Common Irregular Verbs in Welsh

In Brief

Four very common Welsh verbs have short, irregular past forms that are worth learning as complete phrases: mynd “go” → es i “I went,” dod “come” → des i “I came,” gwneud “do/make” → wnes i “I did/made,” and cael “get/have” → ces i “I got/had.” Their forms change with the person, and questions or negatives can also change the first consonant: Gest ti amser da? “Did you have a good time?” but Chest ti ddim amser “You didn’t have time.”

Overview

At A2, Welsh learners often build the past with an inflected form of gwneud followed by a verb-noun: Wnes i goginio means “I cooked.” A verb-noun is the dictionary form used for the action itself, such as coginio “to cook/cooking.” Alongside that general pattern, a few exceptionally frequent verbs keep their own compact past forms. You will hear es i, des i, and ces i constantly in conversations about journeys, arrivals, experiences, and things received.

These forms are synthetic: the tense and person are packed into one verb form. English uses the same past form in “I went,” “you went,” and “they went,” but Welsh changes the form: es i, est ti, aethon nhw. Welsh normally keeps the subject pronoun after the verb, so learn es i as a unit rather than learning es alone.

The beginner goal is simple: recognise and use the four first-person forms, then add the common second- and third-person forms. Mutation and regional variation matter, but they should not stop you speaking. Learn the high-frequency sentence patterns first; the later sections explain why forms such as des, ddest, ges, and ches can all occur.

How It Works

The four essential first-person forms

Verb-noun	Basic meaning	First-person past	English
mynd	to go	es i	I went
dod	to come	des i	I came
gwneud	to do, to make	wnes i	I did, I made
cael	to get, receive; to have in some expressions	ces i	I got, I received; I had

The pronouns are i “I,” ti “you” singular and familiar, e/o “he,” hi “she,” ni “we,” chi “you” plural or polite, and nhw “they.” E is especially associated with southern speech and o with northern speech, though real usage is more varied.

Past forms of mynd and dod

The first two persons of mynd begin with es-, while the remaining forms begin with aeth-. With dod, the corresponding stems are des-/dest- and daeth-.

Person	mynd “go”	dod “come”
I	es i	des i
you (singular, familiar)	est ti	dest ti
he	aeth e/o	daeth e/o
she	aeth hi	daeth hi
we	aethon ni	daethon ni
you (plural/polite)	aethoch chi	daethoch chi
they	aethon nhw	daethon nhw

Do not try to derive aeth from mynd or daeth from dod by a regular rule. Treat each set as a family of forms. The endings still help: -on ni/nhw appears with “we/they,” and -och chi with plural or polite “you.”

Past forms of gwneud and cael

Gwneud is both an ordinary verb meaning “do/make” and the auxiliary (a helping verb) used to build a very common spoken past. Cael covers several meanings, but at this level its direct past often means “got,” “received,” or “had.”

Person	gwneud “do/make”	cael “get/have”
I	wnes i	ces i
you (singular, familiar)	wnest ti	cest ti
he	gwnaeth e/o	cafodd e/o
she	gwnaeth hi	cafodd hi
we	gwnaethon ni	cawson ni
you (plural/polite)	gwnaethoch chi	cawsoch chi
they	gwnaethon nhw	cawson nhw

You may also meet gwnes i and gwnest ti, especially in more careful paradigms or after words that do not trigger the loss of g. Everyday bare clauses very often use wnes i and wnest ti. The table gives the forms most useful for understanding normal speech, but Welsh mutation means the initial consonant can vary with sentence type.

Using gwneud as the past auxiliary

The pattern is:

past form of gwneud + subject + verb-noun

• Wnes i ddarllen. — I read.
• Wnest ti fynd? — Did you go?
• Wnaethon nhw ddim ateb. — They didn’t answer.

Only gwneud carries the past tense and agrees with the subject. The main action stays as a verb-noun. It commonly undergoes soft mutation (a regular change to its first consonant): darllen becomes ddarllen, mynd becomes fynd, and coginio becomes goginio. Some initial letters show no visible change.

For the four verbs in this article, both a direct irregular past and a gwneud past may be possible:

Direct irregular past	Past with gwneud	Meaning
Es i.	Wnes i fynd.	I went.
Des i.	Wnes i ddod.	I came.
Ces i anrheg.	Wnes i gael anrheg.	I got a present.

The short direct forms are extremely common and are the focus here. The gwneud versions are useful too, particularly when a speaker wants to use the general past pattern or place emphasis differently. There is no need to force a sharp English translation difference between every pair.

Questions and negatives

A yes/no question usually has verb-first order, just like a statement; speech melody, context, and the question mark in writing signal the question. Mutation often supplies an extra clue. The practical second-person question forms are:

• Est ti ...? — Did you go ...?
• Ddest ti ...? — Did you come ...?
• Wnest ti ...? — Did you do/make ...? / Did you [verb] ...?
• Gest ti ...? — Did you get/have ...?

Notice d → dd in ddest and c → g in gest. These are soft mutations. Dd represents one Welsh sound, like the voiced “th” in English this.

For a negative, place ddim after the subject:

• Es i ddim. — I didn’t go.
• Ddes i ddim. — I didn’t come.
• Wnes i ddim gweithio. — I didn’t work.
• Ches i ddim ateb. — I didn’t get an answer.

With cael, the negative commonly has aspirate mutation, c → ch: ces i becomes ches i and cafodd hi becomes chafodd hi. A negative gwneud form plus a verb-noun is especially useful: Wnaethon nhw ddim ateb literally has the structure “did-they not answer.” Unlike English, Welsh does not add a separate word corresponding exactly to English did before an unchanged subject; person is already shown by wnaethon.

Examples in Context

Welsh	English	Note
Es i i'r siop ddoe.	I went to the shop yesterday.	Direct past of mynd
Aethon ni i Gaerdydd ar y trên.	We went to Cardiff by train.	First consonant of Caerdydd mutates after i
Est ti i'r cyfarfod?	Did you go to the meeting?	Familiar singular question
Es i ddim allan neithiwr.	I didn’t go out last night.	ddim makes the clause negative
Des i adre am chwech.	I came home at six.	Direct past of dod
Ddest ti adre'n hwyr.	You came home late.	Mutated spoken form; context makes it a statement here
Daeth hi â choffi i ni.	She brought us coffee.	Literally “she came with coffee”
Ddaethon nhw ddim ddoe.	They didn’t come yesterday.	Mutated initial in a negative clause
Wnes i goginio swper.	I cooked supper.	gwneud used as a past auxiliary
Wnest ti weld y neges?	Did you see the message?	Soft mutation changes gweld to weld
Gwnaeth hi gacen i'r parti.	She made a cake for the party.	Lexical gwneud, “make”
Wnaethon nhw ddim ateb.	They didn’t answer.	Negative auxiliary pattern
Ces i anrheg pen-blwydd.	I got a birthday present.	Direct past of cael
Gest ti amser da?	Did you have a good time?	Soft-mutated question form
Ches i ddim cyfle i orffen.	I didn’t get a chance to finish.	Aspirate mutation in the negative

Common Mistakes

Using the first-person form for everyone

• Wrong: Es ti i'r gwaith.
• Right: Est ti i'r gwaith.
• Why: Welsh past forms agree with the subject. Es i is “I went,” but familiar singular “you went” is est ti.

Copying English “did” into a direct irregular past

• Awkward target for the basic pattern: Wnes i es i i'r siop.
• Right: Es i i'r siop.
• Also right: Wnes i fynd i'r siop.
• Why: Do not combine two finite past forms. Use either direct es i, or past gwneud plus the verb-noun fynd.

Forgetting ddim

• Wrong: Wnes i ateb when you mean “I didn’t answer.”
• Right: Wnes i ddim ateb.
• Why: In the everyday negative pattern, ddim follows the subject. Without it, the sentence is affirmative.

Ignoring mutation in cael questions and negatives

• Less natural: Cest ti amser da? / Ces i ddim ateb.
• Expected: Gest ti amser da? / Ches i ddim ateb.
• Why: Questions normally soft-mutate c to g, while negatives commonly aspirate-mutate it to ch. These changes are audible and meaningful even when the rest of the sentence stays the same.

Translating cael as “have” every time

• Misleading translation: Ces i lythyr = “I had a letter.”
• Better here: Ces i lythyr = “I got/received a letter.”
• Why: Cael has several uses. English chooses “get,” “receive,” “have,” or another expression according to context; there is no single translation that works everywhere.

Usage Notes

Spoken Welsh varies by region. In parts of the north, you may hear dois i and doist ti alongside southern or more widely taught des i and dest ti. Pronouns also vary, especially o versus e for “he.” These are normal dialect differences, not careless Welsh. Choose one model for your own speaking, but train yourself to recognise the common alternatives.

Particles such as mi and fe can introduce affirmative statements: Mi es i or Fe es i. They are frequent in some varieties and absent in others. Mutation after a particle, or the historical effect of a particle that is no longer spoken, helps explain why initial consonants vary. For practical conversation, whole chunks such as Gest ti...?, Ches i ddim..., and Wnaethon nhw ddim... are more useful than trying to reconstruct every omitted particle while speaking.

Adre “home/homewards” is especially common in speech, while gartref often means “at home.” As in English, movement and location can call for different expressions: Des i adre “I came home,” but Ro'n i gartref “I was at home.”

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master all of this at A2, but these forms connect to several larger parts of Welsh grammar.

First, formal and literary Welsh has additional synthetic forms that differ from the everyday spoken forms taught here. In formal writing you may encounter forms such as euthum “I went.” Recognise these as members of the same verb system; do not replace your useful conversational es i with them unless the register calls for it.

Second, cael develops well beyond “get.” It can express permission, as in Ga i fynd? “May I go?”, and it helps form passive meanings, as in Cafodd hi ei geni ym Mangor “She was born in Bangor.” Those constructions have their own patterns and should be learned separately rather than inferred from ces i alone.

Third, a direct past and a gwneud past are not always chosen mechanically. Region, rhythm, emphasis, and the individual verb all influence what sounds natural. The direct forms of mynd, dod, and cael remain particularly frequent because they are short and deeply established. Meanwhile, the gwneud + verb-noun pattern lets you handle a huge number of other verbs without memorising a separate past paradigm for each one.

Finally, negative and interrogative mutations belong to a broader Welsh system. Advanced learners will meet more formal particles and will see that mutation can mark clause type even when the particle itself is omitted. At beginner level, the safest approach is lexical: store the complete contrast ces i / gest ti? / ches i ddim and notice the pattern after it has become familiar.

Practice Tips

1. Learn in person-sized rows. Say four mini-sets aloud: es i, des i, wnes i, ces i; then est ti, dest ti, wnest ti, cest ti. Add the third-person forms only when the first two rows feel automatic.
2. Build three-way contrasts. For each verb, make an affirmative, a question, and a negative: Ces i docyn. Gest ti docyn? Ches i ddim tocyn. This practises word order, mutation, and ddim together.
3. Tell a one-minute yesterday story. Use prompts such as where you went, who came, what you did, and what you got. Record yourself, then check that every finite verb is followed by the correct subject pronoun.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Past Tense with Gwneud — provides the general spoken pattern wnes i + verb-noun, which helps you contrast direct irregular forms with the auxiliary past.
• Next step: Cael — Multiple Uses — expands cael into permission, passive constructions, and meanings beyond “get.”