12 Days of Christmas Welsh Edition
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The Twelve Days of Christmas is a useful Welsh-learning song because it repeats vocabulary while gradually adding new lines.
Below, each gift appears in its own mobile-friendly card. Read the Welsh aloud, then use the English line to check the meaning.
The opening line
anfonodd fy nghariad ataf...
On the first day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me...
For later verses, change cyntaf to the appropriate ordinal number: ail for second, trydydd for third and so on.
Days one to six
1. Petrisen mewn coeden gellyg
A partridge in a pear tree
2. Dwy durtur
Two turtle doves
3. Tair iâr Ffrengig
Three French hens
4. Pedwar aderyn yn canu
Four calling birds
5. Pum modrwy aur
Five gold rings
6. Chwe gŵydd yn dodwy
Six geese a-laying
Days seven to twelve
7. Saith alarch yn nofio
Seven swans a-swimming
8. Wyth morwyn yn godro
Eight maids a-milking
9. Naw merch yn dawnsio
Nine ladies dancing
10. Deg arglwydd yn llamu
Ten lords a-leaping
11. Un ar ddeg pibydd yn pibellu
Eleven pipers piping
12. Deuddeg drymiwr yn drymio
Twelve drummers drumming
Welsh language notes
Numbers can change
Welsh has different forms of some numbers depending on the noun that follows. For example, dwy is the feminine form of two, while tair is the feminine form of three.
Mutations appear naturally
In pum modrwy, the number five appears as pum before a noun. In deuddeg drymiwr, the noun begins with a softened sound in the phrase.
Actions use yn
Expressions such as yn nofio, yn dawnsio and yn drymio mean swimming, dancing and drumming.
Learn the first five gifts, then add one new line each day. Sing slowly enough to pronounce every Welsh word clearly.
A translation challenge without a score
Choose any three days. Say the number and gift in Welsh, then reverse the order and translate them back into English. Accuracy matters more than speed.
A memory tip
Group repeated number patterns together and practise the Welsh nouns separately before singing the full line.
Sources and image credits
- National Centre for Learning Welsh: Learner resources
- Welsh Government: Standard bilingual Christmas-card phrases
- Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru: GPC Online
- Image rights: Legacy-image caution: some files may pre-date the visible credit system. Unless an image has a named creator, source and licence here, confirm those details in the Welsh Words records before reuse outside this page.
