Dwi’n neu Dw i’n?

I’m a second language Welsh speaker and I don’t use Welsh for anything formal or official. But I have the need to use Welsh in a formal written situation. I am a bit confused between whether I should use ‘Dwi’n’, ‘Dw i’n’, ‘Rydw i’n’ or even ‘Rwy’n’. What do you think is the best, most suitable option?

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I think if formal it will probably be Rydw or possibly jump straight to a verb with a formal conjugated ending. Don’t ask me what it is though :smiley: …ym at a wild guess. Any takers?

As I understand it there are many levels of formality, and I welcome any corrections to this.

Ultimately Dw i’n is a lazier less formal Rydw i’n and Rwyf yn or Rwy’n is formal.

dw i’n / wi’n - informal - I tend to use this in spoken conversations, or when typing on social media I tend to use dw i’n which is “slightly” less informal and less lazy than wi’n.

rydw i’n - Informal - Adding the ry is probably the most commonly used in personal documents. It is slightly less informal and you would use this in emails, your diary, a journal, etc.

rwyf yn / rwy’n - formal - Used in school or work documents, letters, job applications, your C.V., etc.

yr ydwyf yn / yr wyf yn - Most formal - This is used in formal literature; books. legal documents,

the two key levels are rydw and rwyf with lots of twisty turny points to make it more or less formal.

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I’d suggest that dw i’n, wi’n and fi’n are all equivalent for speaking (even Radio Cymru presenters) depending on geography - so, probably not lazy as such. Some youngsters seem to use Rywi’n or Rydwi’n to adults, possibly because of school, but some change back mid-conversation, when they notice the adult is using dw i’n anyway :smiley:

Same as I got pushed into saying “marster” in school but then changed back to “masster” afterwards.