Breton/Level 2/Lesson 7

Mutations

This lesson gives a full and rather complex view of mutations as exceptions are described together with the regular cases. For a more straightforward explanation please refer to the lesson in Level 1, Lesson 4

Definition

A mutation is the change of the first letter of a word according to different contexts.

Exemples :
  Mamm (mother) --> Ar vamm (the mother)
  Kozh (old)  --> Mamm gozh (Grand mother)

Table of mutations

Mutations in Breton obey to regular phonetics laws.

They are summarized in the table below (details to be found in the rest of this page) :

Mutations to soften ("dre vlotaat")

Initial	K	G	Gw	P	B	M	T	D
Mutation	G	C’h	W	B	V	V	D	Z

Soft mutation happens in the following cases :

after a, da, daou, div, dindan, diwar, dre, e (possessive), eme, en em, en ur, hanter, holl, na, ne, pa, pe, re, war...
after the article for the feminine singular words and the related adjective
after the article for the masculine plural person names (except when the plural is in -où) and the related adjective

Please note :

D will not mute after names
K becomes C'H for names after the article when there is no other mutation
P, T, K will not mute for adjectives when the related names ends by another letter than L, M, N, R or a vowel.

Soft Mutation will be noted (S!)
Following letters are affected:

B   becomes	V

D   becomes	Z

K   becomes	G

G   becomes	C'H

GW  becomes	W

P   becomes	B

M   becomes	V

T   becomes	D

Examples :

Breur (brother) gives Da vreur

Dant (tooth) gives Da zant

Glin (kneel) gives Da c'hlin

Mutations after the article

Here is a summary for mutations after the article :

Here is a presentation of the rules regarding the mutations after the aticle :

Go to the Quiz

Mutations of the adjective epithet

Here is a summary for mutations of the adjective epithet :

Here is a presentation of the rules regarding the mutations of the adjective epithet :

Go to the Quiz

Mutations to harden ("dre galetaat")

Initial	B	D	G
Mutation	P	T	K

Hard mutation happens in the following cases :

Possessive "ho" (yours)
After "az, "ez", "'z" (you - sg.)
After "da'z ..." (to yours ...)
After "ez" (in yours ...)

Hard Mutation will be noted (H!)
Following letters are affected:

B   becomes	P

D   becomes	T

G   becomes	K

Examples :

Breur (brother) gives Ho preur

Dant (tooth) gives Ho tant

Glin (kneel) gives Ho klin

Mixed mutations

Initial	B	D	G	GW	M
Mutation	V	T	C'H	W	V

Mixed mutation happens in the following cases :

Present participe

Formed by "o" + Verb.

After verb particle "e"
After "ma" (That)

Mixed Mutation will be noted (M!)
Following letters are affected:

B   becomes	V

D   becomes	T

G   becomes	C'H

GW  becomes	W

M   becomes	V

Examples :

Deskiñ (to learn) gives O teskiñ

Gortoz (to wait) gives O c'hortoz

Spirant mutations

Initial	P	T	K
Mutation	F	Z	C'H

Spirant mutation happens in the following cases :

After "ma" or "va" (mine)
After "he" (Hers)
After "o" (Theirs)
After numbers : tri, teir, pevar, peder, nav

Spirant Mutation will be noted (Sp!)
Following letters are affected:

P   becomes	F

T   becomes	Z

K   becomes	C'H

Examples :

Penn (head) gives Va fenn

Kador (chair) gives Va c'hador

Exceptions

Bloaz

Bloaz mutes into Vloaz after :

Pet ?
The cardinal numbers except after tri, pevar, pemp, nav

Exemple :

Pet vloaz eo bremañ ? Daouzek vloaz.

Pet vloaz eo bremañ ? Pemp bloaz.

Mintin

Mintin mutes into Vintin after :

Weekday names
Dec'h
Warc'hoazh

Exemple :

Dilun vintin, warc'hoazh vintin.

Exercises

Go to the Quiz