Listening: times, prices, places and distractors
This section covers the Listening domain of the Welsh Mynediad (Entry, A1) exam. It tests understanding of short spoken Welsh: announcements, phone messages and simple dialogues about times, prices, directions, daily routine, shopping and travel. Tasks commonly ask you to choose an option, decide true or false, match details or complete a gap.
Core rules
- Read the question before listening and identify the detail needed: a time, price, name, place, day or action.
- Listen for numbers and time phrases: am bump o'r gloch, hanner awr wedi naw (9:30), chwarter i ddau (1:45), dydd Llun, yfory, wythnos nesaf.
- Negatives change meaning: ddim, heb, ar gau (closed), dim ond (only).
- Distractors are common: a speaker may mention two times or prices; the correct one is attached to the person or action in the question.
- Welsh numbers agree with the noun: dwy bunt, tair punt, pum punt. Listen for the noun as well as the number.
Worked example
Announcement: Mae'r trên i Gaerdydd yn gadael am hanner awr wedi naw. Question: What time does the train leave? Reasoning: hanner awr wedi naw means half past nine (9:30), not 9:00. i Gaerdydd means 'to Cardiff'; the preposition i causes aspirate mutation C → G. If the question asked 'Where?', the answer would be Cardiff, but the time phrase is the target. yn gadael means 'leaving'.
Traps
- Hearing naw and writing 9 rather than 9:30.
- Confusing chwarter wedi (quarter past) with chwarter i (quarter to).
- Missing ddim and therefore reversing the meaning.
- Assuming the first number you hear is the answer.
- Confusing dau/dwy and tri/tair, or missing the noun after the number.
- Not using the second listening to check the detail against the question.