Welsh Word of the Day: Ceisio (to try)

Today’s Welsh word of the day is ceisio, a verb which has a few usages, but which more often than not means to try. Read and on we’ll discuss how you can ceisio – and hopefully llwyddo (succeed) – to incorporate this word into your vocabulary.

Ceisio is the verbal form of the noun cais which means an attempt or a request. The plural form can be either ceisiau or ceisiadau; you’ll almost certainly hear both.

We don’t know for sure where ceisio and cais came from to begin with, but it’s possible that they were originally borrowed from the English case, as in to make a case for something.

This may seem estranged from the context in which we most often hear ceisio, talking about trying, but ceisio can also mean to request or to petition for. In fact, cais is the translation for a petition in a legal context (a political petition is simply petisiwn, or sometimes deiseb). So this possible etymology would actually make a lot of sense!

We even use cais to mean a try in rugby. And ceisio has a bunch of different possible usages beyond the obvious, too, like ceisio at (to aim at) which is a less common synonym of anelu at, or, in some dialects, being employed as a variant of chwilio (to search). An example of this is translating the English proverb like looking for a needle in a haystack – some people say ceisio nodwydd mewn tas wair while others saying chwilio nodwydd mewn tas wair.

In the same word family we have ymgeisio. You may recognise the prefix ym that has been added here, which often renders a word reflexive or interpersonal, like turning golchi (to wash) into ymolchi (to wash oneself or another person).

But ymgeisio is pretty much synonymous to ceisio, meaning to try, to strive, or to attempt. We also use it to talk about applying, particularly to jobs! An ymgeisydd is an applicant to a post, whereas a ceisydd is an applicant in a judicial sense.

But ruining the legal theme a little, to try someone as in “in a court” is rhoi rhywun ar brawf.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t talk about llysoedd (courts) and ceisiadau (petitions) half as often as I do the various ymdrechion (efforts) I make to do things in daily life. So ceisio tends to be most useful when we use it to mean to try, and in order to do so we need to be comfortable with the relevant grammar.

In English, we always say to try to do or to try and do. In Welsh, it’s actually simpler because the connecting words aren’t necessary. What we literally say is to try do, which is ceisio gwneud. There’s no need to insert i (to) between ceisio and the verb that you’re trying to do.

For example:

• ceisio agor y botel (to try to open the bottle)
• ceisio dod yn gyfaill i hi (to try to befriend her)
• ceisio pasio’r prawf (to try to pass the test)
• ceisio neidio’n uchel (to try to jump high)
• ceisio peidio â chrio (to try not to cry)
• ceisio peidio gwrando (to try not to listen)

On the other hand, to translate to try for something, you will need to use the connecting word am (for).

Another useful construction is ceisio rhywbeth gan rywun, which means to try to get something from someone. This one is slightly more likely to be used in formal settings, but depending on the region you’re in, it’ll turn up in casual chat too. Notice that the word gan has caused rhywun to soft mutate to rywun, and would similarly cause a soft mutation to any other mutable word that was inserted in its place.

There are some usages of to try or trying for which ceisio wouldn’t actually apply, though, and being aware of these is just as important. For example, we often talk about trying something as in testing it. Here we would say rhoi ar brawf (to put on test) or profi (to test), and if we’re talking about trying bwyd (food), simply blasu (tasting) is also an option.

To try on as in dillad (clothes) is different again. You can just say gwisgo rhywbeth (wearing something) or add i weld (to see) on the end for clarity. You could go for rhoi rhywbeth amdanoch (to put something on oneself, inflected differently based on the person).

Or, you could go really simple and just use the word trio. This is a synonym of ceisio which is very commonly used in Welsh. It’s a loanword from English coming directly from to try, which has the bonus side effect of meaning that you can use trio in most circumstances in which you would use to try, unlike ceisio which has its own history and rules of usage.

One thing to remember is that even with trio, you don’t need an i (to) to connect the verb and what you’re trying to do. Ceisio agor y botel (trying to open the bottle) just becomes trio agor y botel, meaning the exact same thing.

Aside from ceisio and trio, there’s a whole world of trying related Welsh vocab out there for you to samplo (sample). Here are some of the most handy words and phrases:

• gwneud mwy o ymdrech = to try harder
• gwneud ymdrech / ymdrechu = to make an effort
• rhoi cynnig ar rywbeth = to give something a go
• rhoi tro arall arni / rhoi ail gynnig arni = to give it a second go
• cymryd ail hêt arni = to give it a second go (literally to take a second hat on it)
• gwneud eich gorau glas = to try one’s very best (literally to do one’s blue best)
• tri chynnig i Gymro = try and try again (literally three tries for a Welshman)

One amazing archaic word I discovered while researching for this article is boregeisio. This is a combination of ceisio with bore (morning) that is attested in written use for nearly three hundred years! It meant to seek eagerly and early.