I thought it meant ‘whole’ but is it also used for ‘it all’? Noticed it in this message from S4C.
Gallwch wylio’r cyfan ar S4C Clic, yn fyw ac ar alw.
You can watch it all on S4C Clic, live and on demand.
Yes it is - it can be: the whole of it / the whole lot / it all
1 Like
Thanks. So if you wanted to throw in a specific like ‘you can watch the whole game’ how would you say that?
Using cyfan, you’d say Gallwch wylio’r gêm gyfan, but bear in mind there are other ways you might hear “whole” expressed by other people who use i gyd, cwbwl or holl instead.
2 Likes
Any rule for dictating the spelling ‘holl’ or ‘oll’ ?
Yr holl gêm - the whole game
Dyna oll - That is all … seems to get mutated. But learners are not taught about anything with ‘h’ mutating?
oll is just a variant, particularly in certain expressions but there’s no mutation rule here.
1 Like
And to re-iterate Siaron’s point about alternatives, dyna’r cwbl and dyna’r cyfan are very common.
Note additionally, the lovely little phrase yn gyfan gwbl to mean completely or totally.
2 Likes
There’s also the useful wedi’r cyfan - “after all”, e.g. aeth e ddim wedi’r cyfan - he didn’t go after all
1 Like
I hear ’ na oll ’ most often when out and about … but I will start using them too … its the only way Im going to learn day to day Welsh!
I spent too many early years around family members who loved book welsh or chapel welsh. Partly due to great grandparents and grandparents being perfectionists, bless them ( “Sut mae hanes” has got some strange looks over time, but theres still love for the oldies)
…but I had a rude awakening about 15 years ago. Its for the best 
Street Welsh is much easier and gave me the confidence to actually speak publicly…Say something in Welsh was also a massive reassurance boost
2 Likes
Anyone noticed that any food products containing whole in English use ’ cyflawn ’ as a translation
wholefood /whole milk / wholegrain … cyflawn is at the end
Yes, you often see bara cyflawn for ‘wholemeal bread’
1 Like