I’ve completed courses 1 and 2 of SSiW, and I’m now on Challenge 20 of the new level 1 course. All seems to be going reasonably well and I am now attending a U3A conversation group and an SSiW group to gain some confidence, as well as a bit more vocabulary, before giving the local Cymdeithas Cymraeg a go. However I have immediately come across a problem when talking about the past namely which version of blwyddyn to use and when to use it.
Can anyone give a quick explanation of the usage of blwydd/blwyddyn/ blynyddoedd please?
You’re not alone with this! Most stuff which doesn’t map to a language you already speak feels a bit complex, but this one is a bit of a pearl.
There’s a decent overview here:
http://www.chrissully.co.uk/Blog/post/2014/09/15/Blwyddyn-Blynedd-and-Blwydd-
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S’mae Bryan?
Hwb once did a spot on this, and gave the following mnemonic:
Fish Fingers Baked Beans Mushrooms Brecwast Mawr Mmmmm…
un flwyddyn
dwy flynedd
tair blynedd
pedair blynedd
pum mlynedd
chwe blynedd
saith mlynedd
wyth mlynedd
naw mlynedd
deg (deng) mlynedd
Hwyl,
Stu
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With all due respect to Hwb, I’d rather just plough on and almost certainly get it wrong than have to do a mental lookup of that every time the concept of a year, or years, or the year cropped up in conversation! 
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Also worth mentioning in general terms (with a thanks to Stu for that very useful round up!) that this is one of those areas where you can have the entertaining experience of learning how to say all the variations ‘correctly’, and then needing to unlearn them so that you can develop the habit of saying them in the same way as the people you speak to most often…
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Thanks all for your contributions; you never seem to fail to come up with the goods.
I should be able to get to grips with that, but I’m not sure that Aran hasn’t opened up a whole new can of worms by revealing that the correct way to use what you’ve told me is not necessarily what we’re likely to hear. This suggests that the more, and different people, I talk to the more confused I’m likely to become! 
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On the positive side though Bryan, how can you ever be “wrong”!
stu
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That’s my experience of Welsh and English, Bryan. Strong drink is the way forward!
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Alternatively, the less you think about it, and the more you talk to people, the more your brain will take care of it all without you needing to do any work 
OK. I bow to your (all) knowledge and experience. I’ll stop making such a fuss and will just get on with it
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