Welsh is a Celtic language, and since 2011 it has had official status in Wales alongside English.
| Part | Easier for English Speakers | Takes Practice |
|---|---|---|
| Letters | Words borrowed from English are spelled the Welsh way, and you can still guess them: bws is a bus, and ffrij is a fridge. | W and y are vowels too, so mwg (smoke) has a vowel even though it has no a, e, i, o or u. |
| Vowel marks | A hat over a vowel, as in â or ŵ, always makes it long. | Many long vowels carry no mark at all, so you learn their length by listening. |
| First sounds | Nouns have no case endings, so dyn (man) never takes an ending for its place in a sentence. | The first sound of a word can change: it's y bachgen mawr (the big boy), but y ferch fawr (the big girl). |
| Big numbers | The newer way to count goes in tens, so 39 is tri deg naw (three tens nine). | The older way counts in twenties, so 40 is deugain (two twenties), and you still hear it for times and ages. |
| Counting things | After a number, a noun stays singular, so you don't need its plural. | Two, three and four change with the noun's gender: dau and dwy both mean two. |
For a study plan that changes as you go, read the fastest way to learn Welsh.
The rows below show where each hard part of Welsh starts.
- Level 1
I'm just starting out or know only a few words.
Saying who you are is the first step: in the lesson below, Siân says Siân dw i (I'm Siân).
- Level 2
I can handle simple exchanges.
You'll see more changes like the one in the lesson below, where Caerdydd (Cardiff) becomes Gaerdydd after o (from).
- Level 3
I follow conversations on familiar topics.
Talk about family and work brings counting in, so practice dau and dwy (two) with real nouns.
- Level 4
I understand most content but miss some nuance.
Different parts of Wales use different words, so a cup of tea can be paned or dishgled.
- Level 5
I read complex topics but rare words slow me down.
Formal writing uses longer words and older verb forms, so read it slowly at first.
- Level 6
I can read almost anything.
Poetry and old sayings are what's left.
Shwmae, fy enw i ydy Aled
Hello, my name is Aled.
Hello, Aled! I am Siân.
I come from Cardiff.
This lesson comes from Bubblegum, where Poppy, your AI tutor, writes Welsh lessons for each level.
For easy Welsh to start with, read the easiest way to learn Welsh.
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Welsh. You learn from Welsh you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
- Lessons fit your level, interests, and goals.
- Read and listen to news and stories in Welsh about things you care about.
- Ask Poppy about a sentence while you read.
- Saved words come back in new lessons through Regenerative Review™, and you can send them to Anki too.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- Lessons and audio are made with AI, so pair them with a course or a tutor.
- Welsh books you already have can't be turned into lessons. Paste a page into the chat, and Poppy explains what it means.
- A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn.
- Regenerative Review™
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Is Written Welsh Different From Spoken Welsh?
Yes. Literary Welsh, used in official documents and much literature, puts endings on its verbs where everyday Welsh uses a helper verb, so the two can feel almost like different languages.
Is Bubblegum Free?
Yes. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn. It holds lessons that other learners asked Poppy for. A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Welsh language (Celtic language with official status in Wales; nouns not inflected for case; mutation marks gender; vigesimal and decimal counting, tri deg naw and deugain; dau/dwy, tri/tair, pedwar/pedair; counted nouns in the singular; dialect examples Dach chi isio paned? and Ych chi'n moyn dishgled?; literary and colloquial registers)
- Wikipedia: Welsh orthography (29 letters; loanwords bws and ffrij; the circumflex marks a long vowel, but not every long vowel has one; mwg)
- Wikipedia: Consonant mutation, Welsh (y bachgen mawr, y ferch fawr)
