Breton/Level 1/Lesson 4

Mutations

Foreword : This lesson does not deal with exceptions. Please refer to the next lesson on mutations for a full explanation including exceptions.

Definition

A mutation is the change of the first letter of a word according to different contexts.

Examples :
     Mamm (mother) --> Ar vamm (the mother)
     Kozh (old)    --> Mamm gozh (Grand mother)

Table of mutations

Mutations in Breton obey to regular phonetics laws.

They are summarized in the table below (details to be found in the rest of this page) :

Mutations to soften ("dre vlotaat")

Initial	K	G	Gw	P	B	M	T	D
Mutation	G	C’h	W	B	V	V	D	Z

Soft mutation happens in the following cases :

after a, da, daou, div, dindan, diwar, dre, e (possessive), eme, en em, en ur, hanter, holl, na, ne, pa, pe, re, war...
after the article for the feminine singular words and the related adjective
after the article for the masculine plural person names (except when the plural is in -où) and the related adjective

Soft Mutation will be noted (S!)
Following letters are affected:

B     becomes	V

D     becomes	Z

K     becomes	G

G     becomes	C'H

GW    becomes	W

P     becomes	B

M     becomes	V

T     becomes	D

Examples :

Breur (brother) gives Da vreur

Dant (tooth) gives Da zant

Glin (kneel) gives Da c'hlin

Mutations after the article (simplified)

This lesson does not treat of the following exceptions (the next lesson on mutations gives the corresponding rules) :

Plac'h (girl)
Dor (door)
Bag (boat), tra (thing)
Tadoù (fathers), testoù (witnesses), priedoù (husbands), mestroù (chiefs)

Here is a summary for mutations after the article :

Here is a presentation of the rules regarding the mutations after the article :

Go to the Quiz

Mutations of the adjective epithet (simplified)

This lesson does not treat of the following exceptions (the next lesson on mutations gives the corresponding rules) :

Plac'h (girl)
Dor (door)
Bag (boat), tra (thing), amzer (weather), avel (wind), c'hwezh (odour)
Labour (work)
Person names
Tadoù (fathers), testoù (witnesses), priedoù (husbands), mestroù (chiefs)

Here is a summary for mutations of the adjective epithet :

Here is a presentation of the rules regarding the mutations of the adjective epithet :

Go to the Quiz

Mutations to harden ("dre galetaat")

Initial	B	D	G
Mutation	P	T	K

Hard mutation happens in the following cases :

Possessive "ho" (yours)
After "az, "ez", "'z" (you - sg.)
After "da'z ..." (to yours ...)
After "ez" (in yours ...)

Hard Mutation will be noted (H!)
Following letters are affected:

B     becomes	P

D     becomes	T

G     becomes	K

Examples :

Breur (brother) gives Ho preur

Dant (tooth) gives Ho tant

Glin (kneel) gives Ho klin

Mixed mutations

Initial	B	D	G	GW	M
Mutation	V	T	C'H	W	V

Mixed mutation happens in the following cases :

Present participe

Formed by "o" + Verb.

After verb particle "e"
After "ma" (That)

Mixed Mutation will be noted (M!)
Following letters are affected:

B     becomes	V

D     becomes	T

G     becomes	C'H

GW    becomes	W

M     becomes	V

Examples :

Deskiñ (to learn) gives O teskiñ

Gortoz (to wait) gives O c'hortoz

Spirant mutations

Initial	P	T	K
Mutation	F	Z	C'H

Spirant mutation happens in the following cases :

After "ma" or "va" (mine)
After "he" (Hers)
After "o" (Theirs)
After numbers : tri, teir, pevar, peder, nav

Spirant Mutation will be noted (Sp!)
Following letters are affected:

P     becomes	F

T     becomes	Z

K     becomes	C'H

Examples :

Penn (head) gives Va fenn

Kador (chair) gives Va c'hador

Exercises

Go to the Quiz

Local variations , frequent errors

The rules presented above match the most common usage.

However, in some cases, local forms exist that are different.

Also, errors in mutations are frequent ...

Mutation variants	Usage ratio (Google estimate)	Precise Google request	Comment
Ar Brezhoneg	99500	"Ar Brezhoneg"
Ar Vrezhoneg	723	"Ar Vrezhoneg"	Clearly a mistake !

Ma mamm	557	"Ma mamm"
Ma vamm	8	"Ma vamm"

Va mamm	264	"va mamm" zo mat
Va vamm	None	"va vamm" zo mat

Ma tad	129	"Ma tad" mab
Ma dad	None	"Ma dad" mab
Ma zad	358	"Ma zad" mab
Va zad	314	"Va zad" zo mat

Ar mamm	40	"Ar mamm" zo mat
Ar vamm	786	"Ar vamm" zo mat

An tad	988	"An tad" zo mat
An dad	29	"An dad" zo mat
Ar zad	None	"Ar zad" zo

Caution : Some Google matches may not be in Breton but in some other language ! The figures are an approximation !