Pronunciation

Consonants:

Consonants in Welsh can only make one unique sound, as opposed to English which can make several sounds per consonant. For example, the c can make a k sound as in cat or a s sound as in city. When you learn the sound a consonant makes in Welsh, it will only ever make that sound you learn.

Consonant sounds same in English and Welsh:

These consonants look the same in English and Welsh, and sound the same.

·         b /b/ Like b in boy. Welsh example: bachgen (English: boy)

·         c /k/ Like c in cat. Welsh example: cath (English cat)

·         d /d/ Like d in dog. Welsh example: drwg (English bad)

·         g /g/ Like g in gun. Welsh example: gardd (English garden)

·         h /h/ Like h in happy. Welsh example: hen (English old)

·         l /l/ Like l in lake. Welsh example: calon (English heart)

·         m /m/ Like m in mad. Welsh example: mam (English mother)

·         n /n/ Like n in none. Welsh example: nain (English grandmother)

·         ng /ŋ/ Like the end of the English word sing. In Welsh, this letter can come at the front of a word. In Welsh, it is never pronounced with a hard g, as in the English finger. Welsh example: angau (English death)

·         p /p/ Like p in poker. Welsh example: pen (English head)

·         s /s/ Like s in sad. Welsh example: sebon (English soap)

·         t /t/ Like t in tar. Welsh example: tŷ (English house)

·         th /θ/ Like th in think. Welsh example: methu (English fail)

·         si is pronounced as in English sheep, when it comes before a vowel.

Consonant sounds in English, Different letter in Welsh:

These sounds are found in English, but they are assigned to a different letter in Welsh. Train yourself to read them differently now.

·         f /v/ Like v in violin. Welsh example: gafr (English goat)

·         ff /f/ Like f in friend. Welsh example: ffrind (English friend)

·         dd /ð/ Like th in then. Welsh example: hardd (English beautiful)

Consonant sounds in English, Not in Welsh:

These sounds are in English, but you will not hear them in Welsh.

·         The c in Welsh only makes a hard /k/ sound. It will never sound like an s, such as in the English city.

·         The g only makes a /g/ sound. It will never sound like an English g, like in the English gender.

·         The th in Welsh represents the th in English think. The dd represents the other th in English, like the word then.

·         There is no z sound in Welsh.

Consonant sounds only in Welsh:

These consonant sounds may be new to you.

·         ch /x/ Like the Scottish loch or German composer Bach. Welsh example: chwech (English six)

·         ll /ɬ/ The ll is a hard Welsh sound to make. It is best described as putting your tongue in the position of l and then blowing out air gently. Like saying a h and l simultaneously, but with more puff. Welsh example: llyn (English lake)

·         r /r/ The Welsh r should always be trilled. Welsh example: ar (English on)

·         rh /r̥/ The Welsh rh should be trilled with aspiration. Like saying a h and r simultaneously, but with more puff. Welsh example: rhan (English part)

Vowels:

There are seven vowels in Welsh. Most vowels can be two different sounds. The y can take three different sounds. 

·         a

·         e

·         i

·         o

·         u

·         w

·         y

Short Vowels:

·         a /a/ Like a in pat.

·         e /ɛ/ Like e in pet.

·         i /ɪ/ Like i in pit.

·         o /ɔ/ Like o in pot

·         u /ɪ/ Like i in pit.

·         w /ʊ/ As in book.

·         y /ə/ Like uh in above

The rules governing the letter Y are some of the most confusing in Welsh. Normally it’s pronounced like the u in cut, but in the last syllable of a word it represents the sound like the i in bit. Note; This includes words with only one syllable, such as llyn (hlin).

Similar rules apply for combinations of y with another letter;

·         yr is (approximately) pronounced like English burn, except in the last syllable of a word, where it is said like in English beer. (Both times, the r is audible, not dropped. See the preceding rule.)

·         yw is pronounced like English moan, except in the last syllable of a word, where it is said like the Welsh iw and uw (see below).

That just leaves the exceptions. The small words, y, yr and yn are pronounced uh,urr and un.

Dipthongs:

·         ae, ai and au /aɪ/- like English sky. (Actually, there is an exception for the last one. “au” is the plural ending for certain words, e.g. creigiau. In these cases, its pronunciation is shortened to a “hanging A”

·         aw /aʊ/ - like English cow.

·         oe (and oi and ou, which are rare) /ɔɪ/ - like English boy.

·         ei and eu and ey /əɪ/ - like nothing in English; try ‘uh-ee’ and then running the vowels together.

R:

When you see a vowel followed by an R, or a diphthong followed by an R, both the vowel and the R are pronounced; this differs from many dialects of English. The following sounds are therefore approximate, and you should make sure to pronounce the R.

·         aer, air and aur - like English fire.

·         awr - like English hour.

·         er - like English bare, but shorter.

·         ir or ur (or yr in the last syllable of a word) - like English beer.

·         wr - like English poor.

Long Vowels:

·         a /ɑː/ Like a in father.

·         e /ɛː/ Like ae in aeroplane, but without any trace of an r, or a y sound between the a and the e.

·         i /iː/ Like i in machine.

·         o /ɔː/ Like aw in hawk.

·         w /uː/ Like oo in pool.

·        u and y take the same values as i does. 

·        A vowel is short if it comes in a word with more than one syllable.

So all these rules only come into play when we’re talking about one-syllable words.

·        A vowel is short if it’s followed by two consonants, if the first of the two is n or r.

·        A vowel is short if it’s in a word of one syllable and the consonant following it is any of the following; p, t, c, m, ng

·        If the vowel is a, e, o, w or y and it’s followed by l, n or r then it is also short.

·        This leaves the following options for when the vowel is long; in a word of one syllable; followed by two consonants the first of which is ll or s; either followed by no consonants, or followed by b, ch, d, dd, f, ff, g, s or th, or (if it happens to be i oru) followed by l, n or r.

A circumflex accent (the hat sign) is placed over a vowel to indicate that it’s long when you might otherwise think it was short.