Hi
Is anyone able to advise on when to use dydd and when to use diwrnod please?
Diolch
Simon
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As far as I understand it dydd is used in describing a point in time, for example:
Do, es i ddydd Sadwrn diwethaf - Yes, I went last Saturday.
diwrnod on the other hand is used when you’re talking about duration:
Dw i’n mynd i aros am ddau ddiwrnod - I am going to stay for two days.
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Dydd is used to refer to what English would call ‘daytime’. Diwrnod is the whole midnight to midnight, 24 hour period.
What this means is that, strictly speaking, Dydd Sadwrn refers only to the part of Saturday where there is daylight. In practice, of course, things are more flexible and you can get away with Dydd Sadwrn for any time during the day, but it certainly is normal to refer to, say, 7:30 in the evening as Nos Sadwrn rather than Dydd Sadwrn.
I hope this makes sense!
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diolch
mae’n ddiddorol iawn
I believe you can also use “diwrnod” to indicate a special day as “journee” versus “jour” in French and “giornata” versus “giorno” in Italian. “Bonjour” and “Buon giorno” just mean “good day / hello” whereas “Bonne journee” and “Buona giornata” mean something like “Have a nice day”
Journee and giornata are feminine but jour and giorno are masculine. I haven’t checked whether the same applies to diwrnod and dydd.
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Both are masculine.
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Hi Simon. 
Good to see you on here. The forum is hugely helpful. You will see Gareth King on here sometimes too (author of the books we were talking about at the course and on email earlier).
I was told in a previous Welsh class that you only use dydd when naming days of the week - Dydd Llun, Dydd Mawrth, Dydd Mercher, etc otherwise, you use diwrnod. Happy to be corrected on that though in case my memory is playing tricks on me.
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Yes, I’m guessing your teacher was pretty close, although dydd ar ol dydd for day after day seems to be one of the obligatory exceptions as it seems to refer to daytime as opposed to night.
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you only use dydd when naming days of the week
That would surprise me… The phrase “drwy’r dydd a phob dydd” / “all day, every day” and the hymn “Rwy’n gweld o bell y dydd yn dod / I see afar the day coming …” are two exceptions that come to mind.
I am a learner and am just going by what I hear round these parts.
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Shwmae Ros
Hey not THE Gareth King?!
Thanks for your help with dydd a diwrnod.
Speak again soon
Simon
“Un dydd ar y tro,” is another common phrase and title of a popular hymn.
I love these short phrases. They carry such meaning.
Ar ddiwedd y dydd, what you hear is what counts at the end of the day…
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Yes, I agree with you all. Dydd is used a lot more in speech that just in connection with day of the week.
A bit more info here from Parallel Cymru (link below):
Dydd & Diwrnod- Words for day
Both dydd and diwrnod can be translated as ‘day’, but they are used in different ways in Welsh.
Diwrnod
Used with numbers: tri diwrnod (3 days), pedwar diwrnod (4 days)
Used with adjectives, e.g. diwrnod da (a good day), diwrnod gwlyb (a wet day)
*diwrnod i’r brenin - A day off (Lit. a day for the king)
Dydd
Used with everything else:
Days of the week, e.g: dydd Llun, dydd Iau, etc.
Used with phrases, e.g: bob dydd, drwy’r dydd, y dyddiau ’ma
I addition, I also read somewhere else that diwrnod tends to be used when talking about things that fill the day such as work, activities, etc. It is also used when talking about a specific day when not naming the day of the week, e.g ‘Carers Rights Day’
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