Colloquial Welsh nouns

Colloquial Welsh nouns deals with the nouns (Welsh: ) of the colloquial Welsh language, the spoken register of the modern Welsh language as spoken in Wales by first-language speakers. This page does not deal with the literary standard forms nor any dialect which may have arisen outside of Wales. Welsh has two standardised forms: ''Literary Welsh'' – a conservative language reserved for literary purposes which retains some features of older Welsh; and ''Colloquial Welsh'' – the Welsh one will hear being spoken in Welsh speaking areas. For the most part the two languages share rules governing nouns, though one may encounter differences. Colloquial Welsh also shows some variation in initial-consonant mutations, which is explained below, while the literary form retains the proper mutations in all cases.

Introduction to the Welsh noun

Nouns are words that names things, places, people, ideas, and concepts. They are the largest category of words in the Welsh language and fall into two broad groups:

* ''Proper nouns'' – names of places and people and are written with a capital initial letter. English examples being: William, Wales, Cardiff, Saint David, and London. Examples from Welsh would be: , , , , , and .
* '' Common nouns'' – all the rest. These are not usually written with a capital initial letter (unless beginning a sentence, like in English). Common nouns can be further split into two sub-categories: ''count nouns'' and ''mass nouns'' (or ''uncountable nouns'').
** Count nouns are countable, tangible, or otherwise perceptible objects or living things, e.g. 'cat', 'house', 'country, nation', 'winter' and 'breeze'.
** Mass nouns are (normally) uncountable things or abstract concepts and ideas, e.g. 'sugar', 'honey', 'bread', 'gold', 'happiness, gladness', 'coldness', 'curiosity', and 'information, knowledge'.

In general, ''count'' and ''mass'' nouns behave in the same way, except that mass nouns are not usually found in the plural (they are sometimes, in that we are able to talk about different 'breads' and different 'teas'). Abstract nouns are often found without the article.

In addition Welsh has a large number of verbal-nouns (also called verbnouns), but these are not dealt with in this article.

'Specific' and 'non-specific' words

The concept of 'specific' and 'non-specific' words is important in Welsh, and the distinction between them is crucial to understanding some aspects of Welsh grammar: mostly the preposition (in) and the negator .

A word counts as 'specific' if it is:
# preceded by the definite article –
# a proper name
# a pronoun
# preceded by a possessive adjective (''my'', ''his'', ''their'', etc.)

For example, '(a) house' is non-specific as it could refer to any house, while 'the house' is specific because the speaker has a particular house in mind – this satisfies rule 1 above. 'his house' is specific for the same reason and satisfies rule 4 (note the initial consonant mutation > ). Pronouns are used to refer to people or things already mentioned and are specific by definition. Proper nouns are names of people or places: is a particular place.

Mutations with the Welsh noun

The most common cause of mutations to nouns is their contact with prepositions – most of which cause soft mutation, three cause aspirate mutation and one causes nasal mutation. However, in reality the aspirate mutation is dying out in the colloquial language and it is usually only found with the mutation of to (that is, a change from /k/ to /χ/). ‘in’ alone causes the nasal mutation which also is not as widespread as suggested by the literary standard and is often replaced by the soft mutation. The literary language, however, retains all proper uses of the mutations without exception.

Proper nouns

It is a general rule of modern colloquial Welsh that personal names are not mutated. Compare the following two sentences with a common noun and a proper noun:

* br />I gave the details to the head of the department yesterday
* is left unmutatedbr />I gave the details to Pedr yesterday

Geographical names

Geographical names are subject to mutation – not only places in Wales, but also places outside of Wales for which the Welsh language has a name in common use, including many towns and cities in England which retain their old Celtic names in Welsh. Examples with 'to':
# – 'to Cardiff' # – 'to Llandeilo' # – 'to Dyfed' # – 'to Bangor' # – 'to Manchester' # – 'to Cambridge' # – 'to Chester' # – 'to Oxford' # – 'to London' # – 'to Wales' # – 'to England'
This also occurs with the aspirate mutation (usually after 'and'), e.g. 'Cardiff' becomes 'and Cardiff'; and for the nasal mutation after 'in', e.g. 'in Talybont'. See Colloquial Welsh prepositions for more on and its complications.

Mutation of non-Welsh place names is also common place in the spoken language, e.g. 'to Birmingham'. This is contrary to the rules of the standard literary language which prefers or 'to the city of Birmingham' 'city'

The points on the compass (North, South, East, West, etc.) are also susceptible to mutation when used in geographical names, e.g. 'to North Wales' 'from South Africa' 'in West Glamorgan'

Genitive noun phrases

Two or more nouns can be used together in a genitive (or possessive) relationship. This is achieved by two methods in English:
# the doctor's car
# the car of the doctor

In Welsh, the only option available to us is (2) above. All English expressions involving the clitic 's or s' must be rephrased using the "of (the)" construction before being translated into Welsh – even when this would be unnatural in English. This means that 'Dafydd's book' becomes 'the book of Dafydd'.

Welsh, like the other Celtic languages, has a special way of expressing genitive noun phrases which has mutation implications.

Using the above example of ''the doctor's car'', we must rephrase this into the "of (the)" construction to make it suitable for translating into Welsh:

:The car of the doctor

We then remove the word 'of':

:The car the doctor

Thus leaving the two separate noun phrases 'the car' and 'the doctor'.

Finally, we must now remove any instances of the word 'the', except the one before the final element in the phrase (if there is one, there may not be):

:Car the doctor

This can now be translated, word-for-word, into Welsh:

:

In effect, the two nouns (or noun phrases) are linked by the intervening , and it is particularly important to remember that ''there is no definite article at the beginning of genitive noun phrases in Welsh''. Phrases like (the driver of the bus) and (the centre of the town) are serious and basic errors and are ungrammatical. The correct forms being and . Likewise, use of the preposition (of, from) as in or are also ungrammatical and would be seen as a basic error. The preposition can mean 'of' but ''never'' in genitive constructions, where 'of' must not be translated.

The above method for translating noun-noun genitive relationships works regardless of how many nouns are involved:

The following sentence has three nouns: 'the bank manager's daughter'.

:Operation 1: 'the bank manager's daughter' > 'the daughter of the manager of the bank'

:Operation 2: 'the daughter of the manager of the bank' > 'daughter manager the bank'

:Translate: (the bank manager's daughter)

For four nouns: 'the bank manager's daughter's cat'

:Operation 1: 'the bank manager's daughter's cat' > 'the cat of the daughter of the manager of the bank'

:Operation 2: 'the cat of the daughter of the manager of the bank' > 'cat daughter manager the bank'

:Translate:

The second (or final) noun in a genitive noun phrase can be indefinite:

'the middle of a city'

:Operation 1: 'the middle of a city' > 'the middle of a city'

:Operation 2: 'the middle of a city' > 'middle a city'

:Translate:

In this example the Welsh has only two words remaining because 'the' and 'of' are eliminated in Operations 1 and 2 and the indefinite article 'a, an' does not have a counterpart in Welsh and so goes untranslated, therefore, (the middle of a city).

Examples with proper nouns:

Dafydd's house:

:Operation 1: 'Dafydd's house' > 'the house of Dafydd'

:Operation 2: 'the house of Dafydd' > 'house Dafydd'

:Translate:

The capital of France:

:Operation 1: 'The capital of France' > no change

:Operation 2: 'The capital of France' > 'capital France'

:Translate:

Mutation implications of genitive noun phrases

These implications are a result of the first definite article of a genitive noun phrase being dropped. Compare:

*
I left the papers on the table
* but:
I left the papers on the boss' table .e. 'on the table of the boss'
This is due to the preposition (on) causing the soft mutation. Further examples:

* (the centre of the town) > (in the centre of the town) asal mutation after * (the door of the bedroom) > (by the door of the bedroom)
* (the majestic plains of Nebraska) > (across the majestic plains of Nebraska) g' is deleted under soft mutation

Gender

Principles of gender systems

Like many European languages, such as French, German, Russian, and Spanish, Welsh features grammatical gender. In fact, English is one of the few European languages which does not (any longer) feature grammatical gender. English currently operates a system of ''natural gender'' (or ''semantic gender'') – gender dictated by the meaning of the noun.

The two systems (grammatical gender & natural gender) classify the world around us in different ways, though both start with the premise that everything that needs a name (i.e. a noun) and can be identified as either:

# Animate – a living thing or organism; or
# Inanimate – anything that does not come under (1) above.

From this premise the ''natural gender'' system (that of Modern English) is simple enough:

:Animates are either masculine or feminine – a hangover from a time when English had grammatical gender, where the old neuter gender is all but lost (it survives only in the pronoun 'it'). English also has genderless 'catch-all words' which do not belong to either masculine or feminine, like 'child' as a child can be male or female. In other words gender = sex. Animates are thought of and referred to as 'he' or 'she' (and rarely 'it').

:Inanimates are genderless in Modern English (not neuter). They have no sex, so they have no gender, and are thought of and referred to as 'it'.

This is the essence of the Modern English gender system. Note that the vast majority of nouns are inanimates and so do not have gender at all.

From the same animate/inanimate premise, grammatical gender systems operate on either a two-way gender system (masculine and feminine – as in Welsh and French), or a three-way system (masculine, feminine, and neuter – as in German, Russian or Old English). In either case, the fundamental principle is that all nouns are assigned a gender, and on this principle the classification process is as follows:

:Animates are usually (not always) assigned grammatical gender according to sex – therefore they will be masculine or feminine as in a natural gender system.

:Inanimates must be assigned gender, which cannot be done by the criterion of sex (as they have none), so it is done more-or-less seemingly arbitrarily, with both or all three genders represented. Note that 'neuter' does not mean 'genderless' but is the conventional term for the third gender in three-way gender systems and is, therefore, just as much a gender as masculine and feminine.

Gender of the Welsh noun

Welsh nouns are either animate or inanimate and masculine (masc.) or feminine (fem.). Where predictable, this can be done either by form or by meaning. ''Meaning'' can be split into two further groups:

# Nouns that denote male or female things or people
# Nouns of the same gender within a generic group (e.g. months – all masculine)

Animate nouns usually have their gender assigned by meaning – males are usually masc., and females are usually fem.

Inanimate nouns (including abstracts) sometimes have their gender assigned by form – the shape of the word, or some part of it (usually the ending) is associated with one or other gender.

Additionally, some animate nouns can have their gender changed by altering the form of the word.

Feminine nouns

Feminine nouns behave differently to masculine nouns in three main respects:

# When singular (sing.), they undergo initial soft mutation after the definite article:
'a cat', but 'the cat'.
# When sing. they cause soft mutation to a following adjective:
'big', but (a big cat).
# Special forms of some numbers and adjectives are used with them:
'two', but 'two cats'
'white (fem.)', but 'a white cat' ote here the fem. form of is also mutated as per rule 2 above. Also note that the masc. form of is

Determining gender by meaning

Note: this section involves animates only.

Names of male persons and animals

Names of masculine persons and specifically male animals are masculine. Examples:

* – 'boy'
* – 'man'
* – 'husband'
* – 'king'
* – 'prince'
* – 'master'
* – 'father'
* – 'brother'
* – 'nephew'
* – 'bull'
* – 'cockerel'
* – 'ram'

Names of female persons and animals

Names of female persons and animals are feminine. Examples (those marked with ''(N)'' are words found only in the North):

* – 'girl, daughter'
* – 'girl' (N)
* – 'wife'
* – 'mother'
* – 'sister'
* – 'niece'
* – 'grandmother' (N)
* – 'aunt'
* – 'cow'
* – 'hen'
* – 'ewe'
* – 'mare'
* – 'bitch'

All of these undergo soft mutation when they follow the definite article:

Nouns which can refer to either sex

Many nouns of this type, particularly animals, are applied to either sex without altering their grammatical gender. For example, 'cat' is fem. even when the cat referred to is a male. Similarly with 'dog' which is masc. This is when speaking in general terms of the species and the animal's sex is not important – as in English where we can say ''I have a black cat'' with no regard to sex. We only need to say 'tom-cat' when we wish to draw attention to the sex of the animal in question.

The Welsh equivalents of 'he–...' or 'she–...' are and , respectively: 'tom-cat' utation of because is still grammatically fem. 'female hedgehog' o mutation of because is grammatically masc. Some nouns have special forms for one or other sex: 'dog' and 'bitch'; while occasionally there are words for either sex but no general word to refer to the species, as with 'cockerel' and 'hen'.

Some gender-fixed nouns which can refer to humans of either sex are:

* (masc.) – 'child'
* (masc.) – 'baby'
* (masc.) – 'guest'

and nouns ending with (masc.) which denote agent nouns (doers of actions) which are often professions:

* – 'translator'
* – 'chairman/chairwoman/chairperson'
* – 'spokesman/spokeswoman/spokesperson'

Note, however, that some agent nouns ending with masc. form feminine counterparts by adding (similar to English '-ess'):

* (masc.) – 'male secretary'
(fem.) – 'female secretary'
* (masc.) – 'male typist'
(fem.) – 'female typist'

Verbal-nouns

Verbal-nouns, when used as nouns, are always masculine:

* – 'good singing'
* – 'intelligent marketing'
* – 'ceaseless complaining'
* – 'bad writing'

An exception to this is (fem.) 'grip, grasp':

* (hard gripping) 'hard'

Determining gender by form

This involves both animates and inanimates, though animates are usually identifiable by meaning too.

Nouns masculine by form

All of the following nouns are masculine by form, that is they can be seen to be masc. due to the shape of the word.

# Nouns ending in , , and . Examples:
## (lawyer)
## (actor)
## (translator)
## (politician)
## (heater)
## (antenna (of an insect))
## (boy) (N)
## (bandage)
## (pig)
Care should be taken with nouns in which is sometimes a singulative noun derived from a collective noun.
# Nouns (usually abstract) derived from adjectives and verbs ending in:
##
##
##
##
##
##
##
##
##
##
##
##

:Examples:
* (purity) (pure)* (pride) (proud)* (hygiene) (clean)* (childhood) (child)* (stupidity) (stupid)* (admiration) (admire)* (enjoyment) (enjoy)* (marital separation) (separate (vb.))* (training) (train)* (narrowness) (narrow)* (bilingualism) (two languages)* (sadness) (sad)

Nouns feminine by form

All of the following nouns are feminine by form, that is they can be seen to be fem. by the shape of the word.

# Nouns ending in and . Examples:
## (programme)
## (cake)
## (mistress)
## (princess)
There are exceptions in , e.g. (masc.) 'forehead'; (masc.) 'ram'. Also note that many fem. nouns are singulatives derived from collective nouns.
# Many derived nouns (mostly abstract) ending in and some in . Examples:
## (generation)
## (function, duty)
## (wedding)
## (relation(ship))
Several commonly used words ending in are masc., however, notably 'service', 'difference', and 'longing'.
# Nouns ending in denoting places where actions or events happen. These are derived mostly from verbs, sometimes from nouns. Examples:
## (waiting room) (to wait)## (nursery) (to nurture)## (surgery) (doctor)## (office) (job, official seat)# Two-syllable words with ''-e-'' in the second syllable (excluding suffixes listed under masculine above) are very often feminine, particularly if the vowel of the first syllable is ''-a-''. As with all rules-of-thumb, this one is fallible but reliable all the same. Examples:
## (tablet)
## (channel)
## (loss)
## (jumper (clothing))
## (combat, duel)

Nouns as part of a group

Some words are part of natural groupings, like days of the week, months, seasons, etc.

* Names of days, months, seasons, and points of the compass are all masculine.
* Names of countries, rivers, and languages are generally feminine.
* Units of time, going in ascending order, from ''second'' to ''year'' alternate in gender:
** (fem.) 'second'
** (masc.) 'minute'
** (fem.) 'hour'
** (masc.) 'day'
** (fem.) 'week'
** (masc.) 'month'
** (fem.) 'year'
Note that in some areas is fem. and there also exists the word (day) which is masc.

Nouns with differing genders in different regions

This phenomenon happens in all languages with grammatical gender. In some cases one gender is accepted as standard with the other as a "regional variant". In Welsh the choice between the two is arbitrary.

As mentioned above, is one example – officially masc. but frequently fem. in some parts of Wales. Some nouns of "undecided" gender (with standard or most frequent gender provided, where possible) are:

* (masc.) 'arm'
* 'ear'
* 'war'
* 'pub, tavern'
* (masc.) 'foot'
* (masc.) 'lunch, dinner'
* (masc.) 'pay, salary'

:Note that is masc. when it means 'work' but fem. when it means 'time, occasion':

Use of dictionaries

Many Welsh-English dictionaries, particularly those designed primarily for Welsh speakers, use Welsh terminology when indicating the gender of a noun (the Welsh word for 'noun' is with the plural .):

* (masculine noun)
* (feminine noun)
* (plural noun – generally used for collective/singulative nouns)

Noun number

This section deals with grammatical number of the Welsh language which should not be confused with the numerals of Welsh. Grammatical number deals with how a language deals with singular nouns, plural nouns, dual nouns, paucal nouns, collective nouns, etc. No language has all types of grammatical number and the Welsh grammatical number is discussed below.

Comparison of the English and Welsh noun number systems

The number systems for English nouns is a simple singular-plural distinction, of which the singular is the base form – meaning that the singular is changed somehow to form a plural, in English this is usually the addition of '-s' ('cat' > 'cats'). Any English noun can be placed into one of three sub-classes within this two-way system:

# Nouns that can be used in either the singular (sing.) or plural (pl.), these make up the vast majority of non-abstract things – 'cat', 'star', 'tree'.
# Nouns that can normally only be used in the sing., these are mainly abstract ideas and uncountable things – 'honesty', 'milk', 'health', 'flour'.
# Nouns that can only be used in the pl., often denoting things that are or have two parts – 'trousers', 'scissors'.

Welsh, however, has two mutually exclusive systems:

# System 1: singular-plural
# System 2: collective-singulative (sometimes referred to as ''collective-unit'')

System 1 works in much the same way as the English singular-plural system, with the same three sub-classes. However, not all Welsh nouns fit into the singular-plural system; some nouns belong to the collective-singulative system which has its own rules of operation. Note that some Welsh grammar books and resources will treat the collective-singulative nouns as singular-plural nouns which is misleading and distorts the logic of the Welsh system.

Distinction between 'singular-plural' and 'collective-singulative' systems

As has been established above, the Welsh sing.–pl. system mirrors that of English and other European languages in that the basic form of the noun is sing., with the pl. (where a pl. is possible) derived from it by one method or another. It does not matter if a particular noun cannot form a pl., the base noun is still the sing., which is enough to classify it as belonging to the sing.–pl. system.

The collective-singulative (coll.–sinv.) system comprises mostly living things that are most often associated as being part of a group. This includes many trees, plants, and animals (particularly those which are kept in groups and those which are swarming/colony insects). The base form of this nouns is not singular but has a collective meaning, with the unit (singulative) form (indicating one of the group) derived from it – similar to how a plural is derived from a singular.

:Examples of both systems

* 'cat' (sing.) becomes 'cats' (pl.) ote here the simple suffix for marking the pl.* '(group of) pigs' (coll.) becomes 'pig' (sinv.) ote the suffix for marking the masc. sinv.* 'book' (sing.) becomes 'books' (pl.)
* 'wood (group of trees)' (coll.) becomes 'tree' (sinv.)

From the English speaker's single sing.–pl. perspective, 'collective' seems little different from 'plural', and 'singulative' seeming equal to 'singular'. It is therefore tempting to make the coll.–sinv. nouns fit the sing.–pl. system. Examples:

* (sing.) – (pl.)
* (sing.) – (pl.)
* (sing.) – (pl.)
* (sing.) – (pl.)

and this would be acceptable but for two considerations:

# Such an arrangement leaves the coll.–sinv. nouns ( and ) deriving their "singular" from the "plural" by the addition of the suffixes and . This goes against the sing.–pl. principle of deriving the pl. from the sing.
# While can be translated as 'trees' (because English has only the pl. to fall back on), it has a strong sense of a homogenous group about it that 'trees' cannot convey. The alternative English translation is 'wood' (sing. in English) which conveys the idea of a single item or group but cannot include any idea of the units that make up that group (the trees). Both English translations are perfectly adequate as far as they go, but the relationship between the group and its individual components is neatly expressed only in the coll.–sinv. system. A clearer example may be . is 'leaf' while is often translated as 'leaves' which it does indeed mean:
:::: – 'the leaves are turning'
::but also carries the connotation of 'foliage', i.e. a single group meaning that usually has a separate term in English.

Singular–plural nouns

This section discusses the sing.–pl. system. The coll.–sinv. system is discussed further down.

Forming noun plurals

The methods for deriving plurals from singulars in Welsh are so numerous and often unpredictable that the best approach is to simply learn the plural forms as one encounters them. This is most unlike English with its almost universal '-s' suffix for plurals.

Deriving of Welsh plurals involves two main principles – adding suffixes and internal vowel change. These are used separately and in combination. Examples:

# Suffixes – there are roughly a dozen of these in common use in colloquial Welsh:
## – 'shop' becomes 'shops'
## – 'wall' becomes 'walls'
## – 'dictionary' becomes 'dictionaries'
## – 'loss' becomes 'losses'
## – 'chapel' becomes 'chapels'
## – 'girl' becomes 'girls'
## – 'mountain' becomes 'mountains'
# Change of one or more vowels of the sing. noun. This is essentially the same process which resulted in 'man' > 'men', 'goose' > 'geese' in English, but is much more common in Welsh. Examples:
## 'castle' > 'castles'
## 'car' > 'cars'
## 'body' > 'bodies'
## 'crow' > 'crows'
# Many nouns use a combination of (1) and (2) above, changing their internal vowel and adding a suffix. Examples:
## 'son' > 'sons'
## 'garden' > 'gardens'
## 'friend' > 'friends'
## 'language' > 'languages'
# A small group of nouns ending in and in the sing. replace these with pl. suffixes of various types. Examples:
## 'flower' > 'flowers'
## 'adult' > 'adults'
## 'slice' > 'slices'
# Nouns ending in , and some ending in , which are agent nouns (those who perform a verb) and professions, replace the suffix with . Examples:
## and 'visitor' > 'visitors'
## 'electrician' > 'electricians'
## 'speaker' > 'speakers'
## 'translator' > 'translators'
# Another small set of nouns derive their pl. from an older, extended form of the sing. Examples:
## 'class' > 'classes'
## 'flood' > 'floods'

There are a number of nouns which form their pl. by means other than those stated above, but these are best regarded as 'irregular'.

Plurals of compound nouns

Compound nouns are made up of a combination of a noun + some other element. Welsh only usually allows compounds of two words and no more (unlike German which allows seemingly endless compounding). The combinations are ''noun + noun'', ''verb + noun'', and ''adjective + noun''. Compound nouns form their pl. in the same way as the second element of the compound. Note that the second element of the compound will usually undergo soft mutation. Examples:
# 'court' + 'mother/mothers' yields 'step-mother/step-mothers'
# 'main' + 'road/roads' yields ' motorway/motorways'

There are some circumstances where compounding of more than two elements is seen, particularly place-names.

Plural suffixes

There are 12 different plural suffixes in use in the modern language; some are fairly restricted and others are commonplace. They can be grouped thus:

*
*
*
*
*
*

Of these, is the most common, and is usually the suffix of choice for borrowed words and new words. and are also fairly common. All variants involving an ''-i-'' are likely to involve a change of internal vowel (''see: Affection (linguistics)''), especially ''-a-'' changing to ''-e-'' or ''-ei-''.

Monosyllabic nouns in the sing. with a long-vowel will usually shorten that vowel when a pl. suffix is added, e.g. 'train' (sing.) becomes (pl.).

The effect of pl. suffixes on the final consonant of the sing.

On occasion the adding of a pl. suffix can affect the final consonant of the sing. noun. Sometimes this results in a change of pronunciation and sometimes it is to satisfy spelling conventions only. Examples:

# Before word-final ''-nt'' changes to ''-nn-'': 'machine' > 'machines'. This results in a change of pronunciation.
# Words ending in the sing. (mostly loan-words) form their plurals in and . The ''ï'' signifies that the letter performs a dual-function and should be pronounced as if the original final of the sing. were still present, followed by the endings : 'story' > 'stories'; 'energy' > 'energies'.
# Loanwords ending in in the sing. make their pl. in , with the accented 'a' performing the same function as the two dots above the 'i' in (2) above. 'camera' > 'cameras'; 'drama' > 'dramas'.

plurals

This is the most common pl. suffix in modern Welsh. Internal vowel change is possible with either variant. Some examples:

# (sing.) – (pl.) 'book/books'
# (sing.) – (pl.) 'shop/shops'
# (sing.) – (pl.) 'bell/bells'
# (sing.) – (pl.) 'table/tables'
# (sing.) – (pl.) 'lip/lips'
# (sing.) – (pl.) 'train/trains'
# (sing.) – (pl.) 'journey/journeys, tour/tours'
# (sing.) – (pl.) 'door/doors'
# (sing.) – (pl.) 'bus/buses'

Nouns with predictable suffix

The pl. suffix can be predicted for the following types of noun:

# Nouns ending with (always derived from verbs) in the sing. and those ending in (derived from nouns or verbs) in the sing. take the suffix in the pl. Examples:
## > 'translation/translations'
## > 'service/services'
# Nouns ending in in the sing. (usually derived from verbs). With these the final ''-t'' becomes ''-n-'' before the suffix. Examples:
## > 'success/successes'
## > 'improvement/improvements'
# Feminine nouns in denoting persons, derived from the masculine equivalents. Examples:
## (masc.)> 'princess/princesses'
## (masc.)> 'teacher/teachers (female)'
# Abstract nouns in (derived from adjectives), where a pl. is possible. Examples:
## > 'responsibility/responsibilities'
## > 'formality/formalities'

''-on/-ion'' plurals

The suffix is much more frequent than and often causes internal vowels to change. Examples:

# (sing.) – (pl.) 'motor/motors'
# (sing.) – (pl.) 'forecast/forecasts'
# (sing.) – (pl.) 'breeze/breezes'
# (sing.) – (pl.) 'envoy/envoys' ote here that the addition of ''-h-'' in the pl. is due to a shift in stress caused by the addition of the pl. suffix and is not a direct marker of the pl./small>
# (sing.) – (pl.) 'son/sons'
# (sing.) – (pl.) 'school/schools'
# (sing.) – (pl.) 'patient/patients'

Nouns with predictable suffix

The suffix can usually be predicted for the following types of noun:

# Nouns ending in denoting persons. Examples:
## > 'officer/officers'
## > 'prince/princes'
# Nouns ending in denoting persons. Examples:
## > 'chancellor/chancellors'
## > 'harpist/harpists'

Also, many nouns ending in denoting persons and instruments (agent nouns) add to form the pl. But note that for persons is often preferred. Examples:

# > 'chairperson/chairpersons'
# > 'typist/typists'
# > 'politician/politicians'
# > or 'compositor/compositors'
# > or 'correspondent/correspondents (newspaper)'

Singulars in sometimes must take the plural, e.g. 'translator' > 'translators'.

''-i'' plurals

This is a limited class of plurals, but includes many common, everyday nouns - many of which are borrowings. Almost all of them have ''-e-'' as their final vowel in the sing., or change ''-a-'' in the sing. to ''-e-'' in the pl. Some have a final diphthong ''-wy-'', which remains unchanged. The vast majority of nouns with plurals are feminine.

Here follows the most frequent nouns which take the plural:

(For simplicity only the plurals have been translated. The English singular should be obvious.)

# > 'keys'
# > 'lords'
# > 'flags, banners'
# > 'baskets'
# > 'biscuits'
# > 'blankets'
# > 'buckets'
# > 'chains'
# > 'canals'
# > 'chapels'
# > 'homes' .html" ;"title="ote that word final ''-f'' is often silent, and therefore optional in writing, in Welsh, but it is restored when the pl. suffix is added.">ote that word final ''-f'' is often silent, and therefore optional in writing, in Welsh, but it is restored when the pl. suffix is added.# > 'poems'
# > 'giants'
# > 'cliffs'
# > 'gates' ote that there are numerous words for 'gate' around Wales.# > 'bonfires'
# > 'registers'
# > 'corners'
# > 'series'
# > 'churches'
# > 'windows' .html" ;"title="ote that the final ''-r'' is often omitted in the sing. but is always restored in the pl.">ote that the final ''-r'' is often omitted in the sing. but is always restored in the pl.# > 'gallons'
# > 'gardens'
# > 'girls, lasses'
# > 'slates'
# > 'curtains'
# > 'dishes'
# > 'groves'
#

> 'loads' .html" ;"title="ote that ''llwyth'' means 'tribe' as well as 'load', but their plurals are different: 'tribes', 'loads'.">ote that ''llwyth'' means 'tribe' as well as 'load', but their plurals are different: 'tribes', 'loads'.# > 'stones'
# > 'masters'
# > 'inches'
# > 'packets'
# > 'pamphlets'
# > 'parcels'
# > 'balls'
# > 'architects'
# > 'villages'
# > 'hedges'
# > 'parishes'
# > 'pockets'
# > 'bottles'
# > 'rockets'
# > 'rows'
# > 'lists'
# > 'parents' ote the loss of the sing. final ''-t''# > 'nets'
# > 'carpenters'
# > 'spanners'
# > 'skirts'
# > 'jackets'
# > 'TV channels'
# > 'saucer'
# > 'bases'
# > 'tickets' ote that ''tocyn(nau)'' is a more common alternative for 'ticket(s)'# > 'tons'

Of these, the following have alternative plurals in :

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

=The 'paper class'

=
There is another small class of nouns which all take the pl. suffix. These are all feminine nouns ending in often denoting sheets or printed papers which are used in everyday life (but not always). These also double the final ''-n'' before the suffix. Examples:

# > 'envelopes'
# > 'menus'
# > 'documents' ote the alternative pl. is also common# > 'forms'
#

> 'satellites' ote the alternative pl. is also common# > 'programmes'
# > 'leaflets'

plurals

Of these classes, the suffix is the least numerous, with fewer than 20 simple nouns (i.e. not counting compounds). Nouns which take the pl. suffix are more numerous than but are still fairly limited. The class is larger but includes those which are rarely encountered in speech because it has often been replaced by other, more common, pl. suffixes but the suffix is retained in the literary standard in all cases. This article will deal with the most common nouns in these classes.

= plurals

=
The following nouns have their plurals in and often include internal vowel change or other modifications:

# > 'wings' .html" ;"title="lternative pl. ">lternative pl. # > 'fingers'
# > 'carcasses'
# > 'teeth'
# > 'threads'
# > 'fawns'
# > 'nails, claws'
# > 'uncles' .html" ;"title="lternative pl. ">lternative pl. #

> 'wives'
# > 'marshes'
# > 'aunts'
# > 'snakes' .html" ;"title="lternative pl. ">lternative pl. # > 'maidens'
# > 'lords, monarchs' .html" ;"title="lternative pl. ">lternative pl. # > 'tusks, fangs'

= plurals

=
The following nouns have their plurals in . Internal vowel change less common in this class. This list is not exhaustive.

# > 'hearths'
# > 'rivers'
# > 'foods'
# > ''regions'' ote the ''ö'' simply indicates that it is not part of a diphthong with ''y''.# > 'breasts (of hills)' .html" ;"title="ote that when referring to anatomical breasts the pl. is ">ote that when referring to anatomical breasts the pl. is # > 'showers'
# > 'yards'
# > 'meetings'
# > 'drinks'
# > 'dales, meadows' .html" ;"title="lternative pl. ">lternative pl. # > 'farms'
#

> 'streams'
# > 'roads' .html" ;"title="has an alternative sing. in with the pl. ">has an alternative sing. in with the pl. # > 'places' .html" ;"title="he pl. is preferred in the South">he pl. is preferred in the South# > 'fields'
# > 'cemeteries'
# > 'streams, brooks'
# > 'pavements'
# > 'bridges'
# > 'frosts'
# > 'storms'
# > 'towns' .html" ;"title="lternative pl. ">lternative pl.

= plurals

=
The following are some of the most common nouns with plurals in . Internal vowel change is rare in this class though some nouns will show other changes to their base form.

# > 'estuaries'
# > 'times' .html" ;"title="he alternative pl. has become more popular in speech">he alternative pl. has become more popular in speech# > 'years' .html" ;"title="lternative pl. ">lternative pl. # > 'kings'
# > 'worlds'
# > 'hundreds'
# > 'cells'
# > 'nations'
# > 'circles' .html" ;"title="lternative pl. ">lternative pl. # > 'cities'
# > 'waters' he pl. retaining the older form of the sing. # > 'factories'
# > 'abilities'
# > 'stations'
# > 'winds'
# > 'languages'
# > 'lakes'
#

> 'markets'
# > 'thousands'
# > 'mountains'
# > 'heavens'
# > 'ages'
# > 'peoples'
# > 'pound (sterling; currency)' .html" ;"title="lternative pl. ">lternative pl. # > 'wars'
# > 'sites, positions'
# > 'lands'
# > 'islands'
# > 'rooms'

plurals

This class of plurals is mainly associated with names of animals (but not all animals have plurals in ). In some cases the sing. ending is replaced by and others undergo other changes to the base form. Examples:

# > 'cats'
# > 'rabbits'
# > 'foxes'
# > 'asses, donkeys'
# > 'cows'
# > 'lions'
# > 'owls'
# > 'frogs'
#

> 'elephants'
# > 'sows'
# > 'squirrels'
# > 'turkeys'
# > 'bats'
# > 'tigers'

The suffix is also used of some nouns denoting persons and some nationalities:

# > 'babies'
# > 'Irishmen'
# > 'witches'
# > 'women'
# > 'Frenchmen' .html" ;"title="lternative pl. ">lternative pl.
A few inanimate nouns take this suffix, too:

# > 'onions'
# > 'nests'
# > 'cottages'

plurals

The suffix, like the suffix, is mostly associated with animate beings, but where is mostly used with animals, is predominantly used with humans. It is invariably pronounced in natural speech and is used with names of peoples, nationalities, tribes, etc., and with surnames. In all of these instances it is attached to a proper name which normally has no plural, or sometimes an adjective. It is sometimes accompanied by a vowel-change. Examples:

# 'Romans' (< 'Rome')
# 'Russians' (< 'Russia')
# '(the) faithful'
# '(the) Morgans'

It is also used with many loanwords descriptive of persons and professions. Examples:

# > 'doctors'
# > 'customers'
# > 'apprentices'
# > 'partners'
# > 'vandals'
# > 'pagans'
# > 'fools'

Nouns ending in (derived from verbs) and denoting the doer of the action usually take the pl. suffix. Examples:

# > 'refugees' 'to flee'# > 'sinners' 'to sin'# > 'cowards' 'to shit'
Note that nouns ending in denoting things cannot take this animate pl. suffix, but instead must take , e.g. 'encyclopaedia' 'encyclopaedias'; 'laptop computer' 'laptop computers'.

Some animals, including 'animal', also come under the class. Examples:

# > 'animals'
# > 'lobsters'
# > 'vultures'
# > 'swallows'
# > 'polecats'
# > 'wolves' .html" ;"title="lternative pl. ">lternative pl. # > 'kites'

It is worth noting here (sing.) and (pl.) 'twin/twins', which usually takes the soft mutation after the definite article in the pl. – . This is probably due to it originally being a dual rather than a plural.

= plurals

=
This is a very small sub-class of the plurals (themselves pronounced as ) which only includes two nouns in the colloquial language:

# > 'girls'
# > 'insects'

plurals

These are very few in the spoken language:

# > 'blacksmiths'
# > 'goldsmith'
# > 'nephews'
# ''no singular'' > 'lungs' [sometimes a sing. form is found corresponding to , but this appears to have formed by analogy with pairs of the type ; which are formed by internal vowel change and do not belong to this class.]

English plurals ending in '-ys'

Some loanwords from English have retained their English pl. ('-es') but with Welsh spelling ():

# > 'buses' [but is far more common nowadays and shows the usual palatisation of /s/ to /ʃ/ in the plural: ~ (North) (South).]
# > 'matches' _therefore__is_pronounced__and__is_.html" ;"title="n English loanwords ''-ts-'' is pronounced as the 'ch' in English church, therefore is pronounced and is ">n English loanwords ''-ts-'' is pronounced as the 'ch' in English church, therefore is pronounced and is # > 'nurses' ronunciation: - and - .
Note that 'trousers' is sing. in Welsh with what is regarded as unusual spelling; it forms its plural in .

Plurals formed by internal vowel change

This class is far larger in Welsh than it is in English which only has a few extant examples – 'men' < 'man', 'geese' < 'goose', 'mice' < 'mouse', etc. However, it is still a fairly restricted class in Welsh. Nouns which fall into this class can fall into one of two sub-categories:

# Nouns where only one vowel is changed
# Nouns where two vowels in consecutive syllables are changed

These two sub-categories are dealt with separately below, with indications of the most common vowel change patterns. In all cases the general principle is that back vowels (''a, o,'' and ''w'' in Welsh) become front vowels (''e, i,'' and ''y'' in Welsh – though ''y'' is usually the mid-vowel schwa but, phonology is beyond the scope of this article).

=Single vowel change plurals

=
There are three main vowel alternation patterns where only one syllable in the sing. is changed:

* ''a'' becomes ''ei''
* ''a'' becomes ''ai''
* ''o'' becomes ''y''

another, less common alternation, is ''oe'' to ''wy''.

Examples for this type follow below. These listings can be taken as fairly complete for the colloquial language. Written language retains older forms of plurals which feature only vowel changes where the colloquial language has replaced them with suffixes or vowel change + suffix. The written language is not represented in this article, which is concerned only with the colloquial register.

Plurals formed by changing ''a'' to ''ei''

Some commonly occurring nouns of this type include:

# > 'bards, poets'
# > 'cars'
# > 'deer, stags'
# > 'goats'
# > 'hawks' .html" ;"title="ote that is used colloquially to mean 'rascal' or 'rogue', i.e. 'you rascal!' 'Hawk' is usually (sing.) (pl.) nowadays.">ote that is used colloquially to mean 'rascal' or 'rogue', i.e. 'you rascal!' 'Hawk' is usually (sing.) (pl.) nowadays./small>
# > 'hens'
# > 'bulls'

Plurals formed by changing ''a'' to ''ai''

Nouns forming their plurals in this manner include:

# > 'crows'
# > 'ducks' .html" ;"title="ote that has an alternative sing.: which belongs to the collective–singulative system – ">ote that has an alternative sing.: which belongs to the collective–singulative system – # > 'eyes' .html" ;"title="ote that in the North the pl. of is usually ( in conventional spelling).">ote that in the North the pl. of is usually ( in conventional spelling).# > 'toads'
# > 'saints'

Plurals formed by changing ''o'' to ''y''

Nouns of this type include:

# > 'bodies'
# > 'horns'
# > 'sticks'
# > 'forks (cutlery)'
# > 'forks (agricultural)'
# > 'roads, ways'
# > 'Welshmen'

Plurals formed by changing other vowels

# > 'skins'
# > 'knives'
# > 'lambs'
# > 'feet'

These plurals are best learnt as they are encountered.

=Two-vowel change plurals

=
Plurals formed by changing two consecutive vowels

This is a process which almost always involves a change from ''a'' to ''e'' and ''e'' to ''y'' (''y'' is sometimes ''i''). Examples:

* > 'swans' lternative pl. * > 'wings'
* > 'boys'
* > 'stones'
* > 'castles'
* > 'sleeves'
* > 'gloves'
* > 'bowls, pans' lternative pls.

Also, > is a three-vowel change conforming to this pattern.

Plurals formed by miscellaneous two-vowel changes

* > 'bones'
* > 'sheep' .html" ;"title="he pl. is usually pronounced as ">he pl. is usually pronounced as

Irregular plurals

The following do not fit into any of the established classes discussed above and should be learnt as encountered.

* > 'brothers'
* > 'dogs'
* > 'pangs, pains'
* > 'men'
* > 'hands' (see the section on dual number below)
* > 'calves'
* > 'herrings'
* > 'houses'
* > 'oxen'

Some nouns drop a syllable in the pl. Examples:

* > 'neighbours'
* > 'competitions'
* > 'orders'
* > 'owners'
* > 'socks' oss of first syllable
Some nouns form their pl. from a derivative of the sing., often :

* > 'beginnings'
* > 'ends'
* > 'classes'
* > 'lights'

But note:

* (pl.) < (sing.) 'hotel'
* (sing.) > (pl.) 'guests'

Double plurals with different meanings

In some cases two or more Welsh nouns (with different meanings) have the same form in the singular but have different plural forms. Examples:

* > 'breasts (anatomical); 'breasts (of hills)'
* > 'councils'; 'counsels'
* > 'floods'; 'saws'
* > 'tribes'; 'loads'
* > 'persons'; 'parsons'
* > 'meals'; 'times'
* > 'ghosts'; 'spirits'

Nouns with no singular

Some nouns have no sing. form, or are not used in the sing. Examples:

* '(potato) crisps'
* 'cattle'
* 'heaven'
* 'selections' (i.e. 'extracts')
* 'inhabitants'

The noun 'smell' looks like a plural but it is not, even though the literary language has developed a sing. form from it. The colloquial language keeps the original as the sing., though it has many forms – . Note that the verb 'to smell' in this context is .

:
"There's that funny smell we smelt yesterday"

Duals

A very small number of nouns have special dual forms denoting "two of..." rather than "many of...". All are made up of the element or 'two + noun':

* > 'period of two days'
* > 'period of two months'
* > 'two hands' (when thought of as a pair of hands, but there is also the general pl. .)

Special plural for 'three days'

'day' also has a special form for 'three days' which is widely used across Wales – .:

:
The conference will go on for (a period of) three days.

Collective-singulative nouns

Due to their relatively small number it is best to list here the most commonly used nouns so that they can be learnt and recognised by the learner. Feminines are, by far, the largest group and are given first with trees in a separate list, followed by the masculines.

Except where noted otherwise feminine sinv. nouns are formed by adding and masculines by adding .

Feminine coll.–sinv. nouns

The following list is not complete, and omits trees (given separately) and rarely used or obsolete nouns, but gives some of the most commonly used. The collective is given as the base form (which it is) with the singulative form given only when it is derived by some method other than adding :

* 'raspberries'
* 'cauliflower'
* 'bricks'
* > 'wasps/wasp'
* > 'leeks/leek'
* > 'nuts/nut'
* 'trees'
* > 'leaves, foliage/leaf'
* > 'beans, bean' he 'ä' here simply means that the 'a' and following 'e' do not form a diphthong.* 'bees'
* > 'veins/vein'
* > 'lice'
* 'lightning' he singulative translates as 'flash/fork of lightning'* 'bilberries'
* 'mushrooms'
* 'strawberries'
* 'carrots'
* 'blackberries'
* 'magpies'
* 'feathers'
* > ''seren'' 'stars/star'
* > 'corn'
* 'thistles'

Note the true relationship between coll. and sinv. nouns is particularly clear in the English translations for some of the pairs above. As mentioned above, 'foliage' is a very close approximation of the actual sense of ''dail'' – conveying the idea of 'leaves' as one homogenous body. The translations for some of the sinv. forms are revealing: ''tywysen'' means 'an ear of corn'; ''llucheden'' means 'a flash of lightning'; ''mefus'' '(bed of) strawberries' or '(plate of) strawberries'.

Coll. nouns for trees

The following are the most common coll. nouns for native trees. All of them add to the coll. to give the name of a single tree of the species. Other changes are noted where required:

* 'birch'
* 'cherry'
* > 'holly'
* 'rowan'
* > 'hazel'
* 'oak'
* 'peach'
* 'pear'
* 'lime'
* 'alder'
* 'willow'
* 'elm'
* 'fern'
* 'juniper'
* > 'ash'
* 'poplar'
* 'elder'
* 'yew'

Notes:
# 'apple (tree)' is not a coll.–sinv. There is no form for a group of apple trees. This noun belongs firmly with the sing.–pl. group.
# Other trees, including non-native species, are formed with the suffixes (coll.) and (sinv.) Examples:
## (coll.) > (sinv.) 'chestnut'
## 'cedar'
## 'cypress'
## 'beech'
## 'fir, pine'
## 'larch'
## 'sycamore'

Masculine coll.–sinv. nouns

As stated above, masc. singulatives are all formed by adding to the collective noun. Again, sinv. forms are only given where there is an additional change to the form:

* 'worms (in earth)'
* > 'birds' ften heard as .* 'shoots, buds'
* 'crumbs'
* 'fur'
* 'crabapples'
* 'kernels'
* > 'clothes' ote that is used for an item of clothing/a garment, again showing the distinction between the 'generality' of the coll. noun and the 'individualisation' of the sinv. noun* > 'gravel, shingle'
* 'grass, straw' ote that there also exists the word for 'green grass', among others.* 'gnats'
* 'caterpillars'
* 'pigs, swine'
* 'ants'
* > 'children'
* 'fish, fishes'
* 'roses'
* > 'herrings'

Nouns used with numerals

As shown above, Welsh grammatical number is much more complicated than that of English. Its saving grace, however, is that singulars and singulatives are usually used when counting nouns, particularly with low numbers. Examples:

# 'one dog'; 'four dogs' (not )
# 'one window'; 'eight windows' (not )

Welsh shows gender specific variants for only three of its numerals:

* (masc.) – (fem.) 'two'
* (masc.) – (fem.) 'three'
* (masc.) – (fem.) 'four'

Examples:

# 'two dogs' # 'two cats' # 'three boys'
# 'three girls'
# 'four men'
# 'four women'

Some numerals change their form before nouns; 'five' > ; 'six' > . can often become which generally comes before time-expression words (either radical ''m-'' or where it is the result of nasal mutation), e.g. 'ten minutes'. In most cases, however, is preferred (see below for more on this). Examples:

# 'five minutes'
# 'six nations'
# examples for :
## 'ten minutes'
## 'ten days' asal mutation of ## 'ten months'
## 'ten years' asal mutation of ## 'ten thousand'
## 'ten million'
## 'ten miles'
## 'ten inches'
:::: in other cases is preferred, e.g. 'ten maps'.

It is usual to use the pl./coll. form when the quantity is greater, but this must be used with the preposition 'of' (which causes soft mutation). The boundary for switching from the sing./sinv. to + pl./coll. is unclear, some regard the boundary to lie at ten, but this is by no means a hard-and-fast rule. Examples of using the pl. or coll.:

# 'twelve (of) dogs'
# 'fifteen (of) bottles'
# 'twenty (of) cats'

However, it is more usual to use + coll. with children: 'two (of) children' (not ).

Mutations following numerals

# 'one' causes soft mutation to fem. nouns (except those which begin with ''ll-'' and ''rh-'')
## 'one cat' ## 'one dog' o mutation because is masc.## 'one hand' o mutation of fem. nouns beginning or .## 'one war' .html" ;"title="o mutation of fem. nouns beginning or and no mutation to sing. masc. nouns. can be either masc. or fem.">o mutation of fem. nouns beginning or and no mutation to sing. masc. nouns. can be either masc. or fem.# Both and cause soft mutation to the following noun
## 'two dogs' ## 'two cats' # causes aspirate mutation to a following noun, but does not cause mutation
## 'three dogs' ## 'three cats' o mutation# causes aspirate mutation to a following noun
## 'six dogs' ## 'six cats' ## 'six balls' ## 'six fathers'

References

{{Welsh linguistics

Welsh grammar
Parts of speech
Syntax
Linguistic morphology
Declension