Welsh Orthography - Letter Names and Sound Values

Letter Names and Sound Values

"N" and "S" represent the variants in the northern and southern dialects of Welsh.

Letter	Name	Corresponding sounds	English approximation
a	â	/a, ɑː/	cat (short) / father (long)
b	bî	/b/	bat
c	èc	/k/	case
ch	èch	/x/	loch (Scottish)
d	dî	/d/	day
dd	èdd	/ð/	this
e	ê	/ɛ, eː/	bed (short) / closest to hey (long)
f	èf	/v/	vat
ff	èff	/f/	four
g	èg	/ɡ/	gate
ng	èng	/ŋ/	thing
h	âets, hâ	/h/	hat
i	î (N), î dot (S)	/ɪ, iː, j/	bit (short) / machine (long) / yes (as consonant; before vowels)
l	èl	/l/	lad
ll	ell	/ɬ/	not present in English; a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative
m	èm	/m/	mat
n	en	/n/	net
o	ô	/ɔ, oː/	Short, like "bog" in RP; long like stove in Scottish English, North Central American English and West/Central Canadian English
p	pî	/p/	pet
ph	ffî	/f/	phone
r	èr	/r/	rat (trilled)
rh	rhî, rhô	/r̥/	pray (trilled): an unvoiced
s	ès	/s/	sat
t	tî	/t/	tan
th	èth	/θ/	thin
u	û (N), û bedol (S)	/ɨ̞, ɨː/ (N), /ɪ, iː/ (S)	for Southern variants: bit (short) / machine (long); /ɨ̞, ɨː/ not found in English.
w	ŵ	/ʊ, uː, w/	book (short) / pool (long) / wet (as consonant)
y	ŷ	/ɨ̞, ɨː, ə/ (N) /ɪ, iː, ə, əː/ (S)	for Southern variants: bit (final syllable, short) / machine (final syllable, long) above (other places, short) / roses /ɨ̞, ɨː/, found in certain dialects of English that differentiate "Rosa's" and "roses", for example, General American.

Notes