Welsh Mynediad (Entry, A1) cheat sheet

The speaking test is a short paired or individual interview: greeting, personal details, simple questions, and a brief role-play or picture prompt; expect roughly 4–6 minutes of interaction.

Core formula for self-introduction: "Dw i'n [enw]" (I am [name]) + "Dw i'n dod o [lle]" (I come from [place]) + "Dw i'n byw yn [lle]" (I live in [place]) + "Dw i'n gweithio fel [swydd]" (I work as [job]).

Question formula with soft mutation after "ydy/yw": "Ydy'r tywydd yn braf?" - after the interrogative particle, an adjective or noun that can mutate takes soft mutation where grammatically triggered.

"Ydy" answers: yes = "Ydy" / "Ydy, ydy"; no = "Nag ydy" / "Nac ydy". Never answer a yes/no question with just "Ie" or "Na" when the question began with a verb.

"Wyt ti'n…?" (familiar singular) answers with "Ydw" or "Nag ydw"; "Ydych chi'n…?" (polite/plural) answers with "Ydw" or "Nag ydw" from the speaker's side.

Possession pattern for family and belongings: "Mae gen i [noun]" (I have [noun]); negative "Does gen i ddim [noun]"; question "Oes gen ti [noun]?" answered "Oes" or "Nac oes".

Numbers, days, and time in speech: "Mae'n [number] o'r gloch" (it is [number] o'clock); "ar [day]" for days; "bore da / prynhawn da / noswaith dda" by time of day.

Pronunciation rule to apply while speaking: Welsh stress normally falls on the penultimate syllable; "ll" is a voiceless lateral (place tongue for l, blow air), "dd" = voiced th as in "this", "ch" as in Scottish "loch".

Listening tasks at A1 use short, slow, clearly articulated dialogues: greetings, shopping, directions, travel announcements, and simple phone calls; each item is usually heard twice.

Numbers are the highest-frequency listening trap: "un, dau/dwy, tri/tair, pedwar/pedair, pump, chwech, saith, wyth, naw, deg"; "pump" often reduces to "pum" before a noun ("pum munud").

Time expressions to decode by ear: "hanner awr wedi [hour]" (half past), "chwarter wedi" (quarter past), "chwarter i" (quarter to), "o'r gloch" (o'clock).

Prices: "punt" (pound) and "ceiniog" (penny); listen for "[number] punt [number] deg" constructions and for "am ddim" (free).

Direction cues: "i'r chwith" (left), "i'r dde" (right), "yn syth ymlaen" (straight ahead), "nesaf at" (next to), "gyferbyn â" (opposite), "tu ôl i" (behind).

Mutation changes the sound of a word you already know, so match on the stem: "gorsaf" can surface as "orsaf" after a feminine noun or in a leniting context; "t" may become "d", "p" may become "b", "c" may become "g".

Negation is signalled by "ddim" after the verb and often by "dim" before a noun; hearing "ddim" flips a statement to negative, e.g. "Dw i ddim yn hoffi coffi".

Discourse markers that signal the answer is coming: "wel", "felly", "iawn", "reit", "gwna i" - the content word usually follows the marker, not precedes it.

A1 reading texts are short: signs, menus, timetables, notices, simple emails, and 60–100-word descriptive paragraphs; questions ask for a specific detail, not inference.

Word-order rule for identification: "Mae [subject] yn [complement]" = "[Subject] is [complement]"; "Mae'r trên yn hwyr" = "The train is late".

"Mae" vs "Mae'n": "Mae" before a definite noun phrase; "Mae'n" before an adjective or a verb-noun ("Mae'n braf", "Mae'n bwrw glaw").

Definite article is "y" before a consonant, "yr" before a vowel and before h, and "'r" after a vowel-ending word: "y trên", "yr awyr", "mae'r trên".

Feminine nouns take soft mutation after the article: "y gath" (from "cath"), "y ferch" (from "merch"), "y ffordd" (from "ffordd") - the mutation itself is a reading cue for gender.

Plural formation to recognise in text: "-aid", "-edd", "-oedd", "-ion", "-au" ("plant", "dyddiau", "llyfrau"); some plurals are irregular ("dyn" → "dynion").

Prepositions inflect for person and appear fused in text: "gyda fi" (with me), "arnat ti" (on you), "ganddo fe" (with him), "iddi hi" (to her); read the fused form as preposition + pronoun.

Negation in reading: "Nid yw…" / "Dyw… ddim" (is not), "Does dim…" (there is no), "Ni…" in formal notices; the negative word may sit at the start of the clause.

A1 writing tasks: complete a form, write a short message or postcard of 30–50 words, and answer 3–5 simple prompts; accuracy of basic patterns matters more than length.

Sentence frame for description: "Dw i'n byw yn [place] gyda [person]" + "Mae gen i [number] [noun]" + "Dw i'n hoffi [verb-noun]" - each clause is one finite verb, so keep one "yn" per clause.

"yn" has three distinct jobs to keep apart in writing: predicative ("Mae hi'n athrawes"), progressive ("Dw i'n dysgu"), and adverbial ("yn gyflym"); only the predicative and progressive use "'n" after a pronoun.

Mutation after "yn" (adverb) is soft: "yn dda" (from "da"), "yn gyflym" (from "cyflym"), "yn fawr" (from "mawr") - write the mutated form, not the citation form.

Address and date conventions in a short letter: "Annwyl [name]," to open; "Yn gywir," (yours sincerely) or "Cofion gorau," (best wishes) to close; dates use "[dydd], [diwrnod] [mis] [blwyddyn]".

Punctuation and orthography checks before submitting: Welsh uses the circumflex to mark length ("tŷ", "dŵr", "môr"); omitting it can change the word ("tu" vs "tŵ").

Question writing: invert by placing the verb first - "Wyt ti'n hoffi…?", "Ydy hi'n…?", "Oes…?" - and do not add "ydy" twice in the same clause.

Counting words in a task: hyphenated forms count as one word, and "Dw i" is two words; if the brief says 30–50 words, aim for about 40 so a miscount does not fail the limit.