Welsh Grammar You Really Need to Know: Teach Yourself

Christine Jones

• Publisher: Teach Yourself
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781444189636
• eBook ISBN: 9781444189650
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Grammar & Punctuation
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Comprehensive and clear explanations of key grammar patterns and structures are
reinforced and contextualized through authentic materials. You will not only
learn how to construct grammar correctly, but when and where to use it so you
sound natural and appropriate. Welsh Grammar You Really Need to Know will help
you gain the intuition you need to become a confident communicator in your new
language.

1

The Welsh alphabet and pronunciation

In this unit you will learn:

• The Welsh alphabet and how to pronounce it

• Accents and stress in Welsh

• Double consonants in Welsh

Welsh is often described as a phonetic language, which means that you say something the way it looks. Once you have learnt the basics of spelling and pronunciation, you should be able to deduce relatively easily how the majority of words are said. This introductory chapter is designed to give you some guidance on the language as preparation for the work you will do in this book, but for further detailed assistance on how to speak Welsh you will need a coursebook with accompanying audio material. This grammar is particularly designed to be used in conjunction with Complete Welsh (2010) which concentrates on teaching you to understand and speak Welsh as it is spoken today. Like Complete Welsh this grammar emphasizes the spoken forms, but the literary written alternatives are also cited where appropriate, such as in the list of verbal forms. Unlike the other units, there are no exercises with this reference unit, although a short self-diagnostic test is included to ensure that you understand the basics before moving on.

The alphabet

The 29 letters of the Welsh alphabet are:

a, b, c, ch, d, dd, e, f, ff, g, ng, h, i, j, l, ll, m, n, o, p, ph, r, rh, s, t, th, u, w, y

The letters b, d, j, m, n, p, s, t and th are pronounced as in English. Some of the letters which are pronounced differently from English include:

c	always a hard sound, pronounced as in the English word car. Example: coleg (college)
ch	as in the Scottish word loch. Example: chwech (six)
dd	as in the English word the. Example: ddoe (yesterday)
f	as in the English word violin. Example: fel (like)
ff	as in the English word off. Example: ffa (beans)
g	as in the English word grand. Example: gwaith (work)
ng	as in the English word gang. Example: rhwng (between)
ll	place tongue to say the l in the English word land and then blow. Example: llaeth (milk)
ph	as in the English word physical. Example: ei phen (her head)
r	as in the English red but rolled more. Example: roced (rocket)
rh	place tongue to say the r in the English word red and blow.
	Example: rhif (number)

As in English, vowels – a, e, i o, u, w, y – can be either long or short:

a	short as in the English word cat
	long as in the English word car
e	short as in the English word met
	long as in the English word pear
i	short as in the English word bit
	long as in the English word feel
o	short as in the English word hot
	long as in the English word bore
u	short as in the English word bin
	long as in the ee in seen
w	usually pronounced as in the English word moon, following g it is usually pronounced as in the English word went
y	has two sounds ee or i in the f...

Table of contents

• Cover 
• Title
• Contents 
• Acknowledgements
• Meet the author
• How to use this book
• Glossary of grammatical terms
• 1 The Welsh alphabet and pronunciation
• 2 Mutations
• 3 The article
• 4 Nouns
• 5 Adjectives
• 6 Comparatives and superlatives
• 7 Adverbs
• 8 Personal pronouns
• 9 Further pronouns and pronominalia
• 10 Noun clauses
• 11 Conjunctions
• 12 Numerals
• 13 Time
• 14 Measures and dimensions
• 15 Prepositions: simple and compound
• 16 Using prepositions
• 17 The verb to be – present and perfect tenses
• 18 The verb to be – future and past tenses
• 19 The verb to be – imperfect and pluperfect tenses
• 20 Regular verbs – present and future tenses
• 21 Regular verbs – imperfect and past tenses
• 22 Irregular verbs
• 23 Commands (imperatives)
• 24 Relative clauses
• 25 The passive
• 26 Defective verbs
• 27 The subjunctive
• Appendix 1 Stems of a selection of common Welsh verb-nouns
• Appendix 2 Full conjugations of mynd, cael, gwneud and dod
• Taking it further
• Key to the exercises
• Copyright