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.
The very useful sawl plays a double role in the Welsh language. It’s both a pronoun, in which case it translates roughly to the English how many, and an adverb, in which case it means several or many. Read on to discover how to use it correctly in both of these contexts. sawl how many …
There are plenty of Welsh words that have more than one form. Sometimes, the form you’ll hear used is based on region, sometimes formality, and sometimes there doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason to it beyond family tradition and personal preference. One example of this is the word wyneb or gwyneb, meaning face. …
Pedol is a Welsh noun meaning horseshoe. The plural is pedolau. pedol horseshoe Given the ubiquity today of ceir (cars) over ceffylau (horses), you may not think memorising this simple feminine noun is that necessary for modern life. You’d be mistaken – it also has an interesting usage in the description of Welsh phonology, which …
Today’s word of the day is one of my favourites, and I hope by the end of this article you’ll love it too! I’m talking about daioni, an abstract noun meaning goodness. daioni goodness Daioni of course comes from da, the beautifully simple Welsh adjective meaning good. It has been used since the 1300s, although …
Advice often given to Welsh learners regarding mutations is simply not to worry about them. The idea is that by learning the language and thus continually interacting with it, you’ll naturally pick them up over time. This is probably true in the long-term. To begin with, though, it is really helpful to have a brief …
Today’s Welsh word of the day, cyw – a masculine noun with the plural cywion – is a multi-faceted one. Primarily, it means a chick from any species of aderyn (bird), but it’s also used in some dialects to refer specifically to ieir (chickens as a distinct species), plus it comes up in the term …
Do you have your clustiau wedi’u tyllu (ears pierced)? I had mine done ages ago when I was thirteen, but since then they’ve closed up several times when I’ve forgotten to wear clustlysau (earrings). I’ve always managed to force back a twll (hole) in the clusten (lower earlobe) with a clustlws (earring) though… not one …
Most people will associate the Welsh word aber primarily with place names. And you’d be quite right to do so – Aberystwyth, Aberdyfi, Abergavenny, they’re all over the place! But as with many Welsh place names, these Aber- towns and villages are based on a real word that is still used in everyday conversation. Aber …
Whether your aim in learning Welsh is complete fluency, professional ability, or simply to impress friends and show courtesy, some of the most useful words to know are those that appear in greetings and set phrases. Today’s isn’t one you’ll use every day of the year – but when you do need to use it, …
Today’s Welsh word of the day is ffidil. If you hadn’t already guessed, it means a violin or a fiddle. It’s generally pluralised as ffidlau but you may also see ffidils, mimicking the English plural. Which is of course because it’s originally an English borrowing – one which has been used in Welsh since the …
