robnjane.cymru is a free set of Welsh-learning tools, made by two learners, Rob and Jane, for fellow learners. There's no sign-up, no adverts and no marking. It works on a phone, a tablet or a computer, and it quietly remembers a learner's progress on whichever device they use. Nobody else sees how anyone is getting on, so it's a safe place to make mistakes, and making mistakes is how everyone learns.
Geirfa · the heart of the site
Geirfa ("vocabulary") holds more than 9,000 Welsh words and phrases, each with its meaning, gender, plural and, where it helps, a note on how it's used. Some favourite corners:
- Gair y Dydd (Word of the Day): a Welsh version of Wordle, with a new five-letter word every day at two levels, Sylfaenol (basic) and Uwch (advanced). The tiles even point out when a guess is a mutated form of the right letter. After the game, the learner can tap any word to see what it means. Many people find it a gentle way to start the day.
- Cwrs (Course): the vocabulary of the actual courses (Mynediad, Sylfaen and Chester Year 1) in one place. The learner ticks off each word once it feels familiar, and the list of words still to learn shrinks. That list can be printed as a revision sheet for the kitchen table.
- Her y Cant (the hundred-word challenge): a hundred words to work through at the learner's own pace, alone or with a partner reading aloud. The words already known can be set aside, leaving only the stubborn ones.
- Quick Lookup: type a Welsh or English word and find it at once, even if it's mutated (fara, mara and phara all lead back to bara).
- Rhifau (Numbers): everything about numbers, times, dates and money, with gentle practice.
There are flashcards and simple games too, for days when something lighter is needed.
Where Welsh words come from
Rob is fascinated by the origins of Welsh words, and Geirfa shows it. Three tools take words apart and show how they're built: Adeiladu (word building), Morffoleg (prefixes and suffixes) and Gwreiddiau (word roots). Many words also carry a small 🧩 badge that shows their parts. This isn't just curiosity: once a learner knows a few building blocks, they can work out words they've never met, and their vocabulary grows much faster.
Take the ending -wr, "a person who does it". Add it to a verb and a new word appears:
- gweithio (to work) → gweithiwr (a worker)
- pysgota (to fish) → pysgotwr (a fisherman)
- dysgu (to learn) → dysgwr (a learner)
That last one describes everyone reading this. For a woman the ending becomes -wraig: dysgwraig.
Darllen · taking a short passage apart
Darllen ("to read") is a set of short Welsh passages, graded from Mynediad upwards: a message to the family, a trip to Portmeirion, St David's Day, birdwatching. Its real gift is that it lets the learner take a passage apart. They can tap any word to see its meaning and grammar, show or hide the English translation, colour the words by type, and underline every mutation and see why it happened. A paragraph that looks impossible at first quickly turns into something a learner can understand line by line.
And the rest
Separate apps cover verbs (Berfau), mutations (Treigladau), prepositions (Arddodiaid), adjectives (Ansoddeiriau) and adverbs (Adferfau). They're all reached from the front page of robnjane.cymru.
A friendly word of warning
Rob and Jane are learners too. They check everything as carefully as they can, but with thousands of words, notes and passages, not every corner has been checked, and there will be mistakes: a wrong meaning, a missed mutation, a button that misbehaves. Please do flag anything that looks wrong, whether it's a technical glitch or a point of grammar. In Geirfa, the little 🚩 flag (in Gair y Dydd and in the word lookup) sends a note straight to them. Or just mention it in class. Every report helps the next learner, and nobody minds being corrected. That's how everyone learns.
There's no right way to use any of it. Ten minutes on Gair y Dydd, or a single passage in Darllen, is a perfectly good day's Welsh.
Pob lwc, a mwynhewch!
Good luck, and enjoy!