Welsh/Useful Phrases

Yes and No
Welsh doesn't have a single word to use every time for yes and no questions. The word used depends on the form of the question. You must generally answer using the relevant form of the verb used in the question, or in questions where the verb is not the first element you use either 'ie' / 'nage'. "Ie" is often pronounced "ia" in northern dialects of Welsh.


 * Oes and Nag oes are used to answer questions regarding a quantity or existence of an object (i.e. the 3 sg. present indicative of the existential verb).
 * Ydy and Nag ydy are the 3 sg. present indicative of the substantive verb 'to be' used, e.g., where the sentence involves a predicate.
 * Ydw and Nag ydw are the 1 sg. present indicative of the substantive verb, used either existentially or in the case of predicates.

Days of the week
When referring to the evening or night of a particular day, Nos precedes the name of the day (and a soft mutation takes place), otherwise the name of the day is preceded by Dydd.

Common phrases
There are many different ways of saying “yes” or no, depending on the context
 * Welsh (language): Cymraeg (kum-RAig / kum-ra:g)
 * English (language): Saesneg (SAY-sneg / SIS-neg)
 * Good morning!: Bore da! (bo-re da)
 * Good afternoon!: P'nawn da! (p'nown da)
 * Welcome!: Croeso! (KROY-so)
 * Goodbye!: Da boch chi! (da BO-khi)
 * Cheerio!: Hwyl fawr! (hooil vowR)
 * Good night!: Nos da! (no:s da)
 * Please: Os gwelwch chi'n dda (oss GWEL-oo-khin dha)
 * Thank you: Diolch (DEE-olkh)
 * Thank you very much: Diolch yn fawr (DEE-olkh'n vowR)
 * You're welcome: Croeso (krojso)
 * No thank you: Dim diolch (dim dee-olkh)
 * Yes: Ie (EE-eh), Do (do:), Oes (oyss / o:s), Ydy (UD-ee) etc.

To answer “yes” you must use a response which is in grammatical agreement with the question.

“Oes...?” (Is there...?) is answered with “Oes” (Yes there is).

“Ydy...?” (Is he/she...?) is answered with “Ydy” (Yes he/she is).

“Ydw...?” (Am I...?) would however be answered appropriately with “Ydych” (Yes you are) and vice versa.

“Ie” (Yes) is used when the verb is not the initial element of the question.

“Do” (Yes I did, Yes you did, etc.) is used in reply to questions in the past tense, although in several dialects it is also used in the present tense. To contradict someone or to give a more definite “no” you can however precede the words for “yes” with “na” or “nag”, e.g. “Nag oes!” (No there isn’t!) (The opposite of Do is Naddo.)
 * No: Na (nah) 
 * (I’m) sorry!: Mae'n flin gen i! (mai'n vleen Gen ee)
 * Isn’t it? Wouldn’t it? Aren’t they? Won’t we? etc.: Ynte? (un-teh)
 * Cheers! Good health!: Iechyd da! (YEKH-id dah)