The Welsh alphabet has 29 letters, including unique letters like "ch," "dd," "ff," "ng," "ll," "ph," "rh," and "th" which are considered single letters.
Unlike English, the letters k, q, v, x, and z are not traditionally part of the Welsh alphabet, though they may appear in borrowed words.
The letter "w" in Welsh functions as both a consonant and a vowel, joining a, e, i, o, u, and y as the language's vowels.
"Ll" is one of the most distinctive Welsh letters, pronounced by placing the tongue against the top teeth and blowing air around the sides - a sound that often challenges English speakers.
The alphabet begins with "a, b, c, ch, d, dd" and ends with "u, w, y," following a systematic order that reflects the language's phonetic patterns.
The pronunciation of Welsh letters is quite consistent, unlike English - once you learn the rules, you can reliably pronounce Welsh words. For example, 'w' when used as a vowel sounds like 'oo' in 'book'.
The letter 'y' has two different pronunciations: in the last syllable of a word it sounds like 'i' in 'bin', but in other positions it sounds more like the 'u' in 'but'.
Some Welsh letter combinations create unique sounds: 'dd' is pronounced like 'th' in 'the', 'ff' sounds like 'f' in 'fish', and 'rh' is a aspirated 'r' sound made by adding a slight 'h' breath.
The Welsh alphabet order is: a, b, c, ch, d, dd, e, f, ff, g, ng, h, i, j, l, ll, m, n, o, p, ph, r, rh, s, t, th, u, w, y. This is important for dictionary ordering and filing systems.
While 'si' in English often makes a 'sh' sound (like in 'vision'), in Welsh it's always pronounced as separate sounds - 's' and 'i'.
Historically, the Welsh alphabet evolved from the Latin alphabet but was adapted to represent sounds specific to the Welsh language. For instance, the 'dd' sound has existed in Welsh since at least the 6th century.
