Conversational Phrases

Fluent interactive conversation usually owes more to rapid short phrases than to long complex sentences. If you can have a few dozen of these phrases firmly in your head, ready for use, you should find the wheels turning more easily when you engage in dialogue with others.

The phrases might appear more formally in a written text. Here they are given in an idiomatic spoken register. Colloquially, it is also possible to replace particle ny / nynj with particle na / nag. 

[A] wosta

You know (filler)

An very poynt y honen

That’s just the point

Anhegol dell ...

It’s incredible that ...

Anodho ny’m deur

That doesn’t concern me

Assentys

I agree

Bëdh sur

Rest assured

Bohes lycklod

Not likely

Bÿth na lavar a’n dra

Don’t mention it

Cales yw assentya

It’s hard to agree with that

Cudyn vëth

No problem

Dell leverys

As I said

Der dal consydra

It’s worth bearing in mind

Der dyba’

I think

I suppose

Der gresa'

I believe

Der hevel

Apparently

Der hevel dhèm

I think

I believe

Der ruga soposya

As I thought

Der ruga tyby

As I thought

Der vadna’ brusy

If you ask me

Der welama vy

As I see it

Der wodher

Of course

Desevos dr'yw

I assume

Dhe dhyspûtya martesen

Well I don’t know about that

Dhe’m breus vy

In my opinion

Dhe’m tybyans vy

To my way of thinking

Dhe’m dese'vy

I assume

Dhe’m golok vy

As I see it

Dhe’m govenek vy

I hope

Dhe'm govenek gwir

Let’s hope so

Dowt a'm beus na vo gwir

I rather doubt it

Dowt vëth

No doubt

Don’t worry (expressing certainty)

Dr'ero'vy qweles an dra

As I see it (playing for time)

Dr'yw apert

Evidently

Obviously

Dr'yw dhe wetyas

I expect

Dr'yw gàs plesour

As you like

Dr'yw meur dhe les

That's interesting

Dr'yw ôpynwelys

As anyone can see

[Dr'yw] res alowa

I must admit

You must admit

Eâ

Yes

Er y wu

Unfortunately

Worse luck

Flows

Nonsense

Flows ha whedhlow

Rubbish

Furneth yw hedna

That’s a good point

Gas ny dhe weles

Let’s see

We’ll have to see

Ges a wrêta

You’re joking

Ges vëth

Seriously

No kidding

Goda chauns re’th fo

Good luck with that

Govenek dr'eus dhèm

I hope so

Govyn y hyller dâ

One might well ask

Gwir glân

That’s right

Gwir poran

That’s quite right

Gwir yn tien

That’s quite right

G'ra pêsya

Go on

Gwydn ow bÿs

I’m delighted

Ha ny o'cowsa

By the way

Ha ny o'cows a'n dra

And while we’re on that

Heb bos gwir poran

Not exactly

Heb bos res porrês

Not necessarily

Heb mar

Of course

Certainly

Hèn yw dhe lawl

I mean

Hèn yw lowr

Enough of that

Hèn yw onen dâ

You must be joking

I’n gwelha prës

Fortunately

I’n gwetha prës

Unfortunately

In neb vorr lawl

In a manner of speaking

Kê wàr dha gàm

Steady on

Not so fast

Ken breus a'm beus

I disagree

I see it differently

Lawl der rug vy kyns

As I’ve said before

Lawl der rug vy namnygen

As I’ve just said

Lyckly lowr

Probably

Quite likely

Martesen / martessen

Perhaps

Maybe

I suppose so (when implicitly disagreeing)

Nâ

No

Na fors

Never mind

Naneyl obma nag ena

That’s not the point

Neb gradh

Up to a point

Neb styr

In a sense

Nor'vy màn

I haven’t the faintest idea

How should I know?

Nor'vy ùnderstondya

I don't understand

Ny’m deur

I don’t care

Ny rov oy a hedna

I’m not bothered about that

Ny vern

It doesn’t matter

Ny wora' convedhes

I don’t get it

Nynj erom o'cachya dha styr

I don’t quite get your point

Nynj om’ assentys

I disagree

Nynj oma sur

I’m not sure

Nynj yw badna perthynus

That’s got nothing to do with it

Nynj yw marth

No wonder

Ogh, tybys ken oma vy

Oh, I wouldn't say that (mildly protesting disagreement)

Osta sad?

Are you serious? (as exclamation)

Ot an dra

The question is

Ow styr yw hebma

What I mean is

Pëth a vynta lawl?

What do you mean?

Pòr wir

That’s right

Pùb lycklod

I dare say

Qwestyon dâ

Good question

I wonder

Rag cows dhe blebmyk

Frankly

To be honest

Re’m fay

Well I never

Ren ow thas

Gosh

Good grief

Ria reva

Wow

Scant ny vëdh lyckly

That's hardly likely

Scant y fia marth

I shouldn’t be surprised

Scant yw marth

It’s hardly surprising

Soweth

Unfortunately

More’s the pity

Sur

Of course

Th’erom’ in nevow

I couldn’t be happier

Tra sur

Sure thing

Tra vëth ny vern

It really doesn’t matter

Tybyans dâ

Good idea

Good thinking

Ùnpossybyl

Impossible

Out of the question

Unver oll

I totally agree with you

Unweyth arta mar pleg

Could you repeat that please?

Wàr an tu / tenewen aral

On the other hand

Wèl mara’ teur

Well if you’re interested

Wèl otta sy

Well there you are

Yn tefry

Indeed

Yn tien

Absolutely