- 'u (after vowels)
- 'w (after the preposition i)
Pronunciation
Usage notes
- Despite being written as u, the vowel here is /i̯/ in north Wales, making it homophonous with singular ei in all varieties of the spoken language.
Determiner
eu (triggers h-prothesis of a following vowel)
- their
Cwynent am eu blinder a’u hafiechyd.- They complained of their weariness and their illness.
Pronoun
eu (triggers h-prothesis of a following vowel)
- them (as the direct object of a verbal noun)
Rhaid sganio’r ffeiliau cyn eu hagor a’u harchwilio.- You have to scan the files before opening them and exploring them.
Usage notes
- Nhw is often added after the noun or verbnoun which eu precedes. In formal language, this is done to emphasise the determiner or pronoun. In colloquial language, it is not necessarily an indicator of emphasis, and is often included with the determiner and always included with the pronoun. The exception to the latter case is in passive constructions employing cael, where nhw is never used.
- In formal Welsh, the contraction ’u is a valid form of eu found after mostly functional vowel-final words. In colloquial Welsh, eu is often contracted to ’u after almost any vowel-final word.
- Pronomial eu and ’u can occur before any verbal noun. Before a verb, pronomial ’u is found only in formal language after certain vowel-final preverbal particles. See entry for ’u for more information.
Further reading
- R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “eu”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies