A bo' fi question

Hey there
I have a quick bo’ fi question, it seems from my reading that “bo’ fi” can essentially be either “…that I am…” or “…that I was…” depending on context (it doesn’t have a tense per se)
So I am wondering, if…
“Mae’n gwybod bo fi’n dweud celwydd”
Can be both “he knows that I am lying” and “he knows that I was lying” ?

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I don’t know the technical explanation for it, but basically the tense is determined by the beginning of the sentence. So “mae’n gwybod bo’ fi’n dweud celwydd” would be “he knows that I am lying”. Whereas “oedd o’n gwybod bo’ fi’n dweud celwydd” would be “he knew that I was lying”.

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Aaah, that actually rings a bell, I’m sure I read something somewhere about sequence of tenses! Thank you!!

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Also, excuse my gog Welsh :laughing: I sometimes forget there are lots of people learning fancy southern Welsh :laughing:

(I used the word “ddudodd” while practicing with a friend who lives near Cardiff and she said I sound like “a proper gog” :joy: )

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No that’s fine, I’m learning the Northern dialect, I’ve always been quite taken with the north, especially Caernarfon :grin:

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I found the excerpt about the “sequence of tenses”…although it’s specifically talking about English here (I think)
Picture1
However, I also noticed that in Level 1 lesson 3, there are two sentences that seem to fly in the face of this…
O’n i’n trio dweud bo’ fi isio rhywbeth
I was trying to say that I want something (past - present)
O’n i’n trio dweud bo’ fi angen ymarfer
I was trying to say that I need to practice (past - present)

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Yeah, I didn’t mention that to avoid confusing you further (and because it wasn’t really applicable in the example sentence you gave originally) but the “bo’ fi” can function as either present or past depending on context.

So “I was trying to say that I needed to practice” and “I was trying to say that I need to practice” would be the same sentence in Welsh - “o’n i’n trio deud bo’ fi angen ymarfer”. Which way the sentence is meant to be interpreted comes from context.

A native Welsh speaking colleague told me early on in my SSIW adventures that half of Welsh is context.

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An example of the importance of context would be that “dysgu” is both learn and teach. If I say “dwi’n dysgu Cymraeg”, am I learning Welsh or teaching it? Context will tell you - or you can just ask!

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No no, you’ve helped loads, and I’m a sucker for biting off more than I can chew and confusing myself! :laughing: it makes total sense! (Well, inasmuch as I can currently grasp! lol)

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