faint o / sawl

How Many? Faint O and Sawl

Level 2

Faint o + a softened noun: Faint o blant? (How many children?), Faint o fara? (How much bread?). Sawl + a singular noun: Sawl plentyn? (How many children?).

How It Works

Faint o + soft mutation

  • plant → Faint o blant? How many children?
  • bara → Faint o fara? How much bread?
  • pobl → Faint o bobl? How many people?
  • Faint o amser? How much time?

Sawl + singular

  • Sawl plentyn? How many children?
  • Sawl gwaith? How many times?
  • Sawl diwrnod? How many days?

Like a number, sawl takes a singular noun; see Nouns After Numbers Stay Singular. In a statement, sawl means several: sawl gwaith (several times).

The price. Faint ydy e? (How much is it?) is Faint yw e? in the South and Faint ydi o? in the North. Faint ydy'r tocyn? (How much is the ticket?) To ask a price like this, use ydy (yw), not mae. When faint o + a noun is the subject of the question, use sy instead: Faint o bobl sy'n dod? (How many people are coming?). See Pwy sy and Beth sy.

Word order. The question phrase comes first and the rest of the sentence follows: Faint o laeth wyt ti eisiau? (How much milk do you want?)

Other faint questions. For the time, see Telling the Time; for age, see Saying Your Age. For amounts in statements, see Quantity Words + O.

Examples (5)

  1. Faint o laeth wyt ti eisiau?

    How much milk do you want?

    llaeth → laeth after o.

  2. Faint o bobl oedd yn y parti?

    How many people were at the party?

    pobl → bobl after o.

  3. Sawl gwaith wyt ti wedi bod yng Nghymru?

    How many times have you been to Wales?

    Sawl + singular gwaith, with no mutation.

  4. Faint ydy'r tocyn?

    How much is the ticket?

    South: Faint yw'r tocyn?

  5. Dw i wedi bod yno sawl gwaith.

    I've been there several times.

    In a statement, sawl means several.

Common Mistakes

  • Using a plural after sawl.

    Sawl plant?
    Sawl plentyn?

    Sawl works like a number, so the noun stays singular. With a plural, use Faint o blant?

  • Forgetting the soft mutation after faint o.

    Faint o pobl?
    Faint o bobl?

    The o in faint o causes soft mutation: p becomes b.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

faint o / sawlLevel 2How Many? Faint O and Sawl

Learn This First

Faint o and sawl ask how many.

Words in This Pattern

faintsawl