welsh-medium primary and secondary school, and is passionate about preserving the beautiful Welsh language and culture. She speaks some French, and is currently learning Arabic.
Sometimes I feel as if I spend half my life chwilio for things – the other half of a pair of sanau (socks), an important dogfen (document) on my computer I somehow forgot to save, my allweddi (keys) when I’m already late leaving the house… the list goes on. If you hadn’t guessed, chwilio, our …
Plenty of sounds in Cymraeg (Welsh) can be hard to make if you didn’t grow up speaking the iaith (language). The dreaded ch and ll get a lot of attention, but actually some of the trickiest are sound combinations that we do have in English, but not at the start of the word. One of …
Our Welsh word of the day today is sâl. It usually means ill, and is the standard word for this in the North as well as being heard in the South too, but it can sometimes also mean poor or bad. For example, in parts of the North-West, to say that an event or circumstance …
Syniad means, broadly, idea. And much like the word idea, it’s complex, nuanced, and used in a wide range of scenarios. Give this article a read and hopefully it’ll give you some syniad of how to start using it! This masculine noun comes from the fairly-uncommon verb synio, which means to think or to imagine. …
One of the most annoying things for someone trying to learn a new language is when two words sound very similar. Even worse when those two words actually translate back to the same thing in your native language, but can’t be confused in your target language! An example of this for English speakers learning Welsh …
In Welsh, many ‘states of being’ are conveyed with the use of verbs, paired with wedi (after / past): think wedi marw (dead), wedi cynhyrfu (excited), or wedi blino (tired). In some cases the verbs used aren’t ones that have a commonly used single-word equivalent in English, but in Welsh they can be important and …
Did you know that adar (birds) aren’t the only kind of anifail (animal) that build nythod (nests)? Gwenyn / cacwn (wasps) also do the same, as do llygod (mice) and even, bizarrely, aligatorod (alligators). But the nyth (nest) of an aderyn (bird) is distinctive and particularly complex. It can be constructed from a wide variety …
Mis Gorffennaf (July) has to be one of the loveliest misoedd (months) of the blwyddyn (year), and I promise I’m not just biased because it’s my penblwydd (birthday). Gorffennaf July Theoretically, mis Gorffennaf is heulog (sunny), cynnes (warm) and braf (fine). Prime time, then, for gwyliau (holidays), teithio (travel), partis (parties), and spending time in …
One of the most universal experiences when learning a new language – or, to be honest, speaking in any language! – is baglu [dros eich] geiriau (tripping over words). Baglu means to trip or to stumble. It can be very literal, as in baglu dros eich traed (tripping over your feet), or metaphorical, as in …
Recently, I’ve been looking forward to visiting my parents’ house even more than normal, since they recently got a ci bach. Ci bach means puppy, but it is also literally a small dog. In reality Penny (that’s her name) is going to be a very big ci indeed, because she’s a ci Labrador (Labrador). Specifically, …
