I know that in single syllable words that feature the dipthongs ae and oe (e.g oer, poeth, llaeth) are sometimes pronounced as if they’re just long a or o (ôr, pôth, llâth) instead of the standard way…
Is this a regional thing or do people all over do this?
It’s mostly a regional thing - and it can vary too. Words with dipthongs at the end like, for instance, chwarae or pethau are often pronounced chware and pethe in the South and as chwara and petha in the North.
Ah thank you for the quick response! Ah yes I also pronounce dechrau like ‘dechre’ too
Whenever I’m speaking I tend to use the ‘long vowel versions’ of these and but I was just worried that I’m not speaking like somebody from my area (Swansea) usually would.
Bore da! I’m doing lefel 3 hen cwrs gwers 19 and have just heard “beth sydd eisau arna i.” I’m used to using “mae eisau i fi” so am a bit confused about the two different prepositions - can someone explain please?
Quick question re lyrics to Un Wennol by Celt - I found them in Welsh (transcribed kindly by someone else) and have added a translation on Lyricstranslate.com, but I’m unsure of one point in the transcription. Where it has Dim ond un wennol / yn unig fel y fi, I’m not sure what that y is doing. Can anyone explain, or should it be … fel wyf i?
Without listening closely to what is actually sung it could actually be both. If it is y, it is in fact the definite article, and the function here would be for emphasis (“as lonely as the me”).
But it would also make complete sense with wyf, but then it would probably be reduced to 'yf fi (pronounced as the name Evie)
Edit to add: After listening to the song I can confirm that he really sings fel y fi.
A lot of North Wales is -a endings…yet inland deeper NE Wales away from the coast and Corwen/Cerrigydruduon area I hear -e endings like the South west of wales…a lot more… ‘chware’ etc.
Historical reasons dating back to borders of Powys Fadog kingdom (well thats what the locals say hehe!)
Is this a good summation of how to say “pardon me” / “forgive me” in different forms in Welsh?
Is this overly posh…or missing modern phrases?
Diolch ymlaen llaw am unrhyw atebion
According to the dictionary app, “tyrfa” can also mean concourse, but otherwise the definitions of both are pretty much the same, being given as “crowd, throng, mass, multitude”. English has many words for a large number of people, so it’s not surprising Welsh does too. There may be subtle differences in meaning, but I’ll wait for others to comment on that.