Negative Relative na / nad

Negative Relatives: Na and Nad

Level 4

To say "the people who didn't come", careful Welsh uses na (nad before a vowel). Everyday speech often uses a normal relative and adds ddim.

How It Works

Careful Welsh: na / nad

  • y bobl na ddaeth — the people who didn't come (daeth → ddaeth)
  • y dyn na chlywais i — the man I didn't hear (clywais → chlywais)
  • y bil na thalodd e — the bill he didn't pay (talodd → thalodd)
  • y llyfr nad ydw i wedi ei ddarllen — the book I haven't read
  • tŷ nad oes neb yn byw ynddo — a house nobody lives in

Na and nad work for every kind of relative clause, so they replace a, sy and y alike.

Everyday speech: add ddim

  • Present of bod: y plant sy ddim yma — the children who aren't here (see sy and sydd)
  • Past: y bobl wnaeth ddim dod — the people who didn't come
  • Past of bod: y dyn oedd ddim yn gwybod — the man who didn't know

Both styles are correct. You will hear the ddim forms in conversation and read na and nad in books, on the news and in formal speech.

Same words, other jobs. Na and nad also mean "that ... not" in that-clauses (Dw i'n siŵr na fydd e yno) and after mai and taw (nad fe oedd e).

Examples (6)

  1. Beth am y bobl na ddaeth i'r cyfarfod?

    What about the people who didn't come to the meeting?

  2. Dyma'r llyfr nad ydw i wedi ei ddarllen eto.

    This is the book I haven't read yet.

  3. Mae'r plant sy ddim yma'n sâl.

    The children who aren't here are ill.

    Everyday speech: sy + ddim instead of nad ydyn nhw.

  4. Roedd 'na ddyn nad oedd yn siarad Saesneg.

    There was a man who didn't speak English.

  5. Ffoniais i'r bobl wnaeth ddim ateb.

    I phoned the people who didn't answer.

  6. Mae'n dŷ nad oes neb yn byw ynddo.

    It's a house nobody lives in.

Common Mistakes

  • Forgetting the mutation after na.

    y bobl na daeth
    y bobl na ddaeth

    Na causes mixed mutation: d softens to dd, while c p t become ch ph th.

  • Using na before a vowel.

    y llyfr na ydw i wedi ei ddarllen
    y llyfr nad ydw i wedi ei ddarllen

    Before a vowel, na becomes nad.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Negative Relative na / nadLevel 4Negative Relatives: Na and Nad

Learn This First

Negative relatives use na/nad with mixed mutation.

Words in This Pattern

nad