Conversational phrases
Just a random selection of really useful phrases that it’s worth memorising. Some you can use as filler in your conversations to give you time to think, others just don’t make sense when you translate them literally.
| dyna ni/‘na ni | there we are, that’s it |
| dyna ti/‘na ti | there you are |
| ‘te/de | then |
| iawn ‘te | ok then |
| a dweud y gwir | to tell the truth |
| mewn gwirionedd | in fact, in truth |
| gyda llaw | by the way |
| beth bynnag | whatever, anyway |
| i’r dim! | perfect! |
| ‘tydy | isn’t it? |
| nerth dy ben | with all your might |
| yr union beth | just the thing |
| rhoi wybod i mi | let me know |
| dros ben | exceedingly, very much so |
| o’n i’n meddwl hynny | I thought so |
| tybed | I wonder |
| beth sy’n bod? | What’s the matter? |
phrases which mean ‘y’know’
sti
timod
chimod
phrases which mean ‘honestly’
yn onest
wir i ti
wir i chi
wir yr
yn wir
| hynny phrases | |
| ar hyn o bryd | at the moment |
| hyd yn hyn/hyd yma | so far, till now, still, yet |
| hyd hynny | up to that time |
| hyn oll | all this |
| fel hyn | like this, in this way |
| fel hynny/fel ‘ny | like that, in that way |
| bryd hynny/bryd ‘ny | at that time |
| wedi ‘ny | after that, then |
| erbyn hyn | before this, by now, so far |
| serch hynny | however, nonetheless, despite that |
| hyn o dro | on this occasion |
| vague time phrases | |
| bob tro/bob amser | every time, each time |
| y tro cyntaf | the first time |
| y tro yma | this time |
| trwy’r amser | all the time |
| yn ystod | during |
| fel arfer | usually |
| o dro i dro | occasionally |
| yn aml | often |
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Having left Wales in 1962 to join the RAF my biggest regret is that whatever Welsh I learned in school is now long forgotten. However, over the past year I have started writing an anecdotal look back to my development in and around Ponty and Treforest. The book is called “Life is nothing but a Smacked Arse” and is about the lessons in life that I learned then and continue to learn today. In some of the chapters I have wished to use some of my own language and it is sites like this that will help me. It is a few years since a last looked at the site and am really impressed with it. Diolch.