# Welsh/Alphabet
## The Sounds of Welsh

This is enough to get you started. For a fuller guide, please see the reference work at Pronunciation of Welsh.

### Consonants

We will start with learning the consonant sounds of Welsh. We've split them into 4 groups. 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)

#### 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. There are clear patterns on when to use which vowel sound, but for the beginning level: learn how to pronounce each word as you go along, and you'll eventually be able to logically deduce which vowel sound to use.
* a
* e
* i
* o
* u
* w
* y

## Alphabet

Welsh Vocabulary • Alphabet • audio (upload) Yr Wyddor Gymraeg The Welsh Alphabet :
| Letter | Name of letter | Corresponding sounds | as in |
| a | â | /a, ɑː/ | hat, Am. hot |
| b | bî | /b/ | bag |
| c | èc | /k/ | cat |
| ch | ech | /x/ | like Scottish 'loch' |
| d | dî | /d/ | dog |
| dd | èdd | /ð/ | the |
| e | ê | /ɛ, eː/ | pen |
| f | èf | /v/ | veil |
| ff | èff | /f/ | field |
| g | èg | /g/ | get |
| ng | èng | /ŋ/ | song |
| h | âets | /h/ | hat |
| i | î | /ɪ, iː/ | pin |
| l | èl | /l/ | lava |
| ll | ell | /ɬ/ | no equivalent |
| m | èm | /m/ | mother |
| n | en | /n/ | name |
| o | ô | /ɔ, oː/ | hot, Am. pole |
| p | pî | /p/ | please |
| ph | ffî | /f/ | field |
| r | èr | /r/ | rolled r |
| rh | rhî, rhô | /r̥/ | same as above but unvoiced |
| s | ès | /s/ | sit |
| t | tî | /t/ | top |
| th | èth | /θ/ | think |
| u | û | /ɨ̞, ɨː/ (N), /ɪ, iː/ (S) | sit, seat |
| w | ŵ | /ʊ, uː/ | put, loot |
| y | ŷ | /ɨ̞, ɨː, ə/ (N), /ɪ, iː, ə/ (S) | kit, about |
* The names of the letters above are in Southern dialect. In the North, the letters are pronounced differently.
* h indicates voicelessness in mh, nh, and ngh.
* ph occurs occasionally in words derived from Greek (e.g. phenol) but more commonly as a result of aspirate mutation (e.g. ei phen-ôl)
* y indicates /ə/ in unstressed monosyllabic words (e.g. y "the", fy "my") or non-final syllables, but /ɨ̞, ɨː/ (N) or /ɪ, iː/ (S) everywhere else.
* The digraphs (letters consisting of two characters) are treated as a single letter (with the collation order as listed above), although the same combinations of characters can sometimes also arise as a juxtaposition of two separate letters. For example, the digraph ng representing /ŋ/ is alphabetised between g and h (alphabetical order llegach, lleng, lleiaf), but when ng is two letters representing /ŋg/ it is alphabetised between nf and nh (alphabetical order danfon, dangos, danheddog).
* si indicates /ʃ/ (as in English sheep) when followed by a vowel.
* di and ti sometimes indicate /dʒ/ (as in English joke) and /tʃ/ (as in English church)respectively when followed by a vowel. Otherwise /dʒ/ and /tʃ/ are spelled j and ts, but only in loanwords like jẁg "jug" and wats "watch".
* To pronounce the ll sound, blow while placing your tongue on the roof of your mouth.
    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
    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
And saying it out loud : ah bee ec ech dee eh edd ef eff eg eng aetch ee-dot jay el ell em en o pee phee er rhee es tee eth ee-bedol oo uh