He spent his childhood in his native town. When he was still young he moved to A Coruña and worked as a civil servant. He also started his journalistic activity collaborating on many newspapers and magazines and became the editor of the newspapers La mañana and El Noroeste.He was a member of the Galician Academy as well as secretary and president from 1926 to 1934.
His journalistic production is reflected on several publications on different newspapers. In the cultural supplment of El Noroeste, he published an article titled Na xuntanza está a forza e na forza está o trunfo.As a poet he wrote books such as Folerpas (1894), Raza e terra (1922) and Oraciós campesiñas (1927). With some of these compositions he won several contests: Os orfos da emigración (Betanzos, 1887), Desperta (Tui, 1891), Sombras (Lugo, 1915), Paisaxes (Santiago, 1916), Malpocado and Alma de raza (Lugo, 1918).During all his life he worked hard to write the Dictionary of Galician and Castilian Language. The dictionary was published after his death between 1958 and 1961.
The Galician Academy dedicated him ?O Día das Letras Galegas? (The Day of the Galcian Letters) in 2001.