Patterns: Inflected endings
Auxiliary verbs like bod (to be) or gallu (can) and inflected endings like the inflected future fit into three basic patterns, with some variations within each group. The present tense of bod is irregular and does not share endings with other auxiliary verbs or inflected endings so is omitted from this page. And although the irregular verbs mynd, dod, dweud and gwneud do share some similarities, the differences are such that I feel it would be confusing to try to shoehorn them into the patterns below.
However, if you want to learn all your auxiliary verbs and inflected endings, it’s easier to learn the endings than it is to learn all the forms individually, and hopefully this page will help with that!
Note: All of these examples are in the affirmative, so remember your soft mutation in the interrogative and negative, and if you use affirmative markers those will also cause soft mutation.
Pattern 1
The first pattern is used for future tenses, I will or I will be, and for I can. In Pattern 1b, the inflected future, note that the third person singular, you, uses -ith in the north and -iff in the south.
| Pattern 1a | Pattern 1b | |
| I will: Bydd- I can: Medr-, Gall- | Inflected Future I will | |
| I | -a i | -a i |
| you | -i di | -i di |
| he (N), he (S), she | [stem] o/e/hi | -ith o/hi (N) -iff e/hi (S) |
| we | -wn ni | -wn ni |
| you (plural/formal) | -wch chi | -wch chi |
| they | -an nhw | -an nhw |
The patterns in use
| Pattern 1a | I will: Bydd- | I can: Medr- | I can: Gall- | |
| I | -a i | bydda i | medra i | galla i |
| you | -i di | byddi di | medri di | galli* di |
| he (N), he (S), she | [stem] o/e/hi | bydd o/fo/e/fe/hi | medr fo/hi | gall e/hi |
| we | -wn ni | byddwn ni | medrwn ni | gallwn ni |
| you (plural/formal) | -wch chi | byddwch chi | medrwch chi | gallwch* chi |
| they | -an nhw | byddan nhw | medran nhw | gallan nhw |
* Note that the second person singular and second person plural, so that’s you and you, can both take the root gell-, resulting in gelli di and gellwch chi.
For the inflected future, these endings can be added to any regular verb. Remember, some verbnoun stems stay the same like siarad/siarad-, some drop the final vowel like dysgu/dysg-, and some show changes within the stem like cyrraedd/cyrhaedd-.
| Pattern 1b | I will speak/talk: Siarad | I will learn: Dysgu | I will arrive: Cyrraedd, Cyrhaedd- | |
| I | -a i | siarada i | dysga i | cyrhaedda i |
| you | -i di | siaradi di | dysgi di | cyrhaeddi di |
| he (N), he (S), she | -ith o/hi (N) -iff e/hi (S) | siaradith o/hi siaradiff e/hi | dysgith o/hi dysgiff e/hi | cyrhaeddith o/hi cyrhaeddiff e/hi |
| we | -wn ni | siaradwn ni | dysgwn ni | cyrhaeddwn ni |
| you (plural/formal) | -wch chi | siaradwch chi | dysgwch chi | cyrhaeddwch chi |
| they | -an nhw | siaradan nhw | dysgan nhw | cyrhaeddan nhw |
Pattern 2
These three patterns are basically the same, but roedd- deviates in the third person singular by not adding the -ai ending to the root, (as with bydd-, gall- and medr- above) and ta- elides an ‘a’ in the third person singular.
| Pattern 2a | Pattern 2b | Pattern 2c | |
| I was: Roedd- | I could: Medr-, Gall- I would: Bas-, Bydd- I would like: Leici-, Hoff- I should/I ought to: Dyls-, Dyl- If I were to (would): Tas- | If I were to (would): Ta-, Ba- | |
| I | -wn i | -wn i | -wn i |
| you | -et ti | -et ti | -et ti |
| he (N), he (S), she | [stem] o/e/hi | -ai fo/fe/hi | -i fo/fe/hi |
| we | -en ni | -en ni | -en ni |
| you (plural/formal) | -ech chi | -ech chi | -ech chi |
| they | -en nhw | -en nhw | -en nhw |
The patterns in use
| Pattern 2a | I was: Roedd- | |
| I | -wn i | roeddwn i |
| you | -et ti | roeddet ti |
| he (N), he (S), she | [root] o/e/hi | roedd o/e/hi |
| we | -en ni | roedden ni |
| you (plural/formal) | -ech chi | roeddech chi |
| they | -en nhw | roedden nhw |
| Pattern 2b | I could: Medr- | I could: Gall- | I would: Bas- | I would: Bydd- |
| -wn i | medrwn i | gallwn i | baswn i | byddwn i |
| -et ti | medret ti | gallet ti | baset ti | byddet ti |
| -ai fo/fe/hi | medrai fo/hi | gallai fe/hi | basai fo/hi | byddai fe/hi |
| -en ni | medren ni | gallen ni | basen ni | bydden ni |
| -ech chi | medrech chi | gallech chi | basech chi | byddech chi |
| -en nhw | medren nhw | gallen nhw | basen nhw | bydden nhw |
| Pattern 2b | I would like: Leici- | I would like: Hoff- | I should/I ought to: Dyls- | I should/I ought to: Dyl- |
| -wn i | leiciwn i | hoffwn i | dylswn i | dylwn i |
| -et ti | leiciet ti | hoffet ti | dylset ti | dylet ti |
| -ai fo/fe/hi | leiciai fo/hi | hoffai fe/hi | dylsai fo/hi | dylai fe/hi |
| -en ni | leicien ni | hoffen ni | dylsen ni | dylen ni |
| -ech chi | leiciech chi | hoffech chi | dylsech chi | dylech chi |
| -en nhw | leicien nhw | hoffen nhw | dylsen nhw | dylen nhw |
| Pattern 2b | If I were to (would): Tas- | |
| I | -wn i | taswn i |
| you | -et ti | taset ti |
| he (N), he (S), she | -ai fo/fe/hi | tasai* fo/fe/hi |
| we | -en ni | tasen ni |
| you (plural/formal) | -ech chi | tasech chi |
| they | -en nhw | tasen nhw |
* Tasai can also become tase in some dialects.
| Pattern 2c | Were to (would): Ta- | Were to (would): Ba- | |
| I | -wn i | tawn i | bawn i |
| you | -et ti | taet ti | baet ti |
| he (N), he (S), she | -i fo/fe/hi | tai fo/fe/hi | bai fo/fe/hi |
| we | -en ni | taen ni | baen ni |
| you (plural/formal) | -ech chi | taech chi | baech chi |
| they | -en nhw | taen nhw | baen nhw |
Pattern 3
The inflected past is basically the same as bu-, a form of bod, but the latter uses the spoken forms of the inflected past.
| Pattern 3a | Pattern 3b | |
| Inflected past: I …ed | I have been (to): Bu- | |
| I | -ais i (-es i) | -es i |
| you | -aist ti (-est ti) | -est ti |
| he (N), he (S), she | -odd o/e/hi | -odd o/e/hi |
| we | -on ni | -on ni |
| you (plural/formal) | -och chi | -och chi |
| they | -on nhw | -on nhw |
The patterns in use
The inflected past, or simple past, is for actions completed in the past. These endings are added to any regular verb stem, and spoken forms are in brackets.
| Pattern 3a | I will speak/talk: Siarad | I will learn: Dysgu | I will arrive: Cyrraedd, Cyrhaedd- | |
| I | -ais i (-es i) | siaradais i (siarades i) | dysgais i (dysges i) | cyrhaeddias i (cyrhaeddes i) |
| you | -aist ti (-est ti) | siaradaist ti (siaradest ti) | dysgaist ti (dysgest ti) | cyrhaeddiast ti (cyrhaeddest ti) |
| he (N), he (S), she | -odd o/e/hi | siaradodd o/e/hi | dysgodd o/e/hi | cyrhaeddodd o/e/hi |
| we | -on ni | siaradon ni | dysgon ni | cyrhaeddon ni |
| you (plural/formal) | -och chi | siaradoch chi | dysgoch chi | cyrhaeddoch chi |
| they | -on nhw | siaradon nhw | dysgon nhw | cyrhaeddon nhw |
Pattern 3b, bu- is the preterite of bod and roughly corresponds to the English ‘have been’, ‘have been to’, ‘went’, or ‘was/were’.
| Pattern 3b | I have been (to): Bu- | |
| I | -es i | bues i |
| you | -est ti | buest ti |
| he (N), he (S), she | -odd o/e/hi | buodd o/e/hi |
| we | -on ni | buon ni |
| you (plural/formal) | -och chi | buoch chi |
| they | -on nhw | buon nhw |