| Welsh League of Arizona Cynghrair Cymreig Arizona |
America's trendsetting St. David's Society promotes the language and culture of Wales and our shared heritage throughout the Southwest and the world. |
| 4802 E. Ray Road Suite 23-510 Phoenix, AZ 85044 (602) 532-7837 phone/fax AZWELSH@aol.com |
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Notes on Linguistics Welsh is a Celtic language. This means it is not closely related to either Germanic languages (English, German, Dutch, etc.) or Italic languages (Spanish, French, Latin, Italian, etc.). All these languages can be traced back toa common mother tongue called Indo-European, which is thought to have once spanned the entire European and Asia Minor areas, as many as 10,000 years ago. It's very much like a family, with Indo-European being the great grandmother, and the languages in each branch being siblings to one another, and cousins to the languages in other branches. The Celtic branch consists of Welsh, Irish, Scottish, Manx, Breton, and Cornish. The Germanic branch consists of English, German, Dutch, Danish, Flemish, etc. The Italic branch consists of all the Latin-based languages (Italian, Latin, French, etc). There are a lot more branches than these, though. While similarities can be found in all the languages (the building blocks to reconstructing Indo-European), it is difficult to find a lot of similarities in the languages not in the same branches. It is relatively easy for English and German speakers to learn each other's languages. Similarly, it is relatively easy for French and Spanish speakers to learn other Italic languages. It is more challenging to go from English to French or Welsh and vice versa because of fundamental differences that are unique to each branch. One thing that makes studying languages so interesting is that as you learn a language, you get to see how a different culture views the world. Things are organized completely differently for the speakers of Welsh than they are for speakers of English. A stark example of this is that Welsh sentences, as a rule of thumb, begin with a verb, and the verb is conjugated (changed) to form a question, whereas in English, the verb is simply moved around to form a question. Another interesting thing about it is that language is history. As you trace events of people invading and conquering one another, you can see how languages get mixed, and even can become extinct. English and Welsh have 2 different periods of a mixing with Italic languages, first from Latin, during the Roman occupation of the British Isles, and the second from French following the conquest of William the Conqueror. It was from this period of about 1100AD - 1300 that English changes from Old English to Middle English. Notes on pronunciation: ll - English does not have an equivalent. Basically make an L sound, and blow, but do not actually make the LLLLL sound. It's more like a soft hiss. The accent is always on the second-to-the-last syllable ch - like the German or Scottish ch, as in "loch" or "ich." dd - ethe, voiced TH as in "THat" th - eth, voiceless TH as in "THing" g - hard g, like "Gain", never soft like "Gin" ng - one sound, like "nga" of the South Pacific, or like in "siNG" oe - oi, as in "oil" R, or RR - r is always rolled, like the Spanish "erre", like "aRRoz" rh - Hhhhrrrrrr, blow out before rolling the R. ph - F as in "PHilip" f - V as in "seiVe" ff - F as in "Fluff" u - EEEE English Welsh Pronuciation Wales Cymru KUM ree Welsh (people) Cymry KUM ree Welshman Cymro KUM ro Welshwoman Cymraes KUM rise Welsh (language) Cymraeg KUM rahg Welsh (adjective) Cymreig KUM raeg England Lloegr CHLOI gr English (people) Sais Sise English (adjective) Saeson (literally, "Saxon") SISE on English (language) Saesneg SISE neg Englishman Sais SISE Englishwoman Saesnes SISE nise Colors English Welsh Pronuciation Red Coch Koch Purple Porffor POR vor Blue Glas Glas Yellow Melyn MEL in Green Gwyrdd GOO irth Orange Oren O ren White Gwyn gwin Black Du DEE Brown Brown Broan Grey Llwyd CHLOO id Adjectives English Welsh Pronuciation Big Mawr rhymes with "hour". Small Bach Bachh (see Note above) Old Hen Hen New Newydd NEW ithe The Home English Welsh Pronuciation House (houses) Ty (tai) TEE (tye) bathroom (bathrooms) Ty bach (tai bach) TEE bahch (TYE bahch) Door (doors) Drws (drysau) droose (DRUH sigh) Window (windows) Ffenestr (ffenestri) FEN est (fen ES tree) Curtain (curtains) Llen (llenni) chlen (CHLE nee) Table (tables) bwrdd (byrddau) boorthe (BOORTHE eye) Animals English Welsh Pronuciation Dog (dogs) Ci (cwn) kee (coon) Cat (cats) Cath (cathod) Kath (CATH od) Mouse (Mice) Llygoden (llygod) chlee GO din (CHLEE god) Cow (cows) Buwch (gwartheg) BEE ewch (GWAR thaeg)) Fox (foxes) Cadno (cadnoau) KAD no (kad NO eye) Horse (horses) Ceffyl (ceffylau) KEFF l (keff EL eye) Dragon (dragons) Draig (Dreigiau) Dreig - ryhmes with "bike" (dreg EE eye) Wolf (wolves) Blaidd (bleiddiaid) blythe (blathe EE eyed) Elephant (elephants) Eliffant (eliffantod); or "Oliphant" Elephant (elePHANTod), nye "O LEE fant" A special note to those of you who are fans of J. R. R. Tolkien: Yes! This is the word he uses in Elvish for the Elephant-like creatures. Tolkien was greatly inspired by Welsh. Nature English Welsh Pronuciation Tree (trees) Coeden (coed) KOI den (Koid) Plant (plants)s Planhigyn (planhygion) plan HEE ghin (plan hee GHEE on) Flower (flowers) Blodyn (blodau) BLOD in (BLOD eye) Sea Môr More Cloud (clouds) Cwmwl (Cymylau) KOOM ool (kum UHL eye) Mountain (mountains) Mynydd (mynyddoedd) MIN ithe (min ITHE oethe) to rain bwrw glaw BOOroo GLAW Sun; sunshine Haul; heulwen hile; HILE wen Moon Lleuad CHLEYE ad Star (stars) Seren (sêr) SER en (Sehr) Time and Days of the Week English Welsh Pronuciation Time amser am SER Always; all the time pob amser pobe AM ser Hour awr ah Wer Day dydd DEETHE Week wythnos WITH noas Month Mis MEES Year -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blwyddyn blew EE then Sunday dydd Sul DEETHE seel Monday dydd Llun DEETHE chleen Tuesday dydd Mawrth DEETHE mawrth Wednesday dydd Mercher, DEETHE mercher nye "Nos Merhcherr Bachh" Thursday dydd Iau DEETHE ee-eye Friday dydd Gwener DEETHE gwenner Saturday dydd Sadwrn DEETHE saddern Numbers English Welsh Pronuciation 1 Un een 2 Dau dye(see Note above) 3 Tri tree 4 Pedwar PED war 5 Pump Pimp 6 Chwech CHW ech 7 Saith SYEth 8 Wyth with 9 Naw now 10 Deg daeg 13 Un deg tri een DAEG tree 20 Dau deg DYE daeg 23 Dau Deg tri dye DAEG tree 50 Pum deg; hanner cant DYE daeg; HANNER kant 53 Pum Deg tri pim DAEG tree 100 Cant Kant Thousand Mil Meel Million Miliwn mil EE oon Phrases (using the formal case) English Welsh Pronuciation How are you? Sut dach chi? Sit dach chhee? Fine, thanks. And you? Iawn, diolch. A chi? Yawn, DEE olch. A chee? How's the weather? Sut mae'r tywydd? sit meyer TUH weth It's hot. Mae'n poeth. Mine poith. It's raining. Mae'n bwrw glaw. Mine BOOroo glaw. It's cold - very cold! Mae'n oer - oer iawn! Mine oir - oir yawn! I'd like coffee. Dwi'n eisiau coffi. dw een AYshah coffee. I'd like beer. Dwi'n eisiau cwrw. dw een AYshah KOOroo. Please, or "if it you see it's good". "Plis", neu "os gwelwch yn dda" "Pleese", nye "os goo-EL-ooch un thah." Thank you. Diolch. DEE olch. No thanks. Dim diolch. dim DEE olch. Good morning! Bore da! BORay da! Good afternoon! Pnawn da! Pin anwn Da Good evening. Noswaith dda! Nos withe tha. Nice to see you. Neis wela chi. Nise Wela chi. Bye! Bye now! Hwyl! Hwyl nawr! Hoil! Hoil nawr! Nice to meet you. Neis cwrdd a chi. Nise COORth a chi. |
Welsh League of Arizona
Cynghrair Cymreig Arizona
Cynghrair Cymreig Arizona
| Here are some common Welsh words and phrases to try Dyma geiriau cyffredin a ymadroddion yn y Gymraeg i chi ymarfer dweud |
| Cymraeg - iaith y nefoedd Welsh - the language of heaven |
