Time and Dates in Welsh

In Brief

For whole hours, Welsh uses Mae hi'n + number + o'r gloch: Mae hi'n dri o'r gloch means “It is three o'clock.” Use wedi for minutes past and i for minutes to; put dydd before a weekday and often mis before a month. The essential day words are heddiw “today,” yfory “tomorrow,” and ddoe “yesterday.”

Overview

Talking about time and dates is an A1 skill that immediately helps with appointments, opening hours, travel, work, and social plans. Welsh gives you a few reusable frames rather than one direct word-for-word match for every English expression. Once you know those frames, you can replace the hour, day, or month without rebuilding the whole sentence.

The most noticeable difference for an English-speaking learner is the phrase Mae hi'n.... English uses impersonal “it” in “It is three o'clock,” while Welsh uses hi, the same form that can mean “she.” Here it is simply part of the conventional way to state the time; it does not mean that a clock is being treated as a woman.

You will also meet soft mutation (a regular change to the first sound or letter of a word). It explains why tri appears as dri in Mae hi'n dri, and why dydd becomes ddydd in ar ddydd Llun. At first, learn the common expressions as complete chunks. The pattern behind the changes will become easier to recognise with repetition.

How It Works

Asking and stating the time

A common question is:

Faint o'r gloch ydy hi? — “What time is it?”

For an exact hour, answer with:

Mae hi'n + hour + o'r gloch.

The 'n is a shortened form of yn. In this structure it causes soft mutation where a number has a mutable first consonant.

Welsh	English	Note
Mae hi'n un o'r gloch.	It is one o'clock.	un does not change here.
Mae hi'n ddau o'r gloch.	It is two o'clock.	dau → ddau
Mae hi'n dri o'r gloch.	It is three o'clock.	tri → dri
Mae hi'n bedwar o'r gloch.	It is four o'clock.	pedwar → bedwar
Mae hi'n bump o'r gloch.	It is five o'clock.	pump → bump
Mae hi'n chwech o'r gloch.	It is six o'clock.	ch is unchanged by soft mutation.
Mae hi'n ddeg o'r gloch.	It is ten o'clock.	deg → ddeg
Mae hi'n ddeuddeg o'r gloch.	It is twelve o'clock.	deuddeg → ddeuddeg

Numbers beginning with a vowel, such as wyth “eight,” show no visible change: Mae hi'n wyth o'r gloch. You do not need to analyse the mutation every time you check a clock. Practise Mae hi'n ddau, Mae hi'n dri, Mae hi'n bedwar, and Mae hi'n bump as ready-made sound patterns.

Past and to the hour

Use wedi “after/past” for a time after the hour, and i “to” for a time before the next hour:

• pum munud wedi tri — five past three
• deg munud wedi chwech — ten past six
• chwarter wedi pedwar — quarter past four
• hanner awr wedi saith — half past seven (literally “half an hour after seven”)
• deg munud i naw — ten to nine
• chwarter i bedwar — quarter to four

The hour after i is the one you are approaching, just as in English “quarter to four.” The preposition i can cause soft mutation, so pedwar becomes bedwar in i bedwar. For beginner conversation, quarter-hour and half-hour phrases are more useful than trying to produce every possible minute immediately.

Saying when something happens

To give a clock time for an event, use am “at”:

• am dri o'r gloch — at three o'clock
• am bump o'r gloch — at five o'clock
• am wyth o'r gloch — at eight o'clock
• am hanner awr wedi naw — at half past nine

Am also causes soft mutation where possible. That is why you see am dri, not am tri, and am bump, not am pump. English speakers sometimes omit “at” in informal answers (“Three o'clock”), but a full Welsh sentence about an appointment normally needs the appropriate time expression: Mae'r cyfarfod am dri o'r gloch “The meeting is at three o'clock.”

Days of the week

Welsh commonly puts dydd “day” before the weekday name. Learning the whole two-word label prevents confusion between Mawrth “Tuesday” and mis Mawrth “March.”

Welsh	English
dydd Llun	Monday
dydd Mawrth	Tuesday
dydd Mercher	Wednesday
dydd Iau	Thursday
dydd Gwener	Friday
dydd Sadwrn	Saturday
dydd Sul	Sunday

For “on Monday,” a clear standard pattern is ar ddydd Llun. After ar, dydd appears with soft mutation as ddydd. For recurring events, bob dydd Llun means “every Monday,” while bob dydd means “every day.”

To identify the current day, you can say Dydd Llun yw hi heddiw or Heddiw yw dydd Llun, both meaning “Today is Monday.” Welsh word order can move the most important time expression to the front, so do not expect every sentence to mirror English order.

Months of the year

A month name can stand alone in a calendar, but mis “month” is often added in ordinary phrases. This is especially helpful to a beginner because it marks the word clearly as a month.

Welsh	English
mis Ionawr	January
mis Chwefror	February
mis Mawrth	March
mis Ebrill	April
mis Mai	May
mis Mehefin	June
mis Gorffennaf	July
mis Awst	August
mis Medi	September
mis Hydref	October
mis Tachwedd	November
mis Rhagfyr	December

For “in January,” use ym mis Ionawr. Ym is the form of the preposition yn “in” used before m: yn + mis → ym mis. The same frame works throughout the year: ym mis Ebrill, ym mis Awst, ym mis Rhagfyr.

Basic dates

To ask for the date, use Beth yw'r dyddiad heddiw? “What is today's date?” A full spoken date commonly uses an ordinal number (a form such as “first” or “fifth”) followed by o “of” and the month:

• y cyntaf o Fai — the first of May
• yr ail o Fehefin — the second of June
• y pumed o Orffennaf — the fifth of July

After o, some month names undergo soft mutation: Mai → Fai, Mehefin → Fehefin, and Gorffennaf → Orffennaf. This belongs beyond the simplest A1 core, so it is sensible to memorise your own birthday and a few important dates first. In written schedules and forms, you will also encounter compact numeric or cardinal-number dates.

Everyday time words

Some of the most frequent Welsh time expressions are single words or short fixed phrases. They do not need a preposition when they simply tell you when an action happens.

Welsh	English
heddiw	today
yfory	tomorrow
ddoe	yesterday
nawr	now
heno	tonight
neithiwr	last night
y bore 'ma	this morning
y prynhawn 'ma	this afternoon
wythnos nesaf	next week
wythnos diwethaf	last week
eleni	this year
llynedd	last year

Do not add an English-style preposition where Welsh does not need one: Dw i'n gweithio yfory is “I'm working tomorrow,” not “I'm working on tomorrow.”

Examples in Context

Welsh	English	Note
Faint o'r gloch ydy hi?	What time is it?	Everyday time question.
Mae hi'n dri o'r gloch.	It is three o'clock.	Whole-hour pattern.
Mae hi'n chwarter wedi naw.	It is quarter past nine.	wedi marks time past the hour.
Mae hi'n hanner awr wedi saith.	It is half past seven.	Literally “half an hour after seven.”
Mae hi'n chwarter i bedwar.	It is quarter to four.	pedwar mutates after i.
Mae'r trên yn gadael am wyth o'r gloch.	The train leaves at eight o'clock.	am introduces the scheduled time.
Mae'r dosbarth ar ddydd Mawrth.	The class is on Tuesday.	dydd → ddydd after ar.
Dydd Gwener yw hi heddiw.	Today is Friday.	Identifies today's weekday.
Dw i'n gweithio bob dydd Llun.	I work every Monday.	A recurring event.
Rydyn ni'n mynd i Gymru yfory.	We are going to Wales tomorrow.	No preposition before yfory.
Roedd hi'n oer ddoe.	It was cold yesterday.	ddoe locates a past event.
Mae'r cwrs yn dechrau ym mis Medi.	The course starts in September.	ym appears before mis.
Fy mhen-blwydd i yw'r cyntaf o Fai.	My birthday is the first of May.	The month mutates after o.
Beth yw'r dyddiad heddiw?	What is today's date?	A direct date question.
Wela i di wythnos nesaf.	I'll see you next week.	Common informal future expression.

Common Mistakes

Using e instead of the fixed time expression

• Wrong: Mae e'n dri o'r gloch.
• Right: Mae hi'n dri o'r gloch.
• Why: Welsh conventionally uses hi when stating the clock time. Learn Mae hi'n... as one complete frame.

Forgetting mutation after yn or am

• Wrong: Mae hi'n tri o'r gloch. Mae'r cyfarfod am pump.
• Right: Mae hi'n dri o'r gloch. Mae'r cyfarfod am bump.
• Why: The initial consonants of tri and pump undergo soft mutation in these positions.

Counting from the wrong hour with i

• Wrong: chwarter i dri for 3:45
• Right: chwarter i bedwar
• Why: 3:45 is a quarter to four, so Welsh names the approaching hour. The number also mutates after i.

Translating “on Monday” word for word

• Wrong: yn dydd Llun
• Right: ar ddydd Llun
• Why: For a day of the week, the useful beginner pattern is ar + mutated dydd. Yn is not the general equivalent of English “on.”

Using yn mis before a month

• Wrong: yn mis Ionawr
• Right: ym mis Ionawr
• Why: The preposition yn takes the form ym before a word beginning with m.

Confusing a point in time with a duration

• Wrong: am dri o'r gloch when you mean “for three hours”
• Right: am dair awr — “for three hours”
• Why: am dri o'r gloch names the point when something happens. A duration uses awr “hour”; because awr is a feminine noun, “three hours” is tair awr, not tri awr.

Usage Notes

Welsh has regional and register variation, including alternatives in the form of the verb “to be.” Alongside conversational Faint o'r gloch ydy hi?, you may see the more formal Faint o'r gloch yw hi? Both ask the same question. Choose the model used by your course or local speakers, but learn to recognise the other.

Weekday and month capitalisation varies across publications and teaching materials. This article follows the clear learning convention used in the grammar concept, such as dydd Llun and mis Ionawr. In authentic text you may also meet lower-case forms. The grammatical pattern matters more than the typography.

O'r gloch is especially useful when stating an exact whole hour or when clarity is needed. In a conversation where everyone already knows you are discussing times, speakers may shorten an answer. As a learner, keeping o'r gloch gives you a reliable, complete expression.

Welsh also distinguishes canol dydd “midday/noon” and canol nos “midnight.” These can be clearer than a bare twelve when the part of the day matters.

Beyond the Basics: Dates, Digital Time, and Mutation

You do not need to master every detail here at A1, but these patterns explain forms you will meet later.

Traditional conversational time often organises the hour around wedi “past” and i “to.” Timetables, phones, and formal announcements can favour a more numerical style, especially with the 24-hour clock. Continue building your number skills so that times such as 14:30 are easy to recognise even when they are not phrased as hanner awr wedi dau.

Full dates combine several systems: ordinal numbers, the preposition o, and mutation. In y cyntaf o Fai, Mai becomes Fai after o. In y pumed o Orffennaf, Gorffennaf loses its initial g under soft mutation. These are not special irregular dates; they show ordinary Welsh mutation operating inside a date phrase.

Time words can also be moved to the front for emphasis. Compare Dw i'n gweithio heddiw “I'm working today” with Heddiw, dw i'n gweithio “Today, I'm working.” The second version makes the contrast with another day more prominent. Similarly, Dydd Llun yw hi heddiw places “Monday” first because identifying the day is the main point.

Finally, keep clock time separate from elapsed time. am dri o'r gloch means “at three o'clock,” am dair awr means “for three hours,” and ers tri o'r gloch means “since three o'clock.” The small connecting word changes the relationship between the event and the time, while the clock or duration phrase tells you what kind of time is involved.

Practice Tips

1. Speak from a real clock. Three times a day, say the current time aloud. Start with whole hours, then alternate between wedi and i: Mae hi'n ddeg munud wedi..., Mae hi'n chwarter i....
2. Build a Welsh mini-calendar. Write one genuine plan for each weekday using ar ddydd... or bob dydd..., and add a clock time with am. Real information is easier to remember than an isolated vocabulary list.
3. Create three timelines. Label them ddoe, heddiw, and yfory, then add two short sentences to each. This practises time words without forcing you to learn new verb forms at the same moment.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Numbers — supplies the cardinal numbers needed for hours, minutes, years, and numerical dates.