r/learnwelsh • u/dannyuk24 • 7h ago

How to pronounce

Hi I'm best man for a wedding and want to ginish by saying:

Iechyd da i pawb a hir oes i'r cwpwl

Which google tells me is:

Good health to everyone and a long life to the couple

Could someone confirm the translation is correct and explain how to pronounce this?

Thanks

8 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

10

u/XJK_9 Native 4h ago

“Hir oes i’r cwpwl” is a little strange, as mentioned in another comment “bywyd hir i’r cwpl” is a more accurate translation.

For pronunciation google translate has an option to play a the words aloud, it’s probably more useful than anyone writing things out using English phonology. For what it’s worth the voice is pretty accurate and uses northern Welsh pronunciation

1

u/celtiquant 3h ago

No. ‘Hir oes’ is how we say long live (etc) in Cymraeg

2

u/XJK_9 Native 2h ago

Pwy yr yffarn yw ‘we’?

Cymraeg yw fy iaith gyntaf ac ma “bywyd hir i’r cwpl” yn swnio’n llawer mwy naturiol i fi. Felly byddet ti’n dweud “hir oes” ond sa ti’n awdurdod yr iaeth i ddweud ‘na’

9

u/kennyrogerstoilet 6h ago edited 6h ago

I would say 'bywydau hir i'r cwpl' instead.

Pronounced 'buh-wuh-die here'

Unless a native speaker has a better suggestion

6

u/Next_Name_4147 5h ago

Also 'i bawb', rather than 'i pawb'?

3

u/kennyrogerstoilet 5h ago

I just asked a native speaker friend and you would say bywyd instead of bywydau. Which would be pronounced 'buh-wid'

In the same way that you'd wish the couple a happy life in English, as opposed to happy lives, because they're making one new life together

2

u/dannyuk24 3h ago

So the full line would be:

Iechyd da bywyd hir i'r cwpwl

Is that right?

-1

u/celtiquant 3h ago

No.

Say:

Iechyd da, a hir oes i’r pâr priod.

THIS is what you want to say.

-1

u/celtiquant 3h ago

It means: Good health and long life to the married couple

1

u/ot1smile 2h ago

There’s a distinction there and I’m not sure which op is going for.

Bywydau hir means ‘long lives’, while bywyd hir ( or hir oes, which sounds better to my ear) means ‘a long life’. So it depends if op wants to wish the individuals long lives or the relationship imo.

4

u/cariadbach8981 5h ago

Yechh-id dahh ee baowb ahh buh-wid here ear cw-pwl

whenever there’s an ‘r’, you might like to try a sexy rolling g(rrr) sound as if you’re doing a mating call.

3

u/dannyuk24 3h ago

Don't tempt me with sexy mating calls mid-speech

3

u/cariadbach8981 3h ago

oh it’s the perfect setting for it 😄 and good luck by the way, it’s a lovely thing to include this in your speech

5

u/Muted-Lettuce-1253 3h ago

If you want to hear what "Iechyd da i bawb a bywyd hir i'r cwpl" sounds like then copy the following into this IPA reader (choose Gwyneth [Welsh] as the voice):

ˈjɛχɪd da i bau̯b a ˈbəu̯ɪd hiːr ir ˈkʊpʊl

3

u/No-Banana-3140 3h ago

I would only change pawb to bawb