Breton grammar

Breton is a Brittonic Celtic language in the Indo-European family, and its grammar has many traits in common with these languages. Like most Indo-European languages it has grammatical gender, grammatical number, articles and inflections and like the other Celtic languages, Breton has two genders: masculine and feminine. In addition to the singular–plural system, it also has a singulative–collective system, similar to Welsh. Unlike the other Brittonic languages, Breton has both a definite and indefinite article, whereas Welsh and Cornish lack an indefinite article and unlike the other extant Celtic languages, Breton has been influenced by French.

Nouns

Gender

Like many other European languages, Breton nouns have grammatical gender: masculine (gourel) and feminine (gwregel). The neuter (nepreizh), which existed in Breton's ancestor, Brittonic, survives in a few words, such as tra (thing), but these are now considered masculine but behave as if they were feminine.

The gender of a noun is mostly arbitrary and can often vary from dialect to dialect. However, certain semantic groups of word tend to belong to a particular gender. For example, names of countries and cites are feminine whereas most divisions of time are masculine. Some suffixes also have the same gender:

  • Masculine suffixes include: -ach, -adur, -aj, -er, -lec'h, -our, -ti, -va.
  • Feminine suffixes include: -eg, -ell, -enn (see "singulative" below), -enti, -er, -ez, -ezh, -ezon, -i.[1]

Number

Nouns exist in two numbers, singular and plural. Most plural forms are formed with the addition of a suffix, often -ed for animate nouns and -(i)où for inanimates, for example, Breton "Breton", Bretoned "Bretons"; levr "book", levroù "books". Other suffixes also occur, for example, Saoz "Englishman", Saozaon "Englishmen". A few nouns form their plural via vowel alternation, such as kastell "castle", kestell "castles"; maen "stone", mein "stones", while others are irregular, like den "person", tud "people"; ki "dog", chas "dogs".[1][2]

As well as having a regular plural form, certain parts of the body display relics of a dual system, for example, singular lagad "eye", plural lagadoù "eyes", dual daoulagad "(pair of) eyes". Dual forms themselves can have a plural form, for example, daoulagadoù "(pairs of) eyes".[1]

Singulative

A distinctive and unusual feature of Brythonic languages is a singulative marker, which in Breton is marked with the feminine suffix -enn. While the noun gwez, for instance, means "trees (collectively)", the word gwezenn means "(a single) tree". The latter can even be made into a regular plural gwezennoù with the meaning "several trees (individually)".

Diminutive

Breton forms diminutive nouns using the suffix -ig with the plural formed by reduplication of the suffix -où, for example, prad "meadow", pradig "little meadow", pradouigoù "little meadows" (cf. non-diminutive plural pradoù "meadows").[1]

Articles

In Breton, the article has both definite and indefinite forms. This is unlike other Celtic languages, which have only definite articles. The definite article is an before dentals, vowels and unpronounced h, al before l and ar elsewhere. Examples of this include an tan "the fire", al logodenn "the mouse", ar gador "the chair". The indefinite article, derived from the number un "one", follows the same pattern of final consonants: un tan "a fire", ul logodenn "a mouse", ur gador "a chair".[1]

The definite article may contract with preceding prepositions, for instance e "in" + an gives en "in the".

Adjectives

Adjectives can be inflected for comparison with the suffixes -oc'h (comparative), -añ (superlative) and -at (exclamative – now obsolete except in certain expressions). These suffixes cause preceding consonants to undergo provection (see gleb "wet" and ruz "red" in the table).[3] Mat "good" and drouk "bad" are examples of adjectives that can have irregular forms.[2]

positivecomparative superlative exclamative
bras "big"brasoc'h "bigger" brasañ "biggest" brasat "(how) big!"
gleb "wet" glepoc'h "wetter" glepañ "wettest" glepat "(how) wet!"
ruz "red" rusoc'h "redder" rusañ "reddest" rusat "(how) red!"
mat "good" gwell(oc'h) "better" gwellañ "best" gwellat "(how) good!"
drouk "bad" droukoc'h, gwashoc'h "worse" droukañ, gwashañ "worst" droukañ, gwashañ "(how) bad!"

In addition to the above forms, some adjectives can have separate equative forms, for example, kement "as big", koulz "as good", ken gwazh "as bad". More regular equatives are formed with ken "as", for example ken gleb "as wet", ken drouk "as bad".[1]

Adverbs

Adverbs in Breton do not inflect.

Prepositions

As in other Celtic languages, prepositions in Breton are either simple or complex and may or may not inflect for person, number and gender.[1] Historically, inflected prepositions derive from the contraction between a preposition and a personal pronoun.

In general, simple prepositions that inflect take one of two possible groups of suffixes. The stem employed for the third person forms may be different to that of other persons.[1][3] Inflected prepositions distinguish gender in the third person singular.

i endingso endings
uninflected gant "with" evit "for"
1sgganin "with me"evidon "for me"
2sgganit "with you"evidout "for you"
3sg (m.)gantañ "with him"evitañ "for him"
3sg (f.) ganti "with her" eviti "for her"
1pl ganimp "with us" evidomp "for us"
2pl ganeoc'h "with you" evidoc'h "for you"
3pl ganto, gante "with them" evito, evite "for them"
impersonal ganeor "with one" evidor "for one"

Simple prepositions that do not inflect include eus and deus "from", kent "before" and goude "after".[1]

Complex prepositions inflect by means of interfixes, whereby the nominal second element is preceded by a pronomial form. This is similar to how instead can become in my stead in archaic English. Mutations may be triggered following the various pronomial forms.[1][3]

uninflected diwar-ben "about" e-kichen "near"
1sgdiwar ma fenn "about me"em c'hichen "near me"
2sgdiwar da benn "about you"ez kichen "near you"
3sg (m.)diwar e benn "about him"en e gichen "near him"
3sg (f.) diwar he fenn "about her" en he c'hichen "near her"
1pl diwar hor penn "about us" en hor c'hichen "near us"
2pl diwar ho penn "about you" evidoc'h "near you"
3pl diwar o fenn "about them" en o c'hichen "near them"
impersonal diwar ar penn "about one" er c'hichen "near one"

Pronouns

Personal

Personal pronouns may be strong, post-clitic head or pre-clitic head. Strong pronouns have the same distribution as a full noun phrase and may be subjects, objects or prepositional objects. Post-clitic head pronouns tend to follow finite verbs, nouns or inflected prepositions. Pre-clitic head pronouns function as object pronouns preceding verb phrases and possessive determiners preceding noun phrases. The use of the "new" personal pronouns is more restricted. They derive from inflection of the partitive preposition a "of" and can function as an object pronoun, for example, E kêr e welas Yannig anezho "Yannig saw them in town", more literally "In the town Yannig saw of them", and occasionally function as subjects (with intransitive, usually negative, verbs).[1]

strongpost-clitic head pre-clitic head "new"
1sgmeme ma, am ac'hanon
2sgtete az, da ac'hanout
3sg (m.) e anezhañ
3sg (f.) hi hi he anezhi
1pl ni ni he ac'hanomp
2pl c'hwi hu, c'hwi hon, hol, hor ac'hanoc'h
3pl int i, int o anezho

Demonstrative

Demonstrative pronouns are post-head clitics used in conjunction with the definite article.[1][2]

cliticexample
near the speaker-mañ "here"ar stêr-mañ "this river"
near the listener-se "there"an ti bihan-se "that little house"
far from speaker and listener-hont "over there, yonder"al lent-hont "that lake over there"

Indefinite

Indefinite pronouns may be positive, such as re "some, ones" and holl "all" and negative, such as netra "nothing" and neblec'h "nowhere", and may be preceded by a determiner, for example an re "some" ("the ones") and da re "your" ("your ones").

Verbs

Regular conjugation

Breton verbs can be conjugated to show tense, aspect, mood, person and number by adding suffixes to the verbal stem, seen in the following table.

Indicative Conditional Imperative
Present Imperfect Preterite Future Present Imperfect
1s -an -en -is -in -fen -jen
2s -ez -es -jout -i -fes -jes no ending
3s no ending -e -as -o -fe -je -et
1p -omp -emp -jomp -imp -femp -jemp -omp
2p -it -ec'h -joc'h -ot -fec'h -jec'h -it
3p -ont -ent -jont -int -fent -jent -ent
impers. -er -ed -jod -or -fed -jed

Additional suffixes may form the verbal noun. The most common of these are:[2]

  • -out as in lavarout "say", gallout "can, be able", klevout "hear, smell"
  • -añ as in evañ "drink", gwiskañ "dress", skrivañ "write"
  • -iñ as in debriñ "eat", deskiñ "learn", reiñ "give"

For other verbs, the stem itself is also the verbnoun, for example, gortoz "wait", lenn "read", kompren "understand".

Verbs also have a past participle formed with a suffix and a present participle form comprising the verbal noun preceded by the particle o, which causes a mixed mutation.

Most verbs are regular and stray little from the usual patterns.[1] The table shows and example of the regular verb debriñ "eat" (verbal stem debr-).

Indicative Conditional Imperative
Present Imperfect Preterite Future Present Imperfect
1s debran debren debris debrin debrfen debrjen
2s debrez debres debrjout debri debrfes debrjes debr
3s debr debre debras debro debrfe debrje debret
1p debromp debremp debrjomp debrimp debrfemp debrjemp debromp
2p debrit debrec'h debrjoc'h debrot debrfec'h debrjec'h debrit
3p debront debrent debrjont debrint debrfent debrjent debrent
impers. debrer debred debrjod debror debrfed debrjed
Verbal noun Present participle Past participle
debriñ o tebriñ debret

Irregular conjugation

A few verbs are irregular, one example of which is ober "do".

Indicative Conditional Imperative
Present Imperfect Preterite Future Present Imperfect
1s gran graen gris grin grafen grajen
2s grez graes grejout gri grafes grajes gra
3s gra grae greas gray, graio grafe graje graet
1p greomp graemp grejomp graimp grafemp grajemp greomp
2p grit graec'h grejoc'h greot grafec'h grajec'h grit
3p greont graent grejont graint grafent grajent graent
0 greer graed grejod greor grafed grajed
Verbal noun Present participle Past participle
ober, gober oc'h ober graet

Bezañ "be" is another irregular verb, which is conjugated for additional tense or aspect distinctions.

Indicative Conditional Imperative
Present Present (situative) Present (habitual) Future Imperfect Imperfect (situative) Imperfect (habitual) Preterite Present Imperfect
1s on emaon bezan bin, bezin oan edon bezen boen befen, ben bijen
2s out emaout bezez bi, bezi oas edos bezes boes befes, bes bijes bez
3s zo, eo, eus[4] emañ bez bo, bezo oa edo beze boe befe, be bije bezet
1p omp emaomp bezomp bimp, bezimp oamp edomp bezemp boemp befemp, bemp bijemp bezomp
2p oc'h emaoc'h bezit biot,[5] bioc'h oac'h edoc'h bezec'h boec'h befec'h, bec'h bijec'h bezit
3p int emaint bezont bent, bezint oant edont bezent boent befent, bent bijent bezent
0 oar, eur emeur bezer bior oad edod bezed boed befed bijed
Verbal noun Present participle Past participle
bezañ, older: bout, bezout o vezañ bet

Another common irregular verb is eus "have", which combines a person marker with the tensed form. Eus is historically derived from bezañ[1] and a similar development is seen in Cornish.[6]

Indicative Conditional
Present Present (habitual) Future Imperfect Imperfect (habitual) Preterite Present Imperfect
1s am eus, meus am bez, mez am bo, mo, am vezo am boa, moa am boa, moa am boe, moe am bije, mije am befe, mefe
2s az peus, ac'h eus[7], teus az pez, pez az po, to, az pezo az poa, toa az poa, toa az poe, toe az pije, tije az pefe, tefe
3s en deus, neus en devez, nez en devo, no, en devezo en doa, noa en devoa, noa en devoe, noe en devije, nije en devefe, nefe
1p he deus, neus he devez, dez he devo, do, he devezo he doa, doa he devoa, doa he devoe, doe he devije, dije he devefe, defe
2p hon neus, oneus hor bez, obez hor bo, obo, hor bezo hor boa, oboa hor boa, oboa hor boe, boe hor bije, obije hor befe, obefe
3p hoc'h eus, peus ho pez, pez ho po, po, ho pezo ho poa, poa ho poa, poa ho poe, poe ho pije, pije ho pefe, pefe
0 o deus, deus o devez, dez o devo, do, o devezo o doa, doa o devoa, doa o devoe, doe o devije, dije o devefe, defe

Composed forms

Ober, bezañ and eus can all be used as auxiliary verbs.[1]

In the present, Breton (like Cornish and Irish but unlike the other Celtic language) distinguishes between the simple and progressive present. The simple present is formed by either conjugating the verb or using the verbal noun with the present of ober. The progressive present, on the other hand, is formed with the present situative of bezañ combined with present participle. In addition to these two aspectual distinctions, Breton has a habitual present which utilises the present habitual of bezañ and the present participle.

Combining the past participle with either eus or bezañ is the usual way of forming the past tense, the conjugated forms being restricted to more literary language. The choice between eus or bezañ depends on whether the past participle is that of a transitive or intransitive verb respectively (similar to the passé composé of French).[2]

Negation

Non-tensed verbs are negated with bipartite ne ... ket either side of the verb.[1]

Numbers

Cardinal numbers

Similar to other Celtic languages, Breton has an underlying vigesimal counting system. "One" is un, ul, ur before a noun (the same as the indefinite article). "Two", "three" and "four" and derivative numbers have separate masculine and feminine forms. Interesting irregularities in the system are triwec'h "eighteen", literally "three sixes", and hanter kant "fifty", literally "half a hundred" (compare Welsh deunaw "two nines" and hanner cant "half a hundred").

0 zero, mann, netra
1 unan 11 unnek 21 unan warn-ugent
2 daou (m.), div (f.) 12 daouzek 22 daou warn-ungent
3 tri (m.), teir (f.) 13 trizek 30 tregont
4 pevar (m.), peder (f.) 14 pevarzek 40 daou-ugent
5 pemp 15 pempzek 50 hanter kant
6 c'hwec'h 16 c'hwezek 60 tri-ugent
7 seizh 17 seitek 70 dek ha tri-ugent
8 eizh 18 triwec'h 80 pevar-ugent
9 nav 19 naontek 90 dek ha pevar-ugent
10 dek 20 ugent 100 kant

Ordinal numbers

A gender distinction can again be shown with some ordinal numbers.

1st kentañ
2nd eil, daouvet (m.), divvet (f.)
3rd trede, trivet (m.), teirvet (f.)
4th pevare, pevarvet (m.), pedervet (f.)
5th pempvet
6th c'hwec'hvet
7th seizhvet
8th eizhvet
9th navvet
10th dekvet

Mutations

The main mutations cause the following changes:

Unmutated Soft Spirant Hard Mixed
pbf
tdz
kgc'h
bvpv
dztt
gc'hkc'h
gwwkww
mvv

References

  1. Stephens, Janig (2002). "Breton". In Ball, Martin; Fife, James (eds.). The Celtic Languages. Routledge Language Family Descriptions. London: Routledge. p. 379. ISBN 041528080X.
  2. Bowen, Zonia (1977). Llydaweg i'r Cymro [Breton for the Welshman]. Bala: Llyfrau'r Faner. p. 80.
  3. Press, Ian; ar Bihan, Herve (2004). Colloquial Breton. Colloquial Series. London: Routledge. pp. 117. ISBN 0415224519.
  4. The form zo is used when the subject is placed directly before it, and it is always preceded by the particle a, e.g., An den a zo bras "The man is big". The form eo is used when the subject is anywhere but not before it. It is never preceded by any particle, e.g., Bras eo an den "Big is the man". The form eus is usually preceded by the particle ez and means there is, e.g. An den ez eus "There is a man".
  5. Literary
  6. Brown, Wella (2001). A Grammar of Modern Cornish. Kesva an Taves Kernewek [The Cornish Language Board]. pp. 162–163. ISBN 1902917006.
  7. Spoken
  • Jouitteau, M. (2009-now) ARBRES, Breton wiki grammar on-line, IKER, CNRS.
  • Press, I. (1986) A Grammar of Modern Breton (Mouton De Gruyter)
  • Denez, P. (1971) Kentelioù brezhoneg : eil derez, Al Liamm
  • Denez, P. (1977) Étude structurale d'un parler breton: Douarnenez, thèse (3 vol.), Université de Rennes
  • Denez, P. (1985) Geriadur brezhoneg Douarnenez, 4 vol., Mouladurioù Hor Yezh
  • Denez, P. (1987) Mont war-raok gant ar brezhoneg, MHY
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