Simple Prepositions in Welsh

Overview

Prepositions are essential building blocks at the A1 level, allowing you to express location, direction, time, and relationships between things. Welsh has a rich set of simple (one-word) prepositions, many of which trigger soft mutation of the following word.

A distinctive feature of Welsh prepositions is that they can be "conjugated" — that is, they change form depending on the pronoun that follows them (e.g., "ar" becomes "arna i," "arnat ti," etc.). At the A1 level, you will start learning the basic prepositions and their meanings, while conjugated forms are covered separately at A2.

Many everyday expressions in Welsh depend on prepositions, so learning the most common ones will dramatically increase what you can say and understand.

How It Works

Common Simple Prepositions

Preposition	Meaning	Triggers mutation?	Example
i	to	Soft mutation	i Gaerdydd (to Cardiff)
o	from	Soft mutation	o Gymru (from Wales)
yn	in	See note	yn yr ysgol (in the school)
ar	on	Soft mutation	ar y bwrdd (on the table)
am	about, for, at (time)	Soft mutation	am ddeg (at ten)
â / gyda	with	â: aspirate; gyda: none	â chyllell (with a knife)
dan / o dan	under	Soft mutation	dan y bwrdd (under the table)
dros	over, for	Soft mutation	dros y mynydd (over the mountain)
heb	without	Soft mutation	heb gar (without a car)
wrth	by, at	Soft mutation	wrth y drws (by the door)
rhwng	between	No mutation	rhwng y ddau (between the two)
at	to (towards)	Soft mutation	at y meddyg (to the doctor)

Special Notes on "yn"

"Yn" (in) triggers nasal mutation with place names: yng Nghaerdydd (in Cardiff), ym Mangor (in Bangor). Before definite nouns with the article, no mutation occurs: yn yr ysgol (in the school), yn y tŷ (in the house).

Examples in Context

Welsh	English	Note
i Gaerdydd	to Cardiff	Soft mutation after "i"
ar y bwrdd	on the table	No mutation (article blocks it)
yn yr ysgol	in the school	"Yr" before vowel
gyda ffrindiau	with friends	"Gyda" — no mutation
o Gymru	from Wales	Soft mutation after "o"
am ddeg o'r gloch	at ten o'clock	Soft mutation after "am"
heb gar	without a car	Soft mutation after "heb"
dan y bont	under the bridge	With article
dros y ffordd	across the road	With article
wrth y drws	by the door	With article
at y meddyg	to the doctor	Direction
rhwng dau a thri	between two and three	Numbers

Common Mistakes

Forgetting mutation after prepositions

• Wrong: i Caerdydd
• Right: i Gaerdydd
• Why: Many prepositions trigger soft mutation. "I" (to) is one of the most common triggers.

Confusing "yn" (in) with "yn" (linking particle)

• Wrong: Using nasal mutation after the linking particle "yn"
• Right: Only "yn" meaning "in" triggers nasal mutation (with places). The linking particle "yn" before adjectives triggers soft mutation.
• Why: These are two different words that happen to be spelled the same way.

Using "â" and "gyda" interchangeably without mutation

• Wrong: â cyllell
• Right: â chyllell (aspirate mutation) or gyda cyllell (no mutation)
• Why: "Â" triggers aspirate mutation, while "gyda" does not. Both mean "with" but have different mutation effects.

Practice Tips

1. Build location sentences: Practice describing where things are using different prepositions: "Mae'r llyfr ar y bwrdd" (The book is on the table), "Mae'r gath dan y gadair" (The cat is under the chair).

2. Make a mutation reference card: List each preposition with the mutation it triggers. Keep this handy when writing Welsh until the patterns become automatic.

3. Practise with Welsh place names: Using "i" (to), "o" (from), and "yn" (in) with real Welsh towns is excellent mutation practice and builds useful vocabulary at the same time.

Related Concepts

• Soft Mutation
• Location with Bod
• Compound Prepositions
• Conjugated Prepositions