Modern Welsh: A Comprehensive Grammar (Routledge grammars)
£23.94
Buy this book now! - I bought this book (in an earlier edition) and found it incredibly helpful. It answers all those questions that other grammars seem not to want to tell you about.
Modern Welsh Grammar - made easy - Gareth King has written a number of excellent books for the learner of modern Welsh (e.g. Colloquial Welsh, also by Routledge). This book can be said to be a comprehensive reference grammar and the ideal next step for anyone who has progressed beyond a basic level of Welsh. It is especially suited to people familiar with Gareth King s other works and his approach to Welsh grammar.What makes King different is that he describes very much the colloquial language - Welsh as it is spoken - which differs from formal and written Welsh in a number of key ways (vocabulary, grammatical endings and pronunciation). Sometimes this means the situation is complicated by various regional differences or a number of alternative forms and King s skill is that he makes these complexities comprehensible. The text is well laid-out and the explanations are lucid and easy to follow. The treatment of Welsh grammar is detailed but you never feel swamped - there is no detail for details sake. The chapters are divided into traditional areas such as verbs, nouns etc. but the illustrative examples, unlike traditional grammars sound authentic. Throughout the book, English and Welsh are compared to clarify potential problems and a chapter on translating common phrases in Welsh is particularly useful. For the non-native speaker, this book is liable to answer most of the questions you will ever have.This is not the book to begin studying Welsh with, as the detail is too great. However, if you wish to deepen your knowledge of the language or need a reference work to clear up any uncertainties, this book has a lot to recommend it.