Reading The Welsh Alphabet And Pronouncing Double Consonants Accurately
Author
The Welsh alphabet looks very similar to the English alphabet at first glance.
However, Welsh is a highly phonetic language.
This means that once you learn how each letter sounds, you can read almost any Welsh word accurately.
We’re going to look at the 29 letters of the alphabet today.
I’ll also explain how to pronounce the unique double consonants.
Table of contents:
Reading the alphabet
The Welsh alphabet has 29 letters in total.
You’ll notice that the letters J, K, Q, V, X, and Z are missing from the traditional alphabet.
The letter J is used today for borrowed English words, but the other five letters don’t exist in Welsh words.
You’ll also see that several letters are made up of two characters.
These are called digraphs, but they’re treated as single, individual letters in the Welsh alphabet.
| Letter | English Sound Equivalent | Welsh Example |
|---|---|---|
| a | Short ‘a’ as in cat, or long ‘a’ as in far | afal (apple) |
| b | ’b’ as in bat | bws (bus) |
| c | Always a hard ‘k’ sound as in cat | ci (dog) |
| ch | Guttural sound like the Scottish ‘loch’ | chwech (six) |
| d | ’d’ as in dog | drws (door) |
| dd | Voiced ‘th’ as in this or breathe | dillad (clothes) |
| e | Short ‘e’ as in pet, or long ‘e’ as in eight | enw (name) |
| f | ’v’ as in van | felly (so) |
| ff | ’f’ as in fish | ffordd (road) |
| g | Always a hard ‘g’ as in goat | gardd (garden) |
| ng | ’ng’ as in sing | cefn gwlad (countryside) |
| h | ’h’ as in hat | hen (old) |
| i | Short ‘i’ as in pit, or long ‘ee’ as in see | iâ (ice) |
| l | ’l’ as in lamp | llyfr (book) |
| ll | An aspirated ‘l’ (explained below) | llaeth (milk) |
| m | ’m’ as in man | mab (son) |
| n | ’n’ as in net | nos (night) |
| o | Short ‘o’ as in pot, or long ‘o’ as in more | oren (orange) |
| p | ’p’ as in pen | pen (head) |
| ph | ’f’ as in phone | phlant (children - mutated) |
| r | Rolled ‘r’ as in Spanish | rhed (run) |
| rh | Rolled ‘r’ with a breath of air | rhad (cheap) |
| s | Always a hard ‘s’ as in snake | siop (shop) |
| t | ’t’ as in tap | tân (fire) |
| th | Unvoiced ‘th’ as in think | peth (thing) |
| u | Like ‘ee’ as in see (South) or deeper ‘ee’ (North) | ugain (twenty) |
| w | ’oo’ as in zoo, or short ‘oo’ as in look | wy (egg) |
| y | ’uh’ sound, or ‘ee’ sound (explained below) | yn (in) |
Vowels and their sounds
The English language has five vowels, but Welsh has seven.
The vowels in Welsh are A, E, I, O, U, W, and Y.
The letters W and Y are very common vowels in Welsh words.
When you see the letter W in a word, it usually makes an “oo” sound.
tylluan
cerddoriaeth
The letter Y is slightly different because its sound changes depending on where it sits in a word.
If Y is the last syllable of a word, or in a single-syllable word, it generally makes a clear “ee” sound.
In any other position in a word, the letter Y makes a short “uh” sound.
Understanding double consonants
The double consonants are the most unique part of reading Welsh.
Because these digraphs count as a single letter, they appear as individual entries in a Welsh dictionary.
There are eight double consonants: CH, DD, FF, NG, LL, PH, RH, and TH.
Let’s break down the ones that require a bit of practice.
The letter LL is the most famous Welsh sound.
To pronounce LL, place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth just behind your front teeth.
Keep your tongue firmly in that position and blow air sharply out of the sides of your mouth.
llaeth
The letter DD is much easier than it looks.
It simply makes a buzzing “th” sound, exactly like the English words “this”, “that”, or “breathe”.
You should never pronounce DD as a hard “d” sound like in the word “daddy”.
dda
The letter CH requires you to make a raspy sound in the back of your throat.
It sounds exactly like the Scottish word “loch” or the German name “Bach”.
It never sounds like the “ch” in the English word “cheese”.
chwech
The letter RH is an aspirated, rolled R.
To say this letter, you roll your R while simultaneously blowing out a puff of air.
rhif
Regional pronunciation differences
Welsh pronunciation is largely consistent, but there are a few important differences between North Wales and South Wales.
The biggest difference involves the vowels U and Y.
In South Wales, the letters U and Y sound exactly like the letter I.
They all make a standard, bright “ee” sound.
In North Wales, the letters U and Y make a deeper sound.
You produce this Northern sound by forming an “ee” shape but making the sound much further back in your throat.
Another regional difference involves the letter A.
In North Wales, the letter A in short words often becomes an “e” sound in casual speech.
For example, the word “iacha” (healthier) might sound more like “iache” when spoken by a Northern speaker.
You can choose to adopt whichever regional pronunciation matches the area you’re most interested in.
