Comparatives and Superlatives in Welsh

In Brief

Welsh commonly expresses “as ... as” with mor + adjective + â, “more ... than” with an -ach form or mwy + adjective + na, and “the most ...” with an -af form or mwyaf + adjective. The most frequent adjectives are not always regular: learn sets such as da → gwell → gorau (“good → better → best”) and mawr → mwy → mwyaf (“big → bigger → biggest”).

Overview

A comparison tells you whether two people or things share a quality, whether one has more of it, or which member of a group has the most. In Mae Aled yn dalach na Rhys (“Aled is taller than Rhys”), talach is a comparative: a form used to compare two sides. In Aled yw'r talaf (“Aled is the tallest”), talaf is a superlative: a form that places one person or thing at the top of a group.

This is a B1 topic because it combines several pieces of Welsh you may already know: adjectives, the linking particle yn, ordinary adjective mutation, and definite phrases with y/yr/'r (“the”). The basic patterns are compact, but choosing between an ending and a separate word—and remembering forms such as gwell, llai, and uchaf—takes practice.

English offers a useful starting point because it also contrasts “taller” with “more interesting” and “tallest” with “most interesting.” The division is not identical, however. Do not decide solely by counting syllables as you might in English. Learn a familiar Welsh adjective together with the comparison forms that speakers actually use.

How It Works

The three basic patterns

An adjective is a describing word such as tal (“tall”) or diddorol (“interesting”). Its unchanged dictionary form is often called the positive degree; this simply means that no comparison is being made.

Welsh pattern	Meaning	Example
mor + adjective + â/ag	as ... as	mor dal â fi — as tall as me
comparative in -ach + na/nag	...-er than	talach na fi — taller than me
mwy + adjective + na/nag	more ... than	mwy diddorol na'r ffilm — more interesting than the film
superlative in -af	the ...-est	y talaf — the tallest
mwyaf + adjective	the most ...	y mwyaf diddorol — the most interesting

The pairs â/ag and na/nag have the same jobs here. In careful writing, ag and nag are normally used before a vowel sound: mwy anodd nag oeddwn i'n meddwl (“more difficult than I thought”). Before a consonant, the usual forms are â and na. You will hear some variation in everyday speech.

Equality: mor ... â

Use this pattern when the two sides have the quality to the same degree:

subject + form of bod + mor + adjective + â/ag + comparison

Mae hi mor dal â fi means “She is as tall as me.” The comparison after â can be a pronoun, a noun phrase, or a clause. To say that the two sides are not equal, put the normal negative around the description: Dyw'r bws ddim mor gyflym â'r trên (“The bus is not as fast as the train”).

Mor normally causes a soft mutation (a change to the first consonant of the next word), where that consonant can mutate. Thus the citation form tal appears as dal in mor dal, and da appears as dda in mor dda. This is not a new comparison ending; it is the ordinary effect of the surrounding grammar.

Comparatives with -ach

Many relatively short, established adjectives have a comparative ending in -ach:

Basic adjective	Comparative	English
tal	talach	tall → taller
cyflym	cyflymach	fast → faster
hapus	hapusach	happy → happier
araf	arafach	slow → slower

Add na/nag when you name the other side: Mae Ceri yn hapusach nawr nag oedd hi y llynedd (“Ceri is happier now than she was last year”). A comparative can also stand without the second side when the context makes it obvious: Mae hyn yn well (“This is better”).

Some adjectives change their stem or consonants when an ending is added, so -ach is not always a mechanical attachment. Treat the full form as vocabulary. A dictionary is the safest guide when you meet a new adjective.

Comparatives with mwy

The separate word mwy means “more” and also serves as the irregular comparative of mawr (“big”). With an adjective it gives the analytical pattern mwy + adjective:

Mae'r wers hon yn fwy diddorol na'r un gyntaf.

“This lesson is more interesting than the first one.”

This pattern is especially useful with longer adjectives and borrowed or less easily inflected adjectives. There is no absolute Welsh equivalent of the English “one syllable takes -er” rule. Some adjectives allow more than one pattern, while established usage strongly favours one form for others. As a learner, copy the form used in reliable examples rather than inventing an -ach form every time.

Notice yn fwy in a sentence. Predicative yn—the yn that links a subject to a description—causes soft mutation, so mwy becomes fwy: Mae'r ci yn fwy (“The dog is bigger”). The dictionary form remains mwy.

Superlatives with -af and mwyaf

The regular partners of -ach forms commonly end in -af:

Basic adjective	Comparative	Superlative	English set
tal	talach	talaf	tall, taller, tallest
cyflym	cyflymach	cyflymaf	fast, faster, fastest
hapus	hapusach	hapusaf	happy, happier, happiest
araf	arafach	arafaf	slow, slower, slowest

For the separate-word pattern, use mwyaf + adjective: y llyfr mwyaf diddorol (“the most interesting book”). Do not replace mwyaf with comparative mwy when you mean “most.”

Welsh adjectives normally follow the noun, and an inflected superlative does the same: y mynydd uchaf (“the highest mountain”), y ffordd gyflymaf (“the fastest way”). A stand-alone superlative usually appears in a definite phrase: y gorau (“the best”), y lleiaf (“the smallest” or “the least”). To identify who or what holds that position, Welsh naturally uses yw/ydy: Hi yw'r dalaf or, in common spoken wording, Hi ydy'r dalaf (“She is the tallest”).

The article is not added when another word already determines the noun: fy ffrind gorau is “my best friend,” not a phrase with an extra y. Likewise, un o'r llyfrau gorau means “one of the best books”; the plural after o'r names the group.

Essential irregular forms

The most useful irregular comparisons are too common to postpone. Learn them as three-part sets rather than trying to derive them.

Basic	Comparative	Superlative	English
da	gwell	gorau	good, better, best
drwg	gwaeth	gwaethaf	bad, worse, worst
mawr	mwy	mwyaf	big, bigger, biggest
bach	llai	lleiaf	small, smaller, smallest
uchel	uwch	uchaf	high, higher, highest
isel	is	isaf	low, lower, lowest
agos	nes	nesaf	near, nearer, nearest/next
hen	hŷn	hynaf	old, older, oldest
ifanc	iau	ieuengaf	young, younger, youngest

Mwy and llai also compare quantities: mwy o amser is “more time,” and llai o waith is “less work.” In that use, the pattern is normally mwy/llai + o + noun.

Mutation still applies

Comparison forms participate in the same mutation system as other adjectives. After predicative yn, talach becomes dalach and mwy becomes fwy: Mae hi'n dalach; Mae e'n fwy tawel. After a feminine singular noun, an adjective may soft-mutate in the normal way: y ffordd gyflymaf has gyflymaf from cyflymaf.

Keep dictionary forms and sentence forms separate in your notes. If you only record fwy, it can be difficult later to recognize that the underlying word is mwy.

Examples in Context

Welsh	English	Note
Mae hi mor dal â fi.	She is as tall as me.	Equality with mor ... â.
Dyw'r bws ddim mor gyflym â'r trên.	The bus is not as fast as the train.	Negative equality.
Mae'r ci yn fwy na'r gath.	The dog is bigger than the cat.	Irregular mawr → mwy; yn fwy is mutated.
Mae'r fflat hwn yn rhatach na'r llall.	This flat is cheaper than the other one.	A common inflected comparative.
Mae'r arholiad yn fwy anodd nag oeddwn i'n disgwyl.	The exam is more difficult than I expected.	Nag before the vowel in oeddwn.
Mae hyn yn well.	This is better.	The second side is understood.
Y mynydd uchaf yng Nghymru.	The highest mountain in Wales.	Superlative after the noun.
Hon yw'r ffordd gyflymaf i'r orsaf.	This is the fastest way to the station.	cyflymaf soft-mutates after feminine ffordd.
Dyma'r bwyty gorau yn y dref.	This is the best restaurant in town.	Irregular superlative of da.
Hi yw'r ieuengaf yn y teulu.	She is the youngest in the family.	Stand-alone superlative.
Mae gen i lai o amser heddiw.	I have less time today.	Quantity pattern with llai o.
Mae angen mwy o gadeiriau arnon ni.	We need more chairs.	Quantity pattern with mwy o.
Gwen yw fy ffrind gorau.	Gwen is my best friend.	No article after fy.
Mae hwn yn un o'r llyfrau mwyaf diddorol eleni.	This is one of the most interesting books this year.	Superlative within a group.
Y tro nesaf, gad i ni fynd ar y trên.	Next time, let's go by train.	Nesaf has the everyday meaning “next.”

Common Mistakes

Mixing the two comparative strategies

• Wrong: Mae Aled yn fwy talach na Rhys.
• Right: Mae Aled yn dalach na Rhys.
• Why: Do not combine mwy and an -ach comparative. Choose one established pattern. The initial t of talach mutates after yn.

Using the equality linker after a comparative

• Wrong: Mae hi'n dalach â fi.
• Right: Mae hi'n dalach na fi.
• Why: Â/ag completes an equality pattern; na/nag introduces the second side of an unequal comparison.

Using na with mor

• Wrong: Mae'r ystafell mor fawr na'r gegin.
• Right: Mae'r ystafell mor fawr â'r gegin.
• Why: The complete “as ... as” frame is mor ... â/ag.

Regularizing a frequent irregular form

• Wrong: Mae'r ail syniad yn ddaach.
• Right: Mae'r ail syniad yn well.
• Why: The comparative of da is gwell, and its superlative is gorau.

Using mwy where the superlative needs mwyaf

• Wrong: Dyma'r cwestiwn mwy anodd yn y prawf.
• Right: Dyma'r cwestiwn mwyaf anodd yn y prawf.
• Why: Mwy is comparative (“more”); mwyaf is superlative (“most”).

Forgetting mutation after yn

• Wrong: Mae'r tŷ hwn yn mwy na'r llall.
• Right: Mae'r tŷ hwn yn fwy na'r llall.
• Why: Predicative yn causes the soft mutation m → f.

Usage Notes

The choice between an ending and mwy/mwyaf is a matter of established Welsh usage, not a perfect short-word/long-word formula. Forms such as talach, rhatach, and cyflymach are ordinary and worth learning whole. The separate pattern is productive with many longer adjectives: mwy diddorol, mwy cyfforddus, mwyaf poblogaidd. Exposure matters more than trying to force every adjective into a single rule.

In speech, ydy is common where formal descriptions may show yw: Hi ydy'r ieuengaf and Hi yw'r ieuengaf both identify “her” as the youngest. This is a broader register difference in the Welsh copula (the form of “be” used to identify something), not a change in the superlative itself.

Context often allows Welsh to omit the second side of a comparison, just as English does: Mae'r un glas yn rhatach (“The blue one is cheaper”). Be sure, however, that the listener knows what it is cheaper than. Superlatives normally need an understood group too: y gorau yn y dosbarth (“the best in the class”).

Some comparison forms have developed everyday meanings. Nesaf often means “next,” as in yr wythnos nesaf (“next week”), rather than literally “nearest.” Mae'n well gen i de means “I prefer tea”; literally, the construction presents tea as “better with me.” These are high-frequency expressions, so learn them as complete chunks.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

Traditional Welsh also has a synthetic equative, a one-word equality form used with cyn ... â: for example, cyn wynned â'r eira means “as white as the snow.” Some very common equatives are lexicalized, including cystal â (“as good as”) and cymaint â (“as much/many as”). You do not need to manufacture these forms in order to use the productive B1 pattern mor ... â, but you should be able to recognize them in careful speech and writing.

Comparison can measure actions and amounts as well as simple qualities. Mae hi'n gweithio'n gyflymach na fi means “She works faster than me,” where the comparative describes how she works. With countable or uncountable quantities, mwy o and llai o do the work of English “more” and “less/fewer”; Welsh does not require the English distinction between “less” and “fewer” in this pattern.

A superlative is not necessarily an absolute claim about the whole world. The following phrase sets its range: y myfyriwr hynaf yn y dosbarth (“the oldest student in the class”), y pris isaf ar y wefan (“the lowest price on the website”). Phrases such as un o'r ... mwyaf avoid claiming a single winner: un o'r trefi mwyaf poblogaidd means “one of the most popular towns.”

Finally, watch for compact fixed expressions. O'r gorau can mean “all right” or “very well,” depending on context, while Gorau po gyntaf means “the sooner the better.” Their meanings are best learned from use rather than reconstructed word by word.

Practice Tips

1. Learn comparison sets, not isolated adjectives. Make cards such as tal — talach — talaf and da — gwell — gorau. Put one complete sentence on the back so you also practise mutation: Mae Ceri'n dalach na fi.
2. Run one fact through three patterns. Describe two places with equality, comparative, and superlative sentences: mor dawel â, yn dawelach na, y tawelaf. This makes the linkers â and na automatic.
3. Listen for the sentence form rather than the dictionary form. When you hear yn fwy, yn well, or yn dalach, identify both the comparison and any soft mutation. Keep a short list of genuine examples from Welsh media or conversations.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Basic Adjectives — review adjective position and the soft mutation of adjectives after feminine singular nouns.