Breton/Level 4/Lesson 3


Liester / Plural

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Unander Liester English
Mamm Mammoù Mother, mothers
Tad Tadoù Father
Breur Breudeur Brother
C'hoar C'hoarezed Sister
Aval Avaloù Apple
Lestr Listri Ship
Mab Mibien Son
Den Tud People
File:Liester.ogg



Internal plurals

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Some names have a plural that changes the internal vowels of the name.

lestr, listri (ship)

legestr, ligistri (lobster)

mab, mibien (son)

...

Numerals and Plural

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There is no plural after a numeral :

Daoù baotr, div blac'h,

tri mab, teir merc'h,

pevar mevel, peder matezh,

pemp bro,

ugent aval,

daoù zen warn-ugent (22 persons)

tri den ha tregont (33 persons)

Dual words

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Parts of the body may have a "dual" name :

Lagad, daoulagad (eye)

skouarn, divskouarn (ear)

glin, daoulin (lap)

dorn, daouarn (hand)

gar, divhar (leg)


These dual forms may have a plural (eg. daoulagadoù).

Collective names and singulative forms

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Some names have a collective meaning and may have a "singular" form.

Geot (grass), geotenn (blade of grass)

Gwez (tree), gwezenn ( a specific tree)

kouevr (copper), kouevrenn (a piece of copper)

The singulative forms are feminine and act as a singular form.

Hence, they may have a plural : geotennoù (blades of grass).


Exercises

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Ex 1 : Quiz

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Go to the Quiz.

Ex 2 : Memory training

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Write out the Breton words, section by section.

Have 2 columns, clearly separated, and write Breton and English. Then cover up one column (eg. English) with paper and write the corresponding words on the paper. Then try it the other way round, cover up the Breton, and write out the words using the English as cues. This will be a little bit more difficult.

Repeat all this after an interval, the more you do it the easier you will remember the words.