Question Words in Welsh

In Brief

Welsh normally puts the question word first: beth “what,” pwy “who,” ble/lle “where,” pryd “when,” sut “how,” pam “why,” and faint “how much/many.” Keep the rest of the Welsh question pattern after it: Ble dych chi’n byw? means “Where do you live?” Some question patterns use a special verb form such as sy, and some show soft mutation, so it is best to learn whole question frames rather than isolated words.

Overview

Question words—sometimes called interrogatives (words used to ask for missing information)—let you move beyond questions that can be answered with “yes” or “no.” They are among the most useful A1 tools in Welsh: you need them to ask someone’s name, find a place, check a price, arrange a time, or keep a conversation going.

English often builds a question with an extra form of “do”: “Where do you live?” Welsh does not insert an equivalent of English “do.” Instead, it uses the question form already required by the Welsh verb pattern: Ble wyt ti’n byw? Literally separating every piece into English is therefore less helpful than learning Ble wyt ti’n…? as a reusable frame.

Welsh also has considerable spoken variation. You may hear different forms in north and south Wales, and formal writing may use forms that everyday speech shortens. The core question words are shared, however, and the patterns in this article will be widely understood.

How It Works

The core question words

Welsh	Main meaning	Typical use
beth	what	a thing, action, or idea
pwy	who	a person or people
ble / lle	where	place or destination
pryd	when	time or date
sut	how	manner, method, or condition
pam	why	reason
faint	how much / how many	price, amount, or number

A reliable beginner pattern is:

question word + question-form verb + subject + rest of sentence

For example:

• Ble wyt ti’n byw? — Where do you live?
• Pam mae hi’n hwyr? — Why is she late?
• Pryd mae’r siop yn cau? — When does the shop close?

The subject is the person or thing the sentence is about. In Pryd mae’r siop yn cau?, y siop “the shop” is the subject.

Beth: asking “what?”

Use beth for things, actions, and information.

For identification, beth + ydy/yw is common:

• Beth ydy hyn? — What is this?
• Beth yw dy enw di? — What is your name?

Ydy is very common in spoken Welsh in patterns of this kind; yw is especially common in careful or formal language. Regional and course conventions differ, so regard both as normal rather than trying to force one form everywhere.

When asking what someone does, use the normal verbal question after beth:

• Beth wyt ti’n wneud? — What are you doing?
• Beth mae hi’n ei ddarllen? — What is she reading?

In more explicit Welsh, ei may mark the missing object—the thing affected by the action—as in beth mae hi’n ei ddarllen. Everyday speech does not always make every part equally audible, but this fuller pattern is useful to recognise.

Pwy: asking “who?”

Pwy behaves differently depending on whether “who” is the subject.

When pwy itself is doing the action, use sy or sydd in the present tense:

• Pwy sy’n dod? — Who is coming?
• Pwy sydd yn y gegin? — Who is in the kitchen?

Here sy’n is the contracted form of sy + yn. Do not insert another subject after it: pwy already fills that role.

When the person is not the subject, retain the ordinary question structure:

• Pwy wyt ti’n weld? — Who do you see?
• Gyda phwy wyt ti’n mynd? — Who are you going with?

Ble and lle: asking “where?”

Both ble and lle mean “where?” In broad terms, learners often meet ble in southern-oriented spoken Welsh and lle in northern-oriented spoken Welsh. Choose the form used by your course or local speakers, but learn to recognise both.

• Ble dych chi’n byw? — Where do you live?
• Lle mae’r orsaf? — Where is the station?

A preposition can make the relationship more exact. A preposition is a short linking word such as “from,” “to,” or “with”:

• O ble dych chi’n dod? — Where are you from? / Where do you come from?
• I ble mae hi’n mynd? — Where is she going?

In informal English, “where” alone can cover both location and destination. Welsh also often allows this in context, but o ble/lle and i ble/lle are useful when you want to be precise.

Pryd: asking “when?”

Use pryd to ask for a time, day, date, or occasion:

• Pryd mae’r trên yn gadael? — When does the train leave?
• Pryd fyddi di’n barod? — When will you be ready?

Do not confuse pryd with pan. Pryd asks a direct or embedded question; pan joins information and means “when” in the sense of “at the time that”:

• Pryd mae hi’n dod? — When is she coming?
• Pan fydd hi’n dod, byddwn ni’n bwyta. — When she comes, we will eat.

Sut: asking “how?”

Use sut for someone’s condition, the way something happens, or a method:

• Sut wyt ti? — How are you?
• Sut mae hwn yn gweithio? — How does this work?
• Sut dych chi’n dweud “thank you” yn Gymraeg? — How do you say “thank you” in Welsh?

For “what kind of…?”, Welsh normally switches to pa fath o…?, literally “which kind of…”:

• Pa fath o gerddoriaeth wyt ti’n ei hoffi? — What kind of music do you like?

Pam: asking “why?”

Use pam to ask for a reason:

• Pam wyt ti’n dysgu Cymraeg? — Why are you learning Welsh?
• Pam mae’r drws ar agor? — Why is the door open?

Answers commonly begin with achos or oherwydd, both meaning “because” in ordinary contexts:

• Achos dw i’n byw yng Nghymru. — Because I live in Wales.

English learners sometimes repeat “why” in an answer. Welsh follows the same logic as natural English: ask with pam, answer with achos/oherwydd.

Faint: asking about amount, number, and price

Use faint by itself when the thing being measured is already clear:

• Faint ydy e? — How much is it?
• Faint wyt ti eisiau? — How much do you want?

Before a stated noun, the usual pattern is faint o + noun:

• Faint o blant sydd yn y dosbarth? — How many children are in the class?
• Faint o amser sydd gyda ni? — How much time do we have?

The o is essential to the standard pattern. The noun may refer to countable items, such as children, or an uncountable amount, such as time.

Pa: the useful “which?” word

Although the core set is often taught first, you will quickly meet pa, meaning “which?” or “what?” when choosing or specifying a noun:

• Pa un wyt ti eisiau? — Which one do you want?
• Pa fws sy’n mynd i’r ganolfan? — Which bus goes to the centre?

Pa can cause soft mutation, a change to the first consonant of the following word: bws becomes fws. Learn frequent combinations as complete units. Pa mor + adjective asks “how + adjective”: Pa mor bell? “How far?”

Why some verbs change after a question word

Welsh direct questions may contain the trace of an interrogative particle—an old or unstressed question marker—which can cause soft mutation. Soft mutation changes the first consonant of the next word. This is especially visible with some inflected verbs:

• Pryd ddaeth hi? — When did she come? (daeth → ddaeth)
• Beth ddigwyddodd? — What happened? (digwyddodd → ddigwyddodd)
• Sut gest ti hynny? — How did you get that? (cest → gest)

This does not mean mechanically mutating the first word after every question word. Common forms of bod “to be,” such as mae, wyt, and ydy, belong to their own question patterns, and pwy sy… has its own structure. At A1, memorise frames such as Ble mae…?, Pwy sy’n…?, and Beth ydy…?. The mutation pattern becomes easier as you learn more verb forms.

Examples in Context

Welsh	English	Note
Beth ydy hyn?	What is this?	Identifying a thing
Beth mae hi’n ei ddarllen?	What is she reading?	Beth is the missing object
Pwy sy’n dod?	Who is coming?	Pwy is the subject, so use sy’n
Pwy wyt ti’n aros amdano?	Who are you waiting for?	Literally uses “waiting for him”
Ble dych chi’n byw?	Where do you live?	Polite or plural chi
Lle mae’r tŷ bach?	Where is the toilet?	Lle variant
O ble mae’r bws yn dod?	Where is the bus coming from?	O specifies origin
Pryd mae’r cyfarfod yn dechrau?	When does the meeting start?	Asking for a time
Pryd ddaethoch chi i Gymru?	When did you come to Wales?	Past verb with soft mutation
Sut wyt ti heddiw?	How are you today?	Asking about condition
Sut mae’r peiriant yn gweithio?	How does the machine work?	Asking about method
Pam wyt ti’n dysgu Cymraeg?	Why are you learning Welsh?	Asking for a reason
Faint ydy e?	How much is it?	A natural price question when the item is clear
Faint o blant sydd yma?	How many children are here?	Faint o + noun
Pa un sy’n well gen ti?	Which one do you prefer?	Choosing between options

Common Mistakes

Copying English “do” into the question

• Wrong: Ble gwneud ti byw?
• Right: Ble wyt ti’n byw?
• Why: Welsh uses the question form of bod plus yn and a verb-noun here. It does not add a verb corresponding to English auxiliary “do.”

Using mae when pwy is the subject

• Wrong: Pwy mae’n dod?
• Right: Pwy sy’n dod?
• Why: When “who” performs the action, use pwy sy/sydd… in the present. Sy’n already links that subject to the action.

Using pan for a question

• Wrong: Pan mae’r bws yn cyrraedd?
• Right: Pryd mae’r bws yn cyrraedd?
• Why: Pryd asks “when?”; pan introduces a clause meaning “when/at the time that.”

Leaving out o after faint

• Wrong: Faint plant sydd yma?
• Right: Faint o blant sydd yma?
• Why: Before a noun, use the standard frame faint o + noun.

Mixing ti and chi verb forms

• Wrong: Ble wyt chi’n byw?
• Right: Ble wyt ti’n byw? / Ble dych chi’n byw?
• Why: Ti is singular and familiar; chi is plural or polite. Each takes its matching form of bod.

Ignoring a familiar mutated verb form

• Wrong: Pryd daeth hi?
• Right: Pryd ddaeth hi?
• Why: In this direct question, daeth undergoes soft mutation to ddaeth. Learn common past questions as chunks rather than guessing every mutation from English word order.

Usage Notes

Choosing between ti and chi

Use ti for one person in familiar settings and chi for more than one person. Chi is also the usual respectful singular form with a stranger or in a formal interaction. The question word stays the same, but the verb changes: Sut wyt ti? versus Sut dych chi?

North, south, and formal forms

The contrast between lle and ble is one of the easiest regional differences to notice, but real usage is not confined by a perfect border. You may also hear different spoken forms of bod: for example, courses can teach dych chi, ydych chi, or other locally preferred variants. Pick one consistent spoken model for active use and remain open to the others.

Formal written Welsh often shows fuller forms, such as ydych and yw, where conversation may use shorter forms. A beginner does not need to mix registers. Consistency and comprehensibility matter more than collecting every variant at once.

Natural short questions

Once the context is obvious, question words can stand alone, just as in English:

• Pwy? — Who?
• Pryd? — When?
• Pam? — Why?
• Faint? — How much/many?

You will also hear useful fixed expressions such as Beth am…? “What about…?” and Pam lai? “Why not?” These are complete conversational tools, not word-for-word copies of longer English questions.

Beyond the Basics

You do not need to master the following patterns at A1, but they explain forms you will meet later.

Questions inside longer sentences

An embedded question is a question placed inside a larger statement, such as “I don’t know where she lives.” Welsh normally keeps the question word:

• Dw i ddim yn gwybod ble mae hi’n byw. — I don’t know where she lives.
• Wyt ti’n gwybod pwy sy’n dod? — Do you know who is coming?
• Gofynnodd e faint oedd y tocyn. — He asked how much the ticket was.

Unlike English, which changes “Where does she live?” to “where she lives,” Welsh does not have an English-style do to remove. The Welsh clause continues to use its own verb pattern.

Prepositions and “who/what”

Welsh can place a preposition before a question word: gyda phwy? “with whom?”, am beth? “about what?”, o ble? “from where?”, and i ble? “to where?” In natural English, the equivalent preposition often goes at the end—“Who are you going with?”—so English speakers need to notice the different Welsh arrangement.

With conjugated prepositions, Welsh may also use patterns that literally contain a pronoun referring back to the question word, as in Pwy wyt ti’n aros amdano? “Who are you waiting for?” This is a later topic; for now, learn such sentences as whole expressions.

More precise “how” expressions

Welsh divides some meanings that English builds simply with “how”:

Welsh expression	Meaning
pa mor bell?	how far?
pa mor hir?	how long?
pa mor aml?	how often?
ers pryd?	since when?
sawl…?	how many…?

Sawl is another common way to ask for a number, especially with countable nouns. You may therefore hear both Faint o bobl…? and Sawl person…? Exact noun and number patterns deserve separate study; the key point here is simply to recognise that English “how many” has more than one Welsh expression.

Practice Tips

1. Build seven reusable frames. Say Beth ydy…?, Pwy sy’n…?, Ble mae…?, Pryd mae…?, Sut mae…?, Pam mae…?, and Faint o…? aloud, then replace only the final information. This trains Welsh structure instead of English translation.
2. Match questions to answers. Write a simple answer such as Am saith o’r gloch “at seven o’clock,” then choose the question word that would request it: pryd. Repeat with a person, place, reason, and amount.
3. Listen for whole forms. In Welsh audio, note complete sequences such as pwy sy’n, ble dych chi, and pryd ddaeth. Recording chunks will help both mutation and regional forms become familiar.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Negation and Questions — supplies the basic Welsh question forms used after question words.
• Useful foundation: Bod — Present Tense — helps you build frames such as ble mae…? and sut wyt ti?
• Useful foundation: Soft Mutation — explains changes such as daeth → ddaeth in direct questions.
• Next step: Location with Bod — expands location questions built with ble/lle mae…?
• Next step: Basic Relative Clauses — develops the sy/sydd pattern also found in Pwy sy’n…?