North vs South

Much is often made of the differences between the Welsh spoken in the North and the South of Wales but in truth, there are many local dialects. Broadly speaking, though, it is easiest to divide the dialects into Northern (or 'Gog') and Southern (or 'Hwntw') types. 

Mostly the differences are in just accent and vocabulary, and only very occasionally in grammar. If you have a good course book or teacher, they will explain the differences as and when you come across them, but it's always useful to have a list of vocab that varies. So here it is! 


English	Northern (Gog)	Southern (Hwntw)
		
apron	barclod (NW)	ffedog
come (imperative)	tyrd/tyd	dere
corn	y^d	llafur
cows	gwartheg	da
cup	cwpan	dysgl/cwpan
cuppa/cupful	cwpanaid/paned	disglaid/disied (dished)
dirty	budr (pron. "budur")	brwnt/bowlyd (from baw = dirt)
fox	llwynog	cadno
girl	geneth/hogan	merch/roces
girls	genod (cf genethod)	merched/rocesi
go (imperative)	dos	cer
grandfather	taid	tad-cu
grandmother	nain	mam-gu
he/him	o/fo	e/fe
he/him (extended pronoun)	yntau	fintau
I should, ought to (etc.)	dylswn i	dylwn i
I would (etc.)	baswn i	byddwn i
I would like (etc.)	leiciwn i	hoffwn i/licwn i
inflected preterite ending	-ais	-es
key	agoriad	allwedd
lightning	mellt	lluched/mellt
me (extended pronoun)	finnau	innau/minnau
milk	llefrith	llaeth
money	pres	arian
now	rwan	nawr
out	allan	ma's/mas
pencil	pensel	pensil
pound (weight)	pwys	pownd
raspberries	mafon	afan
road	lôn	ffordd/heol (pronounced hewl)
smell (n)	oglau/aroglau*	gwynt
hill (on road)	gallt	tyle/rhiw
to be able to	medru	gallu/galler
to collect nuts/nutting	hel cnau	casglu cnau
to cry	crio	llefain
to fail to	methu	ffili/ffaelu 
to fall	syrthio/disgyn**	cwympo
to finish	gorffen	cwpla/'bennu (from dibennu)
to look	edrych/sbio	disgwyl (pronounced and sometime spelt dishgwl)/edrych
to love, to be mad about	lyfio***	dwli ar (to dote on)
to start	cychwyn	dechrau
to want	eisiau/isho	moyn/mofyn/isie
upstairs	i fyny grisiau	lan star/lan lofft
with	efo	gyda
woman	dynes	menyw
you (extended pronoun)	chdithau	tithau
you (informal)	chdi	ti


Plus there are also some words in English that have several counterparts in Welsh. As usual, it's best to follow local usage.
acre	erw, cyfair, acer
hedge	perth, gwrych, clawdd, shetin
handkerchief	neisied, nicloth, hances, cadach
lad	crwt, crwtyn, rhocyn, hogyn, còg


* Note: 'aroglau' is not a plural, even though it looks like one - the correct plural of aroglau is arogleuon. But, because aroglau looks like a plural, some people create a 'backform', i.e. they remove what they think is a plural ending to create a 'singular', arogl. This is, though, incorrect. 

** Note: depends on what/who has fallen, e.g. a person falling over will 'syrthio', but rain falling on the roof will 'disgyn'. In the South, to fall in love is to 'cwympo mewn cariad', but in the North you 'syrthio mewn cariad'.

*** Note: in the North 'lyfio' is only used in a non-sexual way, e.g. 'dwi'n lyfio dy ffrog' (I love your dress), or 'dwi'n lyfio chdi' (I love you - to a friend). Caru, the more common word for love, is used only when talking about your partner. Thus, you can 'lyfio caws' (love cheese) but only 'caru dy gariad' (love your boy-/girlfriend).