Impersonal verbs - Berfau amhersonol

The subject/person completing the action is not indicated in an impersonal verb's suffix.

-wyd, -ir and -id are the most commonly used suffixes for impersonal verb forms.

The impersonal verb forms can be shown as follows:

-ir Gwelir Present Tense Gwelir blodau yn y gwanwyn
-wyd Gwelwyd Past Tense Gwelwyd eira yn y gaeaf
-id Gwelid Imperfect Tense Gwelid gwiwerod coch mewn coedwigoedd

The normal sentence structure in Welsh is Verb + Subject + Object, e.g.

Rhedodd y ferch y ras.
Ysgrifennodd y bardd gerdd.
Dylai'r plant gael gwersi.

However, sentences which include impersonal verbs do not follow this pattern.

When using the impersonal tense, the object follows the verb and the subject/person completing the action is included after gan, e.g.

Rhedwyd ras gan y ferch.
Ysgrifennwyd y gerdd gan y bardd.

Note also that there is no soft mutation after an impersonal verb (unlike personal verbs), e.g.

Ysgrifennodd y bardd gerdd.
Ysgrifennwyd cerdd gan y bardd.