Breton is a Celtic language, with around two hundred thousand speakers.
It falls within the Brittonic group of Celtic languages, and most closely related to Cornish and Welsh.
Breton is classed as severely endangered. If you are a Breton speaker and want to add any phrases/audio to this page, it would be greatly appreciated.
Although only the masculine is given here, the numbers two, three and four in Breton have both a masculine and feminine version.
The close relationship with Welsh can easily be seen from the numbers.
This nursery ryhme designed to teach children the days is from an introduction to the Breton language.
Dilun, dimeurzh, dimerc'her
A yao 'ta! A yao 'ta!
A yao 'ta! A yao 'ta!
Dilun, dimeurzh, dimerc'her
Ha diriaou ha digwener.
Ha disadorn ha disul
A yao 'ta! A yao 'ta!
A yao 'ta! A yao 'ta!
Ha disadorn ha disul
Setu echu ar sizhun!
There are two forms of the days in Breton, one form having a prefix di and the other without and with different usages.
See the Lords prayer in Welsh for a comparison with Welsh.
Hon Tad, hag a zo en Neñv,
hoc’h anv bezet santelaet,
ho rouantelezh deuet deomp,
ho polontez bezet graet war an douar evel en Neñv.
Roit deomp hiviz hor bara pemdeziek,
pardonit deomp hor pec’hedoù
evel ma pardonomp d’ar re o deus manket ouzhomp,
ha n’hon lezit ket da gouezhañ en temptatur
med hon diwallit diouzh an droug.
Evel-se bezet graet.
Amen
Etymology of colours from Omniglot.