| Letter Name | In Welsh speech |
In English speech | Sound of the letter as spelt |
| a | tân/tan | as in hard/bat | ah |
| b | bola | as in bat | bee |
| c | car | as in car, never as Cyril | eck |
| ch | coch | as in Scottish loch | ech |
| d | dant | as in dentist | dee |
| dd | sedd | as in then, never as thing | edd |
| e | hen/Gwen | long open e sound/then | eh |
| f | llef | as in vase, never as off | ev |
| ff | ffôn | as in phone | eff |
| g | an | as in gut, never as George | egg |
| ng | ng | as in bling | eng |
| h | hapus | as in happy | eye-tch |
| i | ci/bin | keep/bin, never as slime | ee (dot) |
| j | garej | as in jam | jay |
| l | lan | as in last | el |
| ll | llan | no English equivalent | ell |
| m | map | as in map | em |
| n | nawr | as in nip | en |
| o | do/llon | as in phone/pot | oh |
| p | pen | as in pet | pee |
| ph | en | as in physics | phee |
| r | car | rolled more than English | er |
| rh | rhif | breathy ‘r’, unvoiced | rhee |
| s | sarff | as in set, not is | ess |
| t | ti | as in top | tee |
| th | beth | as in thing, never as then | eth |
| u | un/tun | been/kiss never as in rump | ee (bedol) |
| w | dŵr/twp | do/full | oooo |
| y | dyn/cyn/yn | as in Dean/tin/dump | uh |
Cymraeg ar y chwith
Y llythrennau a, e, i, o, u, w, y sy'n cynrychioli llafariaid.
O dan y colofn 'Cymraeg' mae esiamplau o eiriau sy'n cynnwys llafariaid hir, a llafariaid byr, e.e. mae'r a mewn 'tân' ('fire') yn cael ei hynganu'n hirach na'r 'a' mewn 'tan' ('until').
English on the right
The letters a, e, i, o, u, w, y are vowels.
Under the ‘Welsh’ column examples of words with long and short vowel sounds are given, e.g. a - tân (fire) is pronounced longer than tan.
Yn Saesneg, enw'r sianel deledu Cymraeg yw S4C, ond yn Gymraeg mae hwn yn cael ei ynganu fel ess pedwar ec.
Nid oes dim o'r llythrennau k, q, v, x, z yn y wyddor Gymraeg.
S4C the Welsh TV channel in English is pronounced ess four see, but in Welsh is pronounced ess pedwar ec.
There is no: k, q, v, x or z in the Welsh alphabet.
O ystyried y cyfyniadau o lythrennau ch, dd, ff, ng, ll, ph, rh, th byddwn ni'n gweld eu bod yn cynrychioli un sain yr un. Mewn croesair Cymraeg, er enghraifft, mae'r gair 'rhydd' yn llenwi dim ond tri sgwâr ('Rh-y-Dd'). Er enghraifft, os byddai arnoch chi eisiau cael hyd i ystyr y gair 'llaeth', byddai rhaid i chi chwilio yn adran y geiriadur o dan 'Ll', lle mae bob gair sy'n dechrau â 'Ll' yn cael ei restru; ni fyddwch chi'n dod o hyd i'r gair yn yr adran o dan 'L'.
Yn Gymraeg, dim ond y llythrennau 'n' ac 'r' yn gallu cael eu dyblu, ac wedyn dim ond yn syth ar ôl syllaf acennog, e.e. 'ysgrifennu' ('to write'), 'cyrraedd' ('to arrive').
ch, dd, ff, ng, ll, ph, rh and th count as one letter each. In a Welsh crossword for example, the word ‘rhydd’ would only fill 3 squares. It also affects the word order in a Welsh dictionary. For example, if you wanted to find the meaning of the word ‘llaeth’, you would look under the ‘Ll’ section in the dictionary, where all words starting with ‘Ll’ would be listed, not under ‘L’.
The only letters that can be doubled in Welsh are ‘n’ and ‘r’ e.g. ysgrifennu, cyrraedd, and then only just after the stress.
Mae'r sain 'sh' (fel yn y gair Saesgeg 'shop') yn cael ei chynrychioli yn Gymraeg gan 'si', e.e. Siân, Siôn, siop ('shop'), siarad ('to talk').
A ‘sh’ sound is represented by ‘si’ yn Welsh e.g. Siân, Siôn, siop, siarad.
Mae'r sain 'ch' (fel yn y gair Saesneg 'church') yn cael ei chynrychioli yn Gymraeg gan 'ts', e.e. Tseina ('China').
A ‘ch’ sound, as in English church is represented by ‘ts’ in Welsh e.g. Tseina (China).
Mae syllafu yn y Gymraeg yn fwy cyson ac yn haws nag yn y Saesneg. Er enghraifft, meddyliwch am y geiriau canlynol. Mae pob un ohonyn nhw'n cynnwys yr un sain, ond beth am y sillafiad?
Yn Gymraeg – ŵ – cŵn, sŵn, balŵn, dŵr Yn Saesneg – ue / oe / oo – blue, shoe, soon!
Welsh spelling is more consistent and easier than English. For example using a long ‘oo’ sound. Notice the following-
Welsh - ŵ - cŵn, sŵn, balŵn, dŵr English – ue / oe / oo - blue, shoe, soon!
* Rhagor o Enghreifftiau / More Examples
1. Y llefariaid / The vowels – a, e, i, o, u, w, y
Gall Alys edrych i mewn i ogof unig, wleb yfory.
Alys can look into a wet, lonely cave tomorrow.
['gwleb' yw'r ffurf fenywaidd ar yr ansoddair 'gwlyb' ('wet') / 'gwleb' is the feminine form of the adjective 'gwlyb' ('wet')]
2. Cyfyniadau o lythrennau / Combinations of letters – ch, dd, ff, ng, ll, ph, rh, th
Mae fy chwaer ddewr a thal sy'n gwisgo ffrog ddu yn sefyll yng ngardd y tŷ sy'n llawn rhosynnau a phlanhigion eraill.
My brave and tall sister who is wearing a black dress is standing in the garden of the house which is full of roses and other plants.
3. Y sain 'si' / The sound 'sh'
Yn y siambr siang-di-fang mae Siôn yn ei siaced siabi'n siarad â Siân wrth iddo siafio, am siopa am sialc, siampŵ, a siocled yn y siop siafins
In the higgledy-piggledy chamber Siôn in his shabby jacket is talking to Siân while he shaves, about shopping for chalk, shampoo, and chocolate in the shavings-shop
4. Y sain 'ts' / The sound 'ch'
Yn Tseina maen nhw'n siarad Tsieinëeg
In China they speak Chinese
