Dates

Welsh General / Questions
#1

How should one say the year 1900? is it Mil naw dim dim? or Un deg naw cant, or fil naw cant? Or how is it normally said in Noggledd?

#2

Well if it helps, I was watching Y Gwyll yesterday and they said Mil naw naw naw for 1999!

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#3

I’d say mil naw dim dim or mil naw cant (just depending what popped into my head first), but mil naw cant, to my ears, sounds the better of the two - probably a bit more formal than using the ‘dim dim’ one, although you’ll certainly hear that too.
Un deg naw cant sounds clumpy to me in the context of date.

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#4

I can’t imagine Un deg nawr being used with a date. I think the 17th century is “ail ar bymtheg”. So would it be Cyntaf ar ddeunaw or unfed ar ddeunaw? (Not important of course :smile:) I’d agree with Mil naw cant.

#5

19th in that form is pedwaredd ar bymtheg (but of course the bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg refers to the years mil wyth cant to mil wyth naw naw :wink: )

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#6

Brilliant :smile: I heard Iestyn use “ail ganrif ar bymtheg” This week. That was the first time I’d come across it myself. I don’t really understand when to us pymtheg and when it stops. For example: Un ar bymtheg etc. But then deunaw pops up haha. Then isn’t 35 pymtheg ar ugain?

#7

yes, the ‘old’ numbers aren’t used as much now except in certain circumstances and dates are often one of those circumstances. You might like to have a look here: http://clwbmalucachu.co.uk/cmc/cheat/cheat_numerals.htm
but I would say to all learners, especially new ones, don’t worry about not remembering these - as long as you are aware of them enough to realise what’s being said, don’t think you have to nail them yet in your own useage (that will come in time!)

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#8

That’s what I thought. The traditional Hugain (20) being the next milestone after pymtheg (15). So pymtheg ar hugain gradd for 35 degrees. Just in case Rhian Haf ever comes out with it on her Radio Cymru weather forecast.

#9

Diolch defnyddiol iawn :smile:

Yeah definitely don’t worry about them and sorry for hijacking the thread :flushed:

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#10

Bobl bach, you’re an optimist! :slight_smile:

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#11

Oh, @siaronjames I was sorry to see deunaw didn’t get an * as it is my favourite old number, evidence of the ‘one, two, three, many’ thinking notable in Y Gododdin!
p.s. I have always only actually used boring un deg un, un deg dau etc!!

#12

Diolch yn fawr iawn. And how do you say 1936 and 2017?

#13

1936 is ‘mil naw tri chwech’ and 2017 is ‘dwy fil un deg saith’.

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#14

2017 is ‘dwy fil un deg saith’.
or “eleni” / “this year” :smile:

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#15

On Radio Cymru recently (Gari Wyn’s programme on Monday midday) I heard
“mil nau nau deg” for 1990, which is logical enough, but a slightly different pattern to “mil naw tri chwech”

So for 1991, would you go with “mil nau nau deg un” or “mil nau nau un”? (or something else?).

#16

You could hear either… :slight_smile:

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