Some Useful Welsh Phrases
Prepared for Celticos by Nant Gwrtheyrn with thanks. (Diolch)
Here are some Welsh phrases that may come in handy whilst you are holidaying in Wales.
Welsh | English |
|---|---|
Bore da | Good Morning |
Prynhawn da | Good Afternoon |
Helo | Hello |
Sut mae (S’mae) | How are things? |
Sut dach chi | How are you? |
Da iawn, diolch | Very well, thanks |
Wedi blino | Tired |
Bendigedig | Marvellous |
Diolch | Thanks |
Tara ’wan | Bye now |
Nos da | Good night |
Counting in Welsh
Number | Welsh Spelling | Pronounced As |
|---|---|---|
1 | Un | Een |
2 | Dau | Die |
3 | Tri | Tree |
4 | Pedwar | Pedwar |
5 | Pump | Pimp |
6 | Chwech | Chwaych |
Pronouncing the Welsh language
‘ch’ is pronounced as in the Scottish ‘loch’
‘dd’ is pronounced as the ‘th’ in ‘that’
‘w’ makes an ‘oo’ sound
‘ll’ is pronounced by placing your tongue as if to say ‘l’, then hissing out of the sides
‘u’ makes an ‘i’ sound
‘f’ is pronounced as a ‘v’
‘ff’ is pronounced as ‘f’
There is no silent ‘e’ in Welsh
The accent is always in the syllable before last, for example:
BendiGEDig
PorthMADog
LlanDUDno
Language alteration
You will often notice that the first letter of place names has been changed on road signs - grammatical mutation.
This occurs naturally in many languages (think of the words such as ‘tomato’ and ‘water’) but is incorporated into the grammar in Welsh. Therefore you may see signs saying CROESO I LANDUDNO (from LLANDUDNO) or CROESO I FANGOR (from BANGOR).