Welsh/Grammar/Pronouns
Personal pronouns
[edit | edit source]| English | Cymraeg | English | Cymraeg |
|---|---|---|---|
| I, me | i/fi | we, us | ni |
| you (informal/singular) | ti | you (formal/plural) | chi |
| he, him | e/fe (South) o/fo (North) | they, them | nhw |
| she, her | hi |
The pronouns listed can vary in their forms amongst speakers. In the North, the second person singular form chdi (earlier thdi from the reduplicated form tydi (thou, thyself)) is not unheard of, and some speakers retain the archaic form chwi for the plural. Northern speakers retain the objective form of the first person singular pronoun mi in the prepositional phrase i mi ("to/for me"). Some speakers retain an older form ef for the masculine third person singular. The third person plural pronoun hwy(nt) is strictly literary.
Possessive pronouns
[edit | edit source]After some there is a mutation, (soft, nasal or aspirate). If the following word begins with a vowel ei, ein and eu make it start with h instead. Substitute the ... with the noun.
| English | Cymraeg | Mutation | English | Cymraeg | Mutation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| my | fy ... i | nasal | our | ein ... ni | +h |
| your (informal, singular) | dy ... di | soft | your (formal or plural) | eich ... chi | |
| his | ei ... e/fe, o/fo | soft | their | eu ... nhw | +h |
| her | ei ... hi | aspirate, +h |
Fy can have different forms colloquially ('y(n); 'm and 'n can occur after vowels; when triggering nasal mutation, fy is sometimes dropped entirely). The rest of the possessive pronouns can also take different forms after vowels: (dy > 'th, ei > 'i (after vowels) / 'w (after i), ein > 'n, eich > 'ch, eu > 'u (after vowels) / 'w (after i)).