I still struggle with the same thing! This video may help (although somehow I instantly forget whenever I need to try and spell a word or get one spelt to me!)
The only bit I do remember without fail is W Y = ooh er (as in “ooh, er, missus” 
)
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Yes, it’s as dough (or half of Dodo 
) I’m not aware of a N/S difference though.
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I tend to go with the names given as the “adult” version in the video linked to by @siaronjames, although I haven’t often heard them from others outside of acronyms such as “bi bi ec” “'es pedwar ec” or “eg pi ec” (BBC, S4C, GPC). I have heard i and u distinguished (for southerners ) as “i dot” and “u bedol”.
Personally, I had small children at the time I was learning the names of the months and the letters; I used to annoy the kids by singing them just as they would in English, but in Welsh.
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Following on from the coronation I have seen and heard a lot of chatter about anti-monarchy protesters.
Here comes my problem: the BBC (and Google translate!) seem to go with brenhiniaeth for “monarchy”, for eg rheiny sy’n gwrthwynebu’r frenhiniaeth - “those who oppose the monarchy”. But various dictionaries translate brenhiniaeth as “sovreignty” and offer words like teyrnasiaeth or even monarchiaeth for “monarchy”.
Now obviously if you live in a monarchy the two concepts are pretty closely related, but it is possible in English to talk about the sovreignty of a state that isn’t a monarchy. Does this distinction not exist in Welsh?
While brenhiniaeth and teyrnasiaeth could be interpreted as both monarchy and sovereignty (as listed in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru for example), Geiriadur yr Academi gives sofraniaeth and/or penarglwyddiaeth for sovereignty only (and doesn’t list these for monarchy - as neither does the GPC), so these would be the ones to use when talking about the sovereignty of a state that isn’t a monarchy.
@brynle
Awn ni … is what we favour nowadays for ‘let’s go’ / we’ll go’
Gad i ni fynd - yep!
Dere i ni fynd - yep! These are a bit more personal I would say ( sounding a bit more persuasive)
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Diolch @siaronjames. The thing that’s really bugging me is that it seems to be very hard to find an authoritative answer that is nonetheless focused on modern usage (as opposed to listing every possible meaning!)…
Hi all - I have occasionally come across the construction “dim ond” and I think it means “only” or “just” but am unsure how to use it. Is anybody able to explain it, perhaps with some examples please?
Yes, you can use dim ond (sometimes shortened in speech to mond) for both ‘only’ and ‘just’ where the sense is ‘simply/merely’
e.g. I’ve only got £5 - does dim ond pum punt gen i / gyda fi
I was just/only going to say… - O’n i mond yn mynd i dweud…
Who’s there? Only me - Pwy sy na? Dim ond fi
How many times? Just once - Faint o weithiau? Dim ond unwaith
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Diolch!
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Hello everyone. I am on challenge 14 of level 1 and I am struggling so much. I just can’t remember the words or string a sentence with them. Challenge 13 was the first challenge where I really began to struggle. Would anyone have any advice?
Yes - these are notorious and hard for almost everyone (there are lots of threads here about them), and the advice is do them as best you can, don’t keep going over and over them trying to get most of them right, but instead push on. You won’t miss anything because all the material gets repeated later on (in smaller chunks!), and you can always go back to them to check when you’re further along.
Biggest piece of advice - don’t let this get you down, it’s not just you, you’re doing great!
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Bore da pawb,
Two tiny questions, actually, but hopefully with quick answers. I’m busy trying to extent my vocabulary, mainly by reading BBC Cymru Fyw. It’s shocking, just how many new words I am having to learn in order to be able to listen to the news! But anyway…
…in the last couple of days I have come across a couple of words/phrases that I can’t unpick. Here’s one:
Mae’r gwaith glo brig mwyaf yn y Deyrnas Unedig
Okay, I got “the biggest [something] in the UK” but I had to resort to Google Translate (oh, the shame) to unpick gwaith glo brig. Looking up the individual words in a dictionary doesn’t help. Google says it means “open cast mine” but I can’t see how? Can anyone help me?
Second question. I have a wall chart about bees, yn Gymraeg, from The Wildlife Trust. The word cacwn appears rather a lot, and it appears to mean “bumblebee” (as opposed to a honey bee, which is gwenynen.) But all of my reference books say cacwn means “wasp”.
So, does cacwn mean both “wasp” and “bumblebee”?
Ta muchly…
This doesn’t translate in a literal sense, there’s a bit of lateral translation going on, which is why it’s confusing.
Gwaith glo = coal workings
Brig = among other things, this can mean ‘uppermost’
So for gwaith glo brig, it’s saying “uppermost coal workings”, which is basically what open-cast mining is - i.e. it’s not mining as in a pit underground.
Yes, Cacwn can be wasps, bumblebees, hornets or drones. having said that, there are lots of different names for all of these depending on your locality!
For instance, among other names, wasps can be called gwenyn meirch, hornets can be marchgacwn and drones can be gwenyn gormes or the rather lovely cwffis, whilst bumblebees can also be called gwenyn gwyllt, or, wonderfully, hwrli-bwms 
Which one to use? It’s personal/regional preference really. 
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Diolch yn fawr @siaronjames
That makes perfect sense now. I couldn’t see past glo as maybe a soft mutation of clo, and brig comes up in Gweiadur as “peak, top, crest, outcrop, twig” so at best I was getting “lock work outcrop” Can’t really explain why I didn’t discover that glo was coal 
Onwards…
PS hwrii-bwms! 
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Even with an ecological masters and pdfs in welsh/english/latin …theres so many differences in some species names I cant cope…but it is fascinating
We could tell you the name of wasp/bumble bee if we know what region/area you reside.
Im pretty sure ‘Cacynen brith’ is still used for wasp in north ceredigion today yet piffgwn in the southern border…picwn/pigwn Im sure is pembrokeshire/ SW Wales…but I wouldnt bet on my rusty knowledge XD
Could swear that gwenyn meirch was northern used
Cachgi bwm is a hilarious one to stick with bumble bee…even if its more south west in origin
Some of the names blur in places
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Quick Q / Cwestiwn sydyn
What is the difference in the Welsh words for boats? Or English for that matter!
Cwch = boat? / Llong = ship? Bad = boat?
But why only bad achub = rescue boat and not cwch achub? Just because or reasons?
I like that Welsh has a unique one = corwg(l) … spelling changed to coracle in English over time
Gad i ni fynd
Dere i ni fynd
So from what I take from this…these are ok to use as a command form/persuasion but not for a more relaxed suggestive tone? (awn ni).
Makes sense. Only ever used ‘gad i ni’ as a command with family/kids anyway (fortunately!)
Helo @brynle a diolch. I live in a little-known corner of Greater Cymru known as “Dorset” … so please don’t fret about giving me the most appropriate local Welsh word. I’m just happy to stick with the basics for now!
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