Conjunctions and Connectors in Welsh

In Brief

Use a/ac for “and,” ond for “but,” achos or oherwydd for “because,” pan for “when,” os for “if,” er for “although,” and felly for “so/therefore.” The sentence order is often familiar to an English speaker, but learn two Welsh patterns early: a can cause aspirate mutation (te a choffi), while pan normally causes soft mutation (pan fydda i).

Overview

Conjunctions are linking words: they join words, phrases, or clauses (parts of a sentence built around a verb). They let you turn short statements such as Dw i'n mynd (“I’m going”) and Mae'n braf (“It’s fine”) into a connected thought: Dw i'n mynd achos mae'n braf (“I’m going because it’s fine”). Other connectors show contrast, time, a condition, or a result.

These words become central at A2 because they let you explain your choices and tell a simple story rather than produce a series of isolated sentences. English and Welsh often put the connector in the same place, so the overall logic is not difficult. The unfamiliar part is initial mutation—a change to the first consonant of the following word—and the way Welsh uses different forms of bod (“to be”) in dependent clauses.

For now, aim to use one dependable pattern for each meaning. The later sections explain alternatives and formal forms that you should recognise but do not yet need to produce confidently.

How It Works

The core set

Connector	Main meaning	Basic use	Model
a / ac	and	joins matching words, phrases, or clauses	te a choffi
ond	but	marks a contrast	bach ond cyfforddus
achos	because	gives a reason; very common in speech	achos mae hi'n hwyr
oherwydd	because; because of	gives a reason, often in careful speech or writing	oherwydd y glaw
pan	when	introduces a time clause	pan fydda i'n barod
os	if	introduces a condition	os wyt ti eisiau
er	although	introduces an unexpected contrast, commonly with bod	er bod hi'n oer
felly	so; therefore	introduces a result or conclusion	Felly, arhoson ni.

A connector can join items of the same kind:

• nouns: bara a chaws — “bread and cheese”
• descriptions: oer ond sych — “cold but dry”
• full clauses: Roedd hi'n hwyr, felly es i adref — “It was late, so I went home”

a and ac: “and”

Use a before most consonants and ac before a vowel:

• bara a menyn — bread and butter
• Siôn ac Elin — Siôn and Elin
• afalau ac orennau — apples and oranges

This a has no accent. Do not confuse it with â, which means “with” and has different grammar.

In standard Welsh, a triggers the aspirate mutation of p, t, c. That means p → ph, t → th, and c → ch immediately after it:

Unmutated word	With a	Meaning
pysgod	cig a physgod	meat and fish
te	teisen a the	cake and tea
caws	bara a chaws	bread and cheese

Other initial consonants do not follow this three-letter pattern: mam a thad has mutation because tad begins with t, but brawd a chwaer keeps the ch already present in chwaer. In informal writing and speech, you may encounter variation, but the standard mutated forms are the safest forms to learn and write.

ond: “but”

Ond joins contrasting information without changing ordinary clause order:

• Mae'r tŷ'n fach ond mae'r ardd yn fawr. — “The house is small, but the garden is large.”
• Mae hi'n oer ond yn sych. — “It’s cold but dry.”

In the second example, Welsh does not repeat mae hi. The shared frame mae hi'n applies to both descriptions: literally, “it is cold but dry.” This is a useful way to make your Welsh less repetitive.

achos and oherwydd: giving a reason

For everyday conversation, a highly useful pattern is:

main clause + achos + ordinary clause

• Dw i'n mynd achos mae'n braf. — “I’m going because it’s fine.”
• Wnaethon ni aros achos roedd hi'n bwrw glaw. — “We waited because it was raining.”

Oherwydd can mean “because of” before a noun phrase (a group of words centred on a person or thing):

• oherwydd y tywydd — “because of the weather”
• oherwydd problem dechnegol — “because of a technical problem”

Before a clause, careful Welsh commonly uses oherwydd bod plus the rest of the idea:

• Dw i'n aros oherwydd bod y trên yn hwyr. — “I’m waiting because the train is late.”

English uses “because” before both a clause and “because of” before a noun. Welsh achos and oherwydd overlap, but the dependable learner contrast is achos + ordinary spoken clause versus oherwydd + noun or oherwydd bod + clause.

pan: “when”

Pan introduces the time at which something happens. It normally causes soft mutation, another initial-consonant change, in the next suitable word:

• bydda i → pan fydda i — “when I am / when I’ll be”
• cyrhaeddais i → pan gyrhaeddais i — “when I arrived”
• dewch chi → pan ddewch chi — “when you come”

For a future event, Welsh commonly uses a future form in the pan clause even where English has a present tense:

• Pan fydda i'n barod, bydda i'n ffonio. — “When I’m ready, I’ll phone.”

Do not translate English word by word as “when I am” and automatically insert dw i. Learn pan fydda i... as a complete future-time pattern.

os: “if”

Os sets a condition: one thing depends on another.

• Os wyt ti eisiau, gallwn ni fynd nawr. — “If you want, we can go now.”
• Os bydd hi'n bwrw glaw, byddwn ni'n aros gartref. — “If it rains, we’ll stay at home.”

The os clause may come first or second. When it comes first, a comma makes a longer written sentence easier to read:

• Byddwn ni'n aros gartref os bydd hi'n bwrw glaw.
• Os bydd hi'n bwrw glaw, byddwn ni'n aros gartref.

English “when” assumes a time or event, while “if” leaves it uncertain. Welsh makes the same basic contrast: pan for “when,” os for “if.”

er: “although”

At A2, learn er bod... as the safest full-clause pattern:

• Er bod hi'n oer, mae'r plant yn chwarae tu allan. — “Although it is cold, the children are playing outside.”
• Aeth e i'r gwaith er ei fod e'n sâl. — “He went to work although he was ill.”

The second example uses ei fod e (“that he is/was”), a personal form built around bod. This is beyond the essential beginner rule; initially, it is enough to recognise it and use impersonal-looking examples such as er bod hi'n hwyr.

Do not treat er as another word for ond. Ond connects two contrasting statements: “X, but Y.” Er bod makes one statement a concession—something that might have led you to expect a different result: “although X, Y.”

felly: result or conclusion

Felly points forward to a result, much like “so” or “therefore”:

• Roedd y siop ar gau, felly es i adref. — “The shop was closed, so I went home.”
• Felly, beth wnawn ni nawr? — “So, what shall we do now?”

Compare cause and result:

• Es i adref achos roeddwn i'n flinedig. — I went home because I was tired.
• Roeddwn i'n flinedig, felly es i adref. — I was tired, so I went home.

The facts are similar, but the connector tells the listener which direction the explanation runs.

Examples in Context

Welsh	English	Note
Hoffwn i de a choffi.	I would like tea and coffee.	a joins two nouns; coffi becomes choffi.
Daeth Aled ac Elen i'r parti.	Aled and Elen came to the party.	ac appears before a vowel.
Mae'r fflat yn fach ond yn gyfforddus.	The flat is small but comfortable.	The second mae'r fflat is omitted.
Dw i'n mynd achos mae'n braf.	I’m going because it’s fine.	Everyday reason with achos.
Arhoson ni gartref oherwydd y glaw.	We stayed at home because of the rain.	oherwydd before a noun phrase.
Mae'r cyfarfod wedi'i ohirio oherwydd bod y rheolwr yn sâl.	The meeting has been postponed because the manager is ill.	Careful clause pattern with oherwydd bod.
Pan fydda i'n barod, bydda i'n anfon neges.	When I’m ready, I’ll send a message.	Future time; bydda soft-mutates to fydda.
Roedd pawb yn dawel pan gyrhaeddais i.	Everyone was quiet when I arrived.	Past event after pan.
Os wyt ti eisiau, gallwn ni gerdded.	If you want, we can walk.	The condition comes first.
Ffonia fi os bydd problem.	Phone me if there is a problem.	The condition comes second.
Er bod hi'n oer, mae hi'n sych.	Although it is cold, it is dry.	Concession with er bod.
Roedd y bws yn hwyr, felly cerddon ni.	The bus was late, so we walked.	felly introduces the result.
Prynais i fara a chaws, ond anghofiais i'r llaeth.	I bought bread and cheese, but I forgot the milk.	a joins nouns; ond contrasts clauses.
Os bydd yr haul yn tywynnu pan fyddwn ni'n cyrraedd, awn ni i'r traeth.	If the sun is shining when we arrive, we’ll go to the beach.	os and pan can occur in the same sentence.

Common Mistakes

Writing ac before every word

• Wrong: bara ac menyn
• Right: bara a menyn
• Why: Use a before most consonants and ac before a vowel: bara ac afal.

Forgetting aspirate mutation after a

• Wrong: bara a caws
• Right: bara a chaws
• Why: Standard a “and” changes initial p, t, c to ph, th, ch.

Confusing a “and” with â “with”

• Wrong: Dw i'n mynd a Ceri when you mean “I’m going with Ceri.”
• Right: Dw i'n mynd â Ceri.
• Why: The accent distinguishes â “with” from a “and.” In ordinary speech, gyda Ceri is also common for “with Ceri.”

Using pan but leaving the next form unmutated

• Wrong: Pan bydda i'n barod...
• Right: Pan fydda i'n barod...
• Why: Pan normally causes soft mutation, so initial b becomes f here.

Copying the English tense after future when

• Awkward: Pan dw i'n barod, bydda i'n ffonio for one future occasion.
• Better: Pan fydda i'n barod, bydda i'n ffonio.
• Why: Welsh commonly uses a future form after pan for a future event, where English says present “when I’m ready.”

Treating achos and oherwydd as interchangeable in every frame

• Awkward in careful Welsh: Dw i'n aros oherwydd mae'r trên yn hwyr.
• Better: Dw i'n aros achos mae'r trên yn hwyr. / Dw i'n aros oherwydd bod y trên yn hwyr.
• Why: Use achos + ordinary clause as an easy conversational pattern; use oherwydd bod + clause in more careful language.

Usage Notes

Achos is especially natural in conversation. Oherwydd is frequent in explanations, notices, news, and more planned language, although it is not restricted to formal writing. Before a thing rather than a full statement, oherwydd conveniently covers English “because of”: oherwydd y traffig (“because of the traffic”).

Welsh has substantial regional and register variation in its verb forms. You may hear dw i, rydw i, or other local forms around these connectors, and both bydda i and more formal byddaf represent the first-person future of bod. The connector’s job remains the same. Copy the variety used by your course or community, but learn to recognise common alternatives.

In writing, a comma is useful after a longer opening pan, os, or er bod clause and before felly when it joins two complete clauses. Very short clauses do not always require one. Punctuation supports the meaning; it does not change the grammar.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master these patterns at A2, but they explain forms that you will soon meet.

The first development is the full set of personal bod clauses. Welsh does not always use one unchanged equivalent of English “that he/she is.” Compare er bod hi... (“although it is/she is”) with er ei fod e... (“although he is”) and er fy mod i... (“although I am”). Similar forms occur after advanced causal expressions such as gan fod (“since/because”). Learn these as clause patterns rather than trying to derive every form while speaking.

Time relationships also become more precise. Alongside pan, Welsh uses tra (“while”), cyn (“before”), ar ôl (“after”), nes (“until”), and ers (“since”). These do not all take the same construction: for example, cyn i fi fynd means “before I go,” while ar ôl bwyta means “after eating.” This is why temporal clauses form a separate B1 topic.

Finally, formal argument uses a wider range of discourse connectors. Fodd bynnag (“however”), ar y llaw arall (“on the other hand”), yn ogystal â hynny (“in addition to that”), and o ganlyniad (“as a result”) organise whole stretches of speech or writing. They do more than simply join two words, and they become especially useful in essays, presentations, and reports.

Practice Tips

1. Build sentence pairs in both directions. Start with Dw i'n aros achos mae hi'n bwrw glaw, then reverse the logic: Mae hi'n bwrw glaw, felly dw i'n aros. This fixes the difference between reason and result.
2. Drill mutation in short chunks. Say bara a chaws, cig a physgod, and teisen a the aloud. Then practise pan fydda i, pan gyrhaeddais i, and pan ddewch chi as complete units.
3. Tell a four-line story. Include one sentence with pan, one with achos, one with ond, and one with felly. Connecting a real sequence of events is more memorable than learning a list of translations.

Related Concepts

• Next step: Temporal Clauses — expands pan with “before,” “after,” “while,” “until,” and “since.”
• Later development: Discourse and Linking Expressions — adds connectors for structuring longer arguments and formal writing.