Colloquial Welsh pronouns deals with the pronouns (Welsh: rhagenwau) 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 of pronouns 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 pronouns, though the literary register may use alternative spellings. The usages given below outline how pronouns are used in modern colloquial Welsh.
Please note this is about the text of this Wikipedia article; it should not be taken to reflect on the subject of this article.
Do not restore or edit the blanked content on this page until the issue is resolved by an administrator, copyright clerk or VRT agent.
If you have just labeled this page as a potential copyright issue, please follow the instructions for filing at the bottom of the box.
The previous content of this page or section has been identified as posing a potential copyright issue, as a copy or modification of the text from the source(s) below, and is now listed at Copyright problems (listing):
Temporarily, the original posting is still accessible for viewing in the page history .
Your rewrite should be placed on this page, where it will be available for an administrator or clerk to review it at the end of the listing period. Follow this link to create the temporary subpage.
If you have tagged the article for investigation, please complete the following steps:
* {{subst:article-cv|Colloquial Welsh pronouns}} from https://silo.pub/modern-welsh-a-comprehensive-grammar-comprehensive-grammars.html. ~~~~
{{subst:Nothanks-web|pg=Colloquial Welsh pronouns|url=https://silo.pub/modern-welsh-a-comprehensive-grammar-comprehensive-grammars.html}} ~~~~
Pronouns are words which stand in place of nouns. [1] English examples are: I, we, you, he, she, it, they; me, us, him, her, them; who, whom; this one, that one, etc. [1] Where a noun simply names a person or thing (see also Colloquial Welsh nouns), pronouns refer back to it, once its identity has been established: [1] 'Dafydd sat down at the table, and then he ate his lunch'.
Pronouns come in different categories and will be discussed separately in this article, as follows:
The personal pronoun system of Welsh differs to that of English in five main respects:
The below table gives all of the standard forms of the personal pronouns used in Colloquial Welsh. [3] Literary standard forms are not given as they are never encountered in speech.
Singular | Plural | ||
---|---|---|---|
First Person | i, fi, mi | ni | |
Second Person | ti, di | chi | |
Third Person | Masculine | e/fe, o/fo | nhw |
Feminine | hi |
The form iWelsh pronunciation: [/i/] is used:
The fiWelsh pronunciation: [/vi/] form is used:
i and fi are interchangeable:
miWelsh pronunciation: [/mi/] is confined to two uses in colloquial Welsh:
This mi must not be confused with the optional affirmative particle mi used before verbs - mostly found in Northern dialects, e.g. mi es i – 'I went'. Here mi is not a pronoun and is used to mark a positive statement, it could also be just es i with no change in meaning.
In the overwhelming majority of cases, tiWelsh pronunciation: [/ti/] is the singular form of 'you', with diWelsh pronunciation: [/di/] confined to the following circumstances: [5]
In many parts of North Wales, an alternative form, chdi is very common in speech: [5] Wela i chdi – 'I'll see you'; Ddo i hefo chdi rŵan – 'I'll come with you now'; mae gen i ffydd ynochdi – 'I've got faith in you'. It is not used as the subject in the preterite – so not *Welest chdi hwnna? but Welest ti hwnna? – 'Did you see that?'
E/fe are used in the South, while o/fo are used in the North. [6]
The criteria for choosing between the short forms e/o and the long-forms fe/fo are almost exactly the same as for 1st. sing. i/fi, [6] but in two minor instances there is a divergence:
In the South, with use with gyda 'with', either e or fe may be used: gyda fe / gydag e. [6]
Fe must not be confused with the affirmative particle fe used with verbs. [6]
The remaining pronouns, hi, chi, ni, nhw have no variant forms and are used throughout Wales. [7] It must be stated that the normal, unaffected pronunciation of nhw is nwWelsh pronunciation: [/nu/] . [7]
It is convenient to mention here the variant forms found in the Literary register – ef (= e/fe); [8] chwi (= chi; [8] hwy (= nhw). [8] These forms are not, in any way, natural to the spoken language and sound affected to varying degrees [8] – the 3rd. pl. form hwy verging on the ridiculous! [8] However, all of these variants are commonly found in formal writing. [8]
Additionally, Literary Welsh has a subset of infixed object-pronouns which attach to the affirmative particle fe (not mi!): [8]
None of this is part of the spoken language, [8] and these infixed variants must not be used in speech. [8] They are only encountered in formal styles of writing, most often with impersonal forms of the verb, [8] but this goes beyond the scope of this article.
The use of ti (3rd. sing.) and chi (3rd. pl.) closely follows that of other European languages, e.g. French, Russian, etc. [9] Of the two forms, ti is the more restricted. [9]
Ti, being singular, can only be used of one person. [9] It is not only singular, but also familiar [9] and these two restrictions combine to give a very narrow field of use. Ti may be used with:
To use ti with an individual not from one of the above criteria can be construed, and can equally be intended, as offensive or deprecating in the least. [9] In all other cases chi must be used [9] – that is, not only when addressing more than one person but a single person who does not fall under one of the ti categories above. [9]
Clearly, the use of ti is a matter of personal choice – some people will have more occasion to use it than others and use it more readily. [9] Also, the question of what constitutes a 'close' friend is a very subjective one. [9] For learners of Welsh it is usually safer to use chi if in doubt. [9]
Where English 'it' refers to a concrete object the identity of which is known, then the choice of e/o or hi depends on the grammatical gender of the word in Welsh: [10]
Where 'it' has an abstract or intangible sense, as in it was raining, or it will be too late by then, the fem. hi is used and not the masc. e/o: [10]
It is important to note that in speech, Mae hi'n usually loses the pronoun in these situations: [10]
Prepositions are words like to, for, by, on in English. [11] Most simple prepositions in Welsh inflect for person and number – that is, they change their form when used with pronouns, [11] [12] for example i 'to/for' + nhw 'they/them' becomes iddyn nhw. [11] [12] It is important that the correct forms of prepositions are used with pronouns, but this goes beyond the scope of this article and more can be found here.
When used as the first element in a focused sentence, the personal pronouns sometimes have a preceding y: [13] y fi, y ti, y fo, y fe, y ni, y chi, y nhw.
These are extended forms of the personal pronouns [14] used in certain circumstances as outlined below. All end in -au [14] which is pronounced as if ending in -a in the North [14] and as -e in the South. [14]
Singular | Plural | ||
---|---|---|---|
First Person | innau, finnau, minnau | ninnau | |
Second Person | tithau, dithau | chithau | |
Third Person | Masculine | yntau, fintau | nhwthau |
Feminine | hithau |
These are used either when some idea of contrast (or balance) with a preceding pronoun or noun is present, [14] or when emphasis is required. [14] In both cases, as shown in the following examples, Welsh conveys by these special forms of the pronoun that which English, as usual, conveys by stress and/or intonation. [14]
These extended forms of the pronouns are not encountered all that often, [14] but they should certainly be known for recognition. [14] Two common phrases use finnau: A finnau 'me too', and Na finnau (chwaith) 'Me neither': [14]
They are also used with a/ac 'and' in a construction corresponding to '... being ...', '...having (done)...', or 'since/as'. [14]
Where appropriate to the sense as outlined above, the extended pronouns can be used in place of the 'echoing' pronouns of the possessive: [14]
The Welsh reflexive pronouns are formed with hun (North) or hunan (South) [15] and mean 'self' in conjunction with the possessive adjectives (my, your, etc.) (See Colloquial Welsh adjectives). [15] There is no 'echoing' pronoun following the word for 'self', and so there is no difference either in speech or writing between 'himself' and 'herself'. [15]
Northern forms: [15]
Singular | Plural | ||
---|---|---|---|
First Person | fy hun, '(y)n hun | ein hun | |
Second Person | dy hun | eich hun | |
Third Person | ei hun | eu hun |
In the South, hunan changes to hunain in the plural, and so gives a more complex pattern: [15]
Singular | Plural | ||
---|---|---|---|
First Person | fy hunan, '(y)n hunan | ein hunain | |
Second Person | dy hunan | eich hunain (or eich hunan for sing.) | |
Third Person | ei hunan | eu hunain |
With hunan (and not hun), the double function of 2nd. pl. can be differentiated: eich hunain 'yourselves', eich hunan 'yourself' (polite or formal). [15]
Standard English uses possessive pronouns for some reflexive pronouns (myself) but uses personal pronouns for others (himself, not *hisself). [15] Welsh consistently uses the possessive adjectives. [15]
Examples of reflexive pronouns:
But when used with inflecting prepositions, usage varies: [15]
A common idiom involving hun/hunan is ar 'y mhen 'yn hun(an) 'on my own' which goes as follows, take note of the mutations of pen: [15]
Examples:
Hun/hunan is used with nouns to mean '... own...', examples: [15]
Hunan (but not hun is used with nouns and adjectives, causing the soft mutation where possible: hunan-hyder 'self-confidence'; hunanfeddiannol 'self-possessed'; hunangyflogedig 'self-employed'. [15]
This, that, these and those are pronouns when they stand alone without a following noun, e.g. 'how much are these?', 'I like this'. When used with nouns ('how much are these apples?', 'I like this house') they are demonstrative adjectives which are different in both form and use in Welsh. [16]
The Welsh demonstrative pronouns are: [16]
Masculine | Feminine | Intangible | |
---|---|---|---|
this | hwn | hon | hyn |
that | hwnnw, hwnna | honno, honna | hynny |
these | y rhain | ||
those | y rheiny |
As can be seen tangible and non-abstract ideas vary for number and gender in the singular, [16] but for intangible things and abstract concepts the pronouns hyn and hynny are used. [16]
Notes on usage:
Examples with tangible or non-abstract things: [16]
Examples with abstract or intangible ideas: [16]
Many idiomatic expressions use hyn or hynny, [16] such as {lang|cy|serch hynny}} 'despite that, all the same'. Examples: [16]
It is worthy to note here the very common idiom fan hyn 'here'; this hyn is actually an adjective and is a variant of hon. [16]
Hyn and hynny may appear in time expressions where they correspond to 'now' and 'then', respectively. [16] Examples: [17]
These are pwy? 'who?', beth? 'what?', pa un? 'which one?', and pa rai? 'which ones?'. [18] In speech beth is very often shortened to be' (often written so), and similarly pa un is often clipped to p'un or p'r'un. [18]
The meanings of pwy? and beth? are straightforward, but pwy can only form 'who' questions, not statements. [18] The English 'who' which is a relative pronoun and not interrogative is different in Welsh – only where a question is intended can pwy be used. [18] Compare:
The second example is not a question and so pwy cannot be used, despite both English sentences containing the word 'who'. [18] Relative clauses such as this are beyond the scope of this article.
All three words corresponding to English 'is/are' (i.e. mae, ydy/yw, and sy(dd)) are used after pwy...? and beth...?, which to use depends on the type of sentence. [18]
Ydy/yw (ydy being generally Northern and yw generally Southern) is used in identification sentences, [18] e.g. 'who is that?', 'what colour is that?'. Identification sentences are easily identified as they contain no other verb (nor adverb) in the clause, only a pronoun or a noun referring back to the question word (the interrogative pronoun), [18] examples:
If, however, the remainder of the English sentence after 'is/are' includes a verb form ending in ...ing, or an expression of location, then this is not an identification sentence and, therefore, ydy/yw can be ruled out. [18]
With the ydy/yw option ruled out the choice of mae or sy(dd) depends on whether pwy or beth are the subject or the object of the verb. [18]
If pwy or beth is the subject of the verb then sy(dd) is used in the present tense. [18]
If pwy or beth is the object of the verb then mae is used with the subject following immediately after. [18] Examples:
The mae/sy(dd) principle outlined above also applies where the English verb is simple present (e.g. 'helps') as well as the continuous present (e.g. 'is/are helping') since Welsh does not make this distinction. [18] This also applies to the Welsh perfect tense where yn is replaced by wedi. [18] Examples:
Although this subject/object/identification distinction is most often found with pwy? and beth?, the principle is the same with the other interrogatives: [18]
Pa un (often clipped to p'un) and pa rai are used where English 'which' is not followed by a noun – otherwise pa is used. [18] Compare:
In colloquial English it is common to hear 'what...?' in place of 'which...?' when used with a noun in many of these examples. [18] If the meaning is 'which...?' then pa must be used in Welsh. [18]
Y llall and y lleill are the pronoun counterparts to the adjectives arall (singular) and eraill (plural) 'other'. [19] Y llall is a more concise way of saying yr un arall - 'the other (one)', while the plural y lleill corresponds to y rhai eraill - 'the others/the other ones'. [19] Examples:
Used with an affirmative verb, these present no problems: [19]
But when used with negated verbs, yr un means '(not) the one', i.e. 'not any one', 'not a single one', 'none'. [19] This negative sense often escapes the attention of non-native speakers and learners of Welsh, especially as the apparently ubiquitous negative-marker ddim is rarely present. [19] Examples:
Sometimes, however, ddim is present, mainly appearing with wedi: [19]
In English the relative pronouns look identical to the interrogatives (who, which, what), [19] but are used to refer back to something already mentioned. [19] Examples:
Welsh, however, has no real equivalent to these relative pronouns and, instead, uses a relative form of the verb bod ('be') where appropriate – that being sy(dd), [19] or preverbal particles to convey the relative sense [19] – this, however, goes beyond the scope of this article.
In only one case, that of example (3) above, colloquial Welsh has something similar to a relative pronoun: yr hyn – 'that which...' or 'the thing which...'. [19] It usually corresponds to 'what' in colloquial English, and beth is often used in Welsh as an acceptable alternative. [19] Examples:
In the last two examples given it can be seen that yr hyn can be used at the start of a sentence in anticipation of something that is about to be mentioned – just like English 'what'. [19]
Sawl? 'how many?' is a quantity expression, [19] but y sawl is used colloquially with a following relative expression to mean '(all) those (people)': [19]
The basic form in Welsh is ei gilydd, literally meaning '(each) his fellow'. [19] This is used in all instances regardless of gender, except where the context implies 'us' or 'you', in which case ein gilydd and eich gilydd are used, respectively. [19] Examples:
In the last example ei becomes 'w after i as is normal with prepositions. [19] Similarly ein and eich become 'n and 'ch after vowels and will appear as 'n gilydd and 'ch gilydd. [19]
Efo'i gilydd in the North and gyda'i gilydd in the South are used in Welsh for 'together' (literally 'with his fellow'). [19] As before, 'us' and 'you (pl.)' variants are available where appropriate. [19] English doesn't make this distinction and it is important to choose the correct option when translating 'together' into Welsh. [19]
Examples:
'Together' after verbs is usually at ei gilydd: [19]
As an idiom, at ei gilydd means 'on the whole' or 'all in all': [19]
Neu'i gilydd means '... or other': [19]
Fel ei gilydd means '... alike', where two dissimilar things are shown to have something in common: [19]
These are: rhywun 'someone', rhywbeth 'something', unrhywun 'anyone', and unrhywbeth 'anything'. [19] Examples:
Rhywun has a plural in rhywrai 'some people': [19]
Although not pronouns, other words involving rhyw- and unrhyw- (some more common than others) can be conveniently mentioned here:
Another noteworthy rhyw- word is rhywfaint (interchangeable with rhyw gymaint, which means 'a certain amount': [19]
These rhyw- words are commonly heard with soft mutation, e.g. rywbryd for rhywbryd. [19]
The interrogative pronouns pwy? 'who?' and beth? 'what?' (see above) can combine with bynnag to give pwy bynnag and beth bynnag – 'whoever' and 'whatever', respectively. [19] Examples:
Bynnag can also be used with non-pronoun interrogatives: lle? – lle bynnag? 'wherever'; [19] pryd? – pryd bynnag? 'whenever'; [19] sut? – sut bynnag? 'however, in whatever way'; [19] faint? – faint bynnag? 'however many/much'. [19] However, to say 'whichever... ' before nouns uses the interrogative adjective pa: pa lyfr bynnag 'whichever book', [19] though pa is often omitted in the phrase ffordd bynnag 'whichever way'. [19]
The predominantly negative sense of neb is straightforward, the main area of uncertainty for non-native speakers lies in whether or not to use ddim. [19] This question can be resolved by looking at the relative position of ddim and neb in the sentence: where the ddim would appear next to neb, it disappears, otherwise it remains. [19]
Therefore, as the subject or direct object of a conjugated verb, neb does not require a ddim, because with conjugated verbs the subject immediately precedes ddim and the object immediately follows: [19]
But in periphrastic constructions (auxiliary verb + pronoun + yn/wedi + verbal noun), while the subject still immediately precedes the ddim, the object is separated from it by the main verb (as a verbal noun). [19] So with neb as the object of a periphrastic verb, the ddim remains. [19] Compare:
Where neb is preceded by a preposition, ddim is optional: [19]
'There is no-one' is does neb: [19]
Neb originally meant 'no-one' or 'anyone' depending on context [19] (similar to byth meaning 'ever' and 'never') but in the modern language the meaning 'no-one' dominates. [19] The likeliest circumstances where neb means 'anyone' nowadays are in comparative expressions with â/ag to mean 'as': [19]
Also in constructions with cyn 'before', rhag ofn 'in case': [19]
There is also the idiomatic expression yn anad neb 'more than anyone': [19]
'Hardly anyone' fawr neb (with fixed soft mutation of mawr [19] ) or fawr o neb: [19]
As with neb, dim has come to have a predominantly negative meaning, though its origins are positive. [19] And, as with neb any negative ddim that would occupy a position next to it is "absorbed", leaving the negative or mutated form of the verb on its own. [19] When it is the subject or object of an inflected verb it usually appears in an 'extended' form, dim byd: [19]
The 'extended' dim byd form is needed in the second example because, in colloquial Welsh, 'Glywais i ddim' would be taken to mean 'I didn't hear', with ddim simply marking the negative form of the verb. [19]
In periphrastic constructions, dim or dim byd can be used with or without the negative-marker ddim, but this latter is not required and is often dropped: [19]
Expressions in ... ddim wedi... can be avoided by using heb: [19] [11]
Elsewhere dim is usually sufficient, the 'extended' dim byd 'nothing' is very common and has none of the ambiguity of dim. [19]
Fawr ddim or fawr o ddim 'not much' (with fixed mutation of mawr): [19]
Other notable idioms with dim include: [19]
Sometimes dim can mean 'anything', [19] especially in comparative expressions, e.g. yn well na dim – 'better than anything'. Also the idiom yn anad dim – 'more than anything; above all'. [19]
Dim has two important non-pronoun uses which should be mentioned here: [19]
This pronoun must not be confused with pob 'every' [19] (though they share an etymology).
A more emphatic version is pob un o – 'every (single) one': [19]
However, pob un, unlike pawb can be used of objects as well as persons: [19]
Popeth is really a contraction of the phrase pob peth [19] and is ocassionally so found in Literary Welsh. [19] It corresponds to dim byd 'nothing' as pawb corresponds to neb 'no-one'. [19]
Welsh is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa. Historically, it has also been known in English as "British", "Cambrian", "Cambric" and "Cymric".
The Welsh devolution referendum of 1997 was a pre-legislative referendum held in Wales on 18 September 1997 over whether there was support for the creation of a National Assembly for Wales, and therefore a degree of self-government. The referendum was a Labour manifesto commitment and was held in their first term after the 1997 election under the provisions of the Referendums Act 1997. This was the second referendum held in Wales over the question of devolution: the first referendum was held in 1979 and was defeated by a large majority.
The Portuguese personal pronouns and possessives display a higher degree of inflection than other parts of speech. Personal pronouns have distinct forms according to whether they stand for a subject (nominative), a direct object (accusative), an indirect object (dative), or a reflexive object. Several pronouns further have special forms used after prepositions.
A tag question is a construction in which an interrogative element is added to a declarative or an imperative clause. The resulting speech act comprises an assertion paired with a request for confirmation. For instance, the English tag question "You're John, aren't you?" consists of the declarative clause "You're John" and the interrogative tag "aren't you?"
"Suo Gân" is a traditional Welsh lullaby written by an anonymous composer.
Middle Welsh is the label attached to the Welsh language of the 12th to 15th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This form of Welsh developed directly from Old Welsh.
The morphology of the Welsh language has many characteristics likely to be unfamiliar to speakers of English or continental European languages like French or German, but has much in common with the other modern Insular Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Cornish, and Breton. Welsh is a moderately inflected language. Verbs inflect for person, number, tense, and mood, with affirmative, interrogative, and negative conjugations of some verbs. There is no case inflection in Modern Welsh.
"Bugeilio'r Gwenith Gwyn" is an 18th-century traditional Welsh love song.
In linguistics, an inflected preposition is a type of word that occurs in some languages, that corresponds to the combination of a preposition and a personal pronoun. For instance, the Welsh word iddo is an inflected form of the preposition i meaning "to/for him"; it would not be grammatically correct to say *i fe.
Dan Jones was an influential Welsh missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Jones is well known for having heard the "final prophecy" of Joseph Smith, namely, that Jones would fulfil a mission to Wales before he died.
The syntax of the Welsh language has much in common with the syntax of other Insular Celtic languages. It is, for example, heavily right-branching, and the verb for be is crucial to constructing many different types of clauses. Any verb may be inflected for three tenses, and a range of additional tenses are constructed with auxiliary verbs and particles. Welsh lacks true subordinating conjunctions, and instead relies on special verb forms and preverbal particles to create subordinate clauses.
The morphology of the Welsh language shows many characteristics perhaps unfamiliar to speakers of English or continental European languages like French or German, but has much in common with the other modern Insular Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Cornish, and Breton. Welsh is a moderately inflected language. Verbs conjugate for person, tense and mood with affirmative, interrogative and negative conjugations of some verbs. A majority of prepositions inflect for person and number. There are few case inflections in Literary Welsh, being confined to certain pronouns.
An Act of Senedd Cymru, or informally an Act of the Senedd, is primary legislation that can be made by the Senedd under part 4 of the Government of Wales Act 2006. Prior to 6 May 2020 any legislation was formally known as an Act of the National Assembly for Wales or informally, an Act of the Assembly.
Y Bandana Are a Welsh language alternative rock band that formed in Caernarfon in 2007. The band is composed of brothers Tomos Owens (keyboard) and Siôn Owens, their cousin Gwilym Bowen Rhys and Robin Jones (percussion). They are known for combining humorous lyrics with catchy melodies.
Neve’ei, also known as Vinmavis, is an Oceanic language of central Malekula, Vanuatu. There are around 500 primary speakers of Neve’ei and about 750 speakers in total.
Y Blew was a Welsh rock band founded in 1967. Although short lived, having pressed and released just one single, the band are recognized as the first rock band to sing in Welsh.
Colloquial Welsh prepositions deals with the prepositions 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 of the prepositions 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 prepositions, though for some of them their usages can differ; there are also some which have lost their inflected forms in the colloquial language but is preserved in the literary standard. 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. Welsh prepositions do perform the same roles as English prepositions but there is variation and these must be learnt as they are encountered. For instance it is often taught that Welsh am means 'for' and i means 'to'; this is not incorrect but am can also mean 'about' or 'at' and i can mean 'for'. The usages given below outline how each preposition is used in modern colloquial Welsh.
The Y Selar Awards are awarded annually for the best Welsh language rock and pop music, by the Welsh language music magazine, Y Selar. The awards ceremony is the only one particularly for Welsh language music.
Colloquial Welsh adjectives deals with the adjectives 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 of adjectives 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 adjectives, though for some of them their usages can differ and the literary register may use alternative spellings as well as preserving gender distinction where it has been lost in the colloquial tongue. The usages given below outline how adjectives are used in modern colloquial Welsh.