The Welsh Verb Bod (To Be) — Every Form, Every Tense, With Tables

If you learn one thing in Welsh, make it bod. The verb "to be" appears in almost every Welsh sentence. Welsh overwhelmingly uses periphrastic constructions — Mae e'n rhedeg (He is running) rather than a single conjugated verb — which means bod carries the tense, person, and mood for most of what you'll say.

This guide gives you every form of bod you need for spoken Welsh: affirmative, negative, and interrogative across all main tenses. For the broader grammar context, see our Welsh grammar beginner's guide.

Present Tense

The present tense of bod is the first thing to learn. Note that Welsh uses different forms for statements, questions, and negatives — you can't just add a question mark.

Affirmative (Statements)

Note: Mae is used for third-person statements. Dw/Dyn/Dych are used for 1st and 2nd person. Don't mix them — Mae fi is incorrect.

Negative

The negative uses ddim (not) — notice the soft mutation on dim → ddim. See the Welsh mutations guide for why.

Questions and Answers

This is the Welsh "yes/no" system — you echo the verb form. Wyt ti'n hapus? → Ydw (Yes, I am) or Nac ydw (No, I'm not). Each tense has its own answer forms.

Past Tense (Imperfect)

The imperfect describes past states and ongoing past actions: "I was," "she was working."

Answers: Oeddwn / Nac oeddwn (for I), Oedd / Nac oedd (for he/she), etc.

Future Tense

Notice the pattern: negatives and questions use soft mutation on the initial b → f. This is systematic — B for affirmative, F for negative/question.

Conditional

Used for "would" statements. There are two common sets of forms — both are widely used.

Negative: Faswn i ddim / Fyddwn i ddim (I wouldn't). Questions: Faswn i? / Fyddwn i? (Would I?).

How Bod Powers Welsh Sentences

Understanding why bod is so central helps you see how Welsh works. Most Welsh sentences use the pattern:

Bod form + subject + yn + verbnoun/adjective

• Mae Siân yn gweithio — Siân is working
• Roedd y plant yn chwarae — The children were playing
• Bydda i yn mynd — I will be going (= I will go)
• Mae hi yn hapus — She is happy

The yn particle connects bod to what follows. Before a consonant it's often written 'n: Mae hi'n hapus. Before a vowel it stays as yn.

This pattern means that changing tense is just a matter of swapping the bod form — the rest of the sentence stays the same:

• Mae e'n gweithio — He is working
• Roedd e'n gweithio — He was working
• Bydd e'n gweithio — He will be working
• Basai fe'n gweithio — He would be working

Master the bod forms and you can express almost anything. It's the single highest-return investment in Welsh grammar. For mutation rules that interact with bod, see our complete Welsh mutations guide.