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Dewch yn Ddysgwr. Dechreuwch ddysgu siarad yr iaith y nefoedd heddiw.

Become a Dysgwr. Start learning to speak the language of heaven today.

Yn ol i'r Mynegai Dysgwyr / Back to the Learners' Index

Tudalennau 'r Dysgwyr - Welsh Learners' Pages

Treigladau / Mutations

One area that does cause Dysgwyr some difficulty at first is "Mutations", something that at first glance is peculiar to the Celtic languages. They make the language easier to pronounce, but can make it difficult to recognise words. I personally believe that they are an indication of the age of the language, that mutations are present in spoken English (for example) but have not entered the written language as written English, of necessity, developed in parallel with the spoken tongue — try saying 'In gratitude' without pausing between the words and without introducing an 'ng' sound. Whereas the Celtic languages were already mature when the need to develop the written form arose, thus mutations were already well established and became a part of the written language.

The beginnings of words can change in a number of ways under certain circumstances. For example, cath (cat) can appear as gath, chath and nghath. These changes are called mutations and cause most problems when looking words up in a dictionary.

The best advice to learners is that they should not try to learn the mutation rules 'parrot fashion'. You will soon find you are applying mutations automatically as you speak the language. You only need to be aware of them when looking words up in the dictionary, and to some extent whilst listening to native speakers.

All the Welsh grammars say Welsh has 3 types of mutation — soft, nasal and spirant, and 9 consonants that are mutable. However there is also a 4^th mutation, the aspirate, that is frequently overlooked and adds an h to words beginning with a vowel. Taking the 3 standard mutations first: Of the 9 consonants, 3 (p, t, and c) are subject to all 3 mutations, 3 others (b, d, and g) are only subject to soft and nasal mutation, and the other 3 (ll, m, and rh) are only subject to soft mutation.

Since mutations generally cause problems when looking words up in the dictionary it is useful to invert this table.

Rheolau 'r Treiglad Meddal / Soft Mutation Rules

The soft mutation is by far the most commonly occuring in Welsh, and the only that is consistently applied over all Welsh speaking regions. It changes 'p-' to 'b-, 't-' to 'd-', 'c-' to 'g-', 'b-' and 'm-' to 'f-', 'd-' to 'dd-', 'll-' to 'l-', 'rh-' to 'r-', and 'g-' to disappear in the following circumstances :-

1. After the subject of the sentence

   Ciciodd Sian be^l - Sian kicked a ball

2. After a feminine singular noun

   merch fach - a little girl (but merched bach - little girls)

3. After most monosyllabic prepositions

   ar geffyl - on a horse
   o Gaerdydd - from Cardiff
   i deulu - to a family

4. After the following miscellaneous words, many of the very common

   un - one (feminine)
   dau - two (masculine)
   dwy - two (feminine)
   dacw - there is ...
   dyma - here is ...
   dyna - there is ...
   dy - your singular
   ei - his (masculine - feminine causes spirant mutation)
   fe - «affirmative particle»
   go - fairly, quite
   mi - «affirmative particle»
   mor - so (+ adjective), does not mutate ll- and rh-
   neu - or
   pa - which
   pan - when
   pur - very
   pwy - which (Southern dialect)
   rhy - too
   y - the (feminine)
   yn - »predicative use« before nouns and adjectives (does not mutate ll- or rh-)

5. On verbs with personal endings (generally in the spoken language)

   dales i - I paid

6. On time adverbs saying when something happened

   flwyddyn yn o^l - a year ago
   ddydd Sadwrn - on Saturday

7. On the second of two words joined together as a compound:

   prifddinas - capital (main city)

8. after prefixes,

   aflwyddiannus - unsuccessful
   diwerth - worthless (gwerth = worth)
   gwrthddweud - contradict (dweud = say)

Rheolau 'r Treiglad Trwynol / Nasal Mutation Rules

Nasal mutation changes 'p-' to 'mh-, 't-' to 'nh-', 'c-' to 'ngh-', 'b-' to 'm-', 'd-' to 'n-' and 'g-' to 'ng-' in the following circumstances :-

1. On nouns to indicate 'my ...', sometimes with a preceeding 'y..' or 'fy..'

   plant (children) → mhlant (my children)
   car (car) → nghar (my car)

2. after the preposition 'yn' (in). Words beginning 'b-' and 'p-' also change the spelling of 'yn' to 'ym' and words beginning 'c-' and 'g-' change the spelling of 'yn' to 'yng'.

   Dinbych → yn Ninbych (in Denbigh)
   Bangor → ym Mangor (in Bangor)
   Caerdydd → yng Nghaerdydd (in Cardiff)

Rheolau 'r Treiglad Llaes / Spirant Mutation Rules

Spirant mutation changes 'c-' to 'ch-, 'p-' to 'ph-' and 't-' to 'th-' in the following circumstances :-

1. after the following miscellaneous words:

   a = and
   a^ = with
   gyda = with
   tri = three (masculine)
   chwe = six
   ei = her (possessive feminine - masculine causes soft mutation)
   tua = towards

2. in some regions only, on a negative verb with personal endings

   colli (lose) → cholles i ddim (I didn't lose)
   talu (pay) → thala i ddim (I won't pay)

Rheolau 'r Treiglad Ymgeisydd / Aspirate Mutation Rules

The aspirate mutation adds an h to words beginning with a vowel in the following circumstances

1. Nouns, adjectives and verb-nouns beginning with a vowel after the following pronouns:'m; ei, 'i and 'w (feminine); ein, 'n; eu, 'u and 'w.

   e.g. ei harian - her money; a'm hanfon - and sending me;

2. Finite verbs beginning with a vowel after the following pronouns:'m; 'i (masculine and feminine); 'n; 'u.

   e.g. Gwen a'i hanfonodd ef/hi - (it was) Gwen (that) sent him/her

3. Ugain (twenty in the vigesimal counting system) after the preposition ar

   e.g. un ar hugain - twenty one; deg ar hugain - thirty

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