Personal Pronouns in Welsh

In Brief

The main Welsh personal pronouns are fi, ti, fe/fo, hi, ni, chi, and nhw. Welsh distinguishes informal singular ti from chi, which means either formal singular “you” or plural “you”; forms for “he” also vary by region. You will usually meet these pronouns immediately after a form of bod (“to be”), as in Dw i'n barod (“I am ready”) and Mae hi'n dod (“She is coming”).

Overview

A personal pronoun is a short word used instead of a person's or thing's name: “I,” “you,” “she,” and “they” are English examples. Its person tells you whether it refers to the speaker (first person), the listener (second person), or somebody else (third person). Welsh pronouns matter from A1 because many everyday verb patterns combine a form of bod with a pronoun: dw i, wyt ti, mae hi, dyn ni, dych chi, and maen nhw.

The same basic pronouns also appear after prepositions, in expressions of possession, and for emphasis. Their exact shape can depend on position and dialect. For example, learners may hear both fe/e in much of the south and fo/o in much of the north for “he” or “it.” This variation is normal Welsh, not a difference in meaning.

English has only one everyday word, “you,” for singular, plural, informal, and formal address. Welsh makes one important distinction: ti addresses one person informally, while chi addresses more than one person or one person politely. Learning that contrast early makes conversations sound much more natural.

How It Works

The core set

Person	Welsh	Basic English meaning	Main point
First-person singular	fi / i	I, me	i is especially common after a verb: dw i
Second-person singular	ti	you	Informal; one person
Third-person singular, masculine	fe / fo / e / o	he, him; masculine “it”	Forms vary by region and position
Third-person singular, feminine	hi	she, her; feminine “it”	Also used impersonally in some expressions
First-person plural	ni	we, us	Includes the speaker and at least one other person
Second-person plural or formal	chi	you	Several people, or polite address to one person
Third-person plural	nhw	they, them	Used for all genders in the plural

The translations “I/me” or “he/him” do not mean that Welsh uses exactly the same grammar as English. They simply show who the pronoun refers to. The surrounding construction determines its job in the sentence.

Pronouns with bod

The most useful beginner pattern is:

form of bod + pronoun + yn + description or verb-noun

A verb-noun is the basic dictionary form used for an action, such as dod (“come/coming”) or dysgu (“learn/learning”). Before a word beginning with a vowel, yn normally contracts to 'n.

Person	Present pattern	English
fi / i	Dw i'n...	I am... / I ...
ti	Wyt ti'n...	You are... / Do you ...?
fe/e or fo/o	Mae e/o'n...	He is... / He ...
hi	Mae hi'n...	She is... / She ...
ni	Dyn ni'n...	We are... / We ...
chi	Dych chi'n...	You are... / Do you ...?
nhw	Maen nhw'n...	They are... / They ...

These spoken forms are best learned as whole units. Do not treat dw, wyt, or maen as complete sentences and then drop the pronoun as English sometimes drops words in notes or headlines. In ordinary Welsh, Dw i'n dysgu is the unit meaning “I am learning” or, depending on context, “I learn.”

The forms themselves vary across Wales. You may encounter dan ni beside dyn ni, dach chi beside dych chi, and spelling that reflects local speech. Choose one course or regional model for active practice, but learn to recognise the common alternatives.

Informal ti and formal or plural chi

Use ti for one person in an informal relationship: a friend, child, close colleague, or family member. Use chi for two or more people. Chi is also the respectful singular form often used with a stranger, a customer, an older person, or someone addressed formally.

The verb pattern must agree with that choice:

• Wyt ti'n barod? — “Are you ready?” to one person informally.
• Dych chi'n barod? — “Are you ready?” to several people or one person formally.

Welsh does not normally capitalise chi merely because it is polite. Context tells you whether it is formal singular or plural.

“He,” “she,” and grammatical gender

For people, fe/fo/e/o normally refers to a male person and hi to a female person. Welsh nouns also have grammatical gender, meaning that each singular noun belongs to a masculine or feminine class. A pronoun referring back to a thing may therefore be masculine or feminine even though English would use “it.” Beginners do not need to predict every noun's gender, but should learn gender together with the noun.

Welsh also uses hi in some impersonal expressions, especially weather and time:

• Mae hi'n oer. — “It is cold.”
• Mae hi'n dri o'r gloch. — “It is three o'clock.”

Here hi does not refer to a female person.

Full pronouns and shorter forms

The pairs fe/e and fo/o broadly reflect both region and position. Southern speech often favours e after a verb and fe in fuller or reinforcing uses; northern speech similarly often uses o and fo. Real usage is more flexible than a rigid two-column rule, so imitate the speakers and materials in the variety you are learning.

For the first person, i is the normal form in combinations such as dw i, es i (“I went”), and arna i (“on me”). Fi is common when the pronoun stands independently, follows some uninflected prepositions, or receives contrastive emphasis: fi a ti (“me and you”), gyda fi (“with me”), and Fi yw Siân (“I am Siân,” with focus on “I”).

Identification and emphasis

Welsh does not simply insert the ordinary English-style “am” pattern into every identity sentence. To introduce yourself, two useful models are:

• Siân ydw i. — “I am Siân.” Literally, the name is placed first.
• Fi yw Siân. — “I am Siân.” This gives fi particular focus: “I am Siân.”

A fronted pronoun can contrast one person with another: Fi sy'n coginio, nid e (“I am the one cooking, not him”). This focus pattern becomes more important at higher levels; at A1, learn a few common identity phrases as complete expressions.

Examples in Context

Welsh	English	Note
Fi yw Siân.	I am Siân.	fi is focused
Siân ydw i.	I am Siân.	A common introduction pattern
Dw i'n dysgu Cymraeg.	I am learning Welsh.	i after dw
Wyt ti'n hapus?	Are you happy?	Informal singular ti
Mae e'n gweithio heddiw.	He is working today.	Common southern e
Mae o'n byw ym Mangor.	He lives in Bangor.	Common northern o
Mae hi'n dod nawr.	She is coming now.	Feminine singular hi
Dyn ni'n barod.	We are ready.	First-person plural ni
Dych chi'n siarad Cymraeg?	Do you speak Welsh?	Formal singular or plural chi
Maen nhw'n chwarae tu allan.	They are playing outside.	Plural nhw
Mae hi'n oer heddiw.	It is cold today.	Impersonal weather hi
Rhoddodd hi'r llyfr i fi.	She gave the book to me.	fi after i in this phrase
Mae'r athro'n siarad â nhw.	The teacher is talking with them.	nhw after a preposition
Dyma fy nghar i.	This is my car.	Final i reinforces “my”
Ble mae dy gar di?	Where is your car?	Final di reinforces informal “your”

Common Mistakes

Leaving out the pronoun after the verb

• Wrong: Dw yn hapus.
• Right: Dw i'n hapus.
• Why: The everyday first-person pattern is dw i. The pronoun is an essential part of the spoken construction, and yn contracts to 'n here.

Mixing ti with the chi verb form

• Wrong: Dych ti'n barod?
• Right: Wyt ti'n barod?
• Also right: Dych chi'n barod?
• Why: Keep the person forms together: wyt ti for one informal listener, dych chi for formal or plural address.

Using ti automatically for every English “you”

• Wrong in a formal situation: Wyt ti'n gallu helpu?
• Better: Dych chi'n gallu helpu?
• Why: English gives no warning that a choice is needed. In Welsh, use chi when addressing several people and commonly when politeness or distance calls for formal address.

Treating nhw like a singular pronoun

• Wrong: Mae nhw'n dod.
• Right: Maen nhw'n dod.
• Why: “They” uses the plural combination maen nhw, not singular mae plus nhw.

Building identity sentences word for word from English

• Wrong: Fi dw Siân.
• Right: Siân ydw i.
• Also right with focus: Fi yw Siân.
• Why: Welsh identity sentences have their own word-order patterns. Learn these two models rather than replacing English “am” with dw.

Ignoring mutation in a possessive phrase

• Wrong: fy car fi
• Right: fy nghar i (“my car”)
• Why: The possessive fy triggers a nasal mutation, and the reinforcing pronoun is normally i, not fi, in this pattern. Mutation is a separate topic, but pronouns often appear inside constructions that require it.

Usage Notes

Regional choices are part of everyday Welsh

There is no need to replace every e with o, or every fe with fo, to make a sentence “more correct.” They are associated with different regional varieties. Consistency helps while you are learning to speak, but listening comprehension requires recognition of both sets. The same applies to forms such as dyn/dan ni and dych/dach chi.

Welsh often reinforces a possessive

A possessive word may be repeated in effect by a pronoun after the noun:

• fy llyfr i — my book
• dy lyfr di — your book
• ei lyfr e/fo — his book
• ei llyfr hi — her book
• ein llyfr ni — our book
• eich llyfr chi — your book
• eu llyfr nhw — their book

The final pronoun makes the owner clear and is very common in speech. The changes at the beginning of llyfr are mutations triggered by the possessive word; learn those systematically with the possession and mutation topics.

Pronouns are not always optional

English learners sometimes hear that Welsh verbs contain information about the person and conclude that pronouns can always disappear. Formal literary Welsh can omit some subject pronouns when a verb ending already makes the person clear. Modern spoken Welsh, however, very often keeps them: es i (“I went”), aethon nhw (“they went”), and dw i (“I am”). Copy complete phrases from natural speech rather than deleting pronouns by rule.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master the following patterns at A1, but they explain why familiar pronouns later appear in less familiar shapes.

Pronouns after conjugated prepositions

Many Welsh prepositions change form according to the person. A preposition is a linking word such as “to,” “on,” or “with.” The personal pronoun often remains after the changed preposition as reinforcement:

• arna i — on me
• arnat ti — on you
• arno fe/fo — on him
• arni hi — on her
• arnon ni — on us
• arnoch chi — on you
• arnyn nhw — on them

Do not create these merely by placing the basic pronoun after ar. Each preposition has a pattern that must be learned.

Object constructions

An object is the person or thing affected by an action. Welsh frequently expresses an object around a verb-noun with a possessive-looking element before it and a reinforcing pronoun after it:

• Mae e'n fy ngweld i. — “He sees me.”
• Dw i'n dy garu di. — “I love you.”
• Mae hi'n ei helpu fe. — “She is helping him.”

This is why learning personal pronouns supports later work on both possession and object pronouns. The mutation after the short element helps distinguish “him” from “her” in some patterns.

Emphatic forms

Welsh has expanded emphatic forms such as finnau, tithau, yntau, hithau, ninnau, chithau, and hwythau. Depending on context, they can mean “I too,” “you for your part,” “he on the other hand,” and so on. They often organise a contrast rather than simply adding stronger vocal stress. Recognise them when reading, but use the core set confidently before trying to produce them.

Formal and literary forms

Formal writing may use ef for “he,” chwi for plural or formal “you,” and hwy for “they.” You may also meet highly formal verb combinations such as yr wyf i instead of conversational dw i. These belong to a different register; they should not make you doubt the normal spoken forms in the main table.

Practice Tips

1. Memorise pronouns inside verb chunks. Say dw i, wyt ti, mae e/o, mae hi, dyn ni, dych chi, maen nhw aloud rather than learning an isolated list only. Then add one adjective or verb-noun to each form.
2. Practise the two meanings of chi. Imagine first speaking politely to one stranger and then speaking to a group. Use the same Welsh sentence, but give each situation a clear mental picture.
3. Train your ear for regional pairs. When listening, note e/fe and o/fo without treating either as an error. For your own speech, follow the regional model used by your teacher or course.

Related Concepts

• Next step: Bod – Present Tense — combines these pronouns with the most important Welsh verb to describe identity, states, and actions.