cant / mil

Hundreds and Thousands

Level 3

Cant = 100 and mil = 1,000. Before a noun, cant becomes can: can punt (a hundred pounds).

How It Works

Hundreds.

  • 100 cant; before a noun can: can punt
  • 200 dau gant (dau softens)
  • 300 tri chant (tri gives aspirate mutation)
  • 400 pedwar cant
  • 500 pum cant
  • 600 chwe chant
  • 150 cant a hanner; 250 dau gant a hanner

Fifty is hanner cant (half a hundred): Mae hi'n hanner cant oed (She's fifty).

Thousands. Mil is feminine:

  • 1,000 mil
  • 2,000 dwy fil (dwy softens m to f)
  • 3,000 tair mil
  • 4,000 pedair mil
  • 5,000 pum mil

With nouns. Can can go straight before a singular noun: can punt. Before blynedd and blwydd it causes nasal mutation: can mlynedd (see years after numbers). Otherwise speakers usually use o + a soft-mutated plural: cant o bobl, mil o geir, dwy fil o bunnoedd (see larger numbers + o).

Hundreds of, thousands of. Cannoedd o and miloedd o: miloedd o bobl (thousands of people).

After tua (about), cant becomes chant: tua chant o bobl. See aspirate mutation after tua.

Examples (6)

  1. Roedd tua chant o bobl yn y cyngerdd.

    There were about a hundred people at the concert.

    Tua causes aspirate mutation: cant becomes chant.

  2. Mae'r tocyn yn costio can punt.

    The ticket costs a hundred pounds.

    Cant becomes can before a noun.

  3. Mae dros ddau gant o blant yn yr ysgol.

    There are over two hundred children in the school.

    Dros softens dau to ddau, and dau softens cant to gant.

  4. Talon ni dri chant o bunnoedd.

    We paid three hundred pounds.

    Tri softens to dri as the object of the verb, and it still turns cant into chant.

  5. Mae dwy fil o bobl yn byw yn y pentref.

    Two thousand people live in the village.

    Mil is feminine, so it takes dwy, which softens it to fil.

  6. Mae fy nhad yn hanner cant oed.

    My dad is fifty.

    Hanner cant (half a hundred) means fifty.

Common Mistakes

  • Forgetting the mutation of cant after dau.

    dau cant
    dau gant

    Dau causes soft mutation, so cant becomes gant.

  • Using the masculine two with mil.

    dau fil
    dwy fil

    Mil is feminine, so it takes dwy.

How It Connects

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

cant / milLevel 3Hundreds and Thousands

Learn This First

Cant and mil extend decimal counting.

Words in This Pattern

cantcantcanmilhanner cantdau ganttri chantpum cant