The present tense · Y presennol

Using the present tense will help you describe things that are happening now or things that happen regularly, such as:

• what you are doing today, and
• things that you do every weekend.

In Welsh, when talking about something that is happening now, we use different forms of the verb ‘bod’ (to be) to show us who is doing the action.

When talking about things that are happening right now, you will need to use the present tense.

In Welsh, if you are doing the action, start the sentence with ‘Dw i’.
It means ‘I am’ or ‘I’.

For example:
Dw i'n coginio.(I am cooking).
Dw i'n hoffi coginio.(I like cooking).

‘Dw i’ comes from the Welsh verb ‘bod’, which means ‘to be’.

The form of ‘bod’ you will need to use changes depending on who is doing the action.

Singular:

To name the person doing the action, you will need to use following form:
Mae Jac(Jac is).

Plural:

Once you know which form of ‘bod’ you need, add ‘yn’ after it.

When ‘yn’ comes after a word ending in a vowel, it joins onto that word and becomes ‘’n’.

‘’n’ is just a shorter form of ‘yn’.

Examples:

Dw i+yn+meddwl → Dw i'n meddwl(I am thinking)

Mae hi+yn+helpu → Mae hi'n helpu(She is helping)

Exception:

When you’re using ‘eisiau’ (to want), it’s different. You don’t need to add the ‘yn’ here before ‘eisiau’.

For example:
Dw i+eisiau → Dw i eisiau
Mae hi+eisiau → Mae hi eisiau

To ask someone a question in the present tense, you could use this pattern:

Wyt ti… ?(Do you… ?)

Again, you will need to add in ‘yn’ before completing the question.

Example:

Wyt ti+yn+teithio? → Wyt ti’n teithio?(Do you travel?)

To answer a ‘Wyt ti… ?’ question, you can simply say:

Example:

Wyt ti'n caru siocled?(Do you love chocolate?)
Ydw.(Yes, I do.)
Nac ydw.(No, I don’t.)

To answer in a full sentence you can add a ‘dw i’ sentence after ‘Ydw’ or ‘Nac ydw’.

Examples:

Ydw, dw i’n caru siocled.(Yes, I love chocolate.)
Nac ydw, dw i’n casáu siocled.(No, I hate chocolate.)