Quick Question about twenty

When do I use hugain and when do I use dau deg?

They are pretty much interchangeable in most circumstances Chris, (e.g. she is 20 yrs old = mae hiā€™n hugain blwydd oed, mae hiā€™n dau deg oed) although hugain would be more commonly used in telling the time and dates.
e.g. 2.40 = hugain (munud) i ddau, 3.20 = ugain (munud) wedi tri, etc
January 20th* = Ionawr yr ugeinfed / yr ugeinfed o Ionawr

Having said that, reading the time ā€˜digitallyā€™ - dau, pedwar deg / tri, dau deg is becoming more common.

*Because the number in the date is an ordinal (i.e. tells you the position in a list), youā€™d also use this form if referring to anything that was ā€œ20thā€ - finish position in a race, for instance.

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Wowā€¦thanks for that Siaron. I knew it (hugain) was commonly used in telling the time - but I just got a question wrong in Duolingoā€¦to do with moneyā€¦and I wondered if there were firm rules on it and if I had missed some vital point! But - very helpful - thanks.

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No rules concerning money as far as Iā€™m aware.
Mind you, if someone owed me Ā£20, Iā€™d be sure to use ā€˜hugainā€™, just in case I only got Ā£12 back! :wink:

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This is where Duolingoā€™s ā€˜no grey areasā€™ approach falls down. There are loads of ways of expressing money values. Many proud first language speakers would use twenti pownd rather than hugain punt, for example.

Thanks Rob - Duolingoā€™s fab and Iā€™m learning oodles and building vocab - but now and then - it drives me bonkers! Just nice to know that I havenā€™t misunderstood some fundamental point. Many thanks again.

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is is dau deg or dau ddeg? Iā€™ve just assumed the latter for some reason and seeing dau deg now makes me think Iā€™ve been getting it wrong - could be a hard one to change now as well.

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no, youā€™re absolutely right - my fault. It should be dau ddeg.

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I ā€œlikedā€ partly because this reminds me of the pronunciation of the Rugby Pro 14 conference/league thing. When it first came out, no one really seemed to know how to go. I think the BBC originally went for Pro Pedwar ar Ddeg, but more recently dropped into line with Un Deg Pedwar. :slight_smile:

I heard a discussion on Radio Cymru when it was first announced that there would be 14 teams. Someone suggested they should try and entice another team in from somewhere to make it Pro Pymtheg as that would solve it and trip off the tongue easier.

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