Alternative ways to say same thing?

Welsh General / Questions
#1

I am confused about alternative ways of saying the same thing, for instance - Bydda fe’n hoffi vs Hoffai fe, Sydd yn moyn or sy’n moyn and Wnes i ddim vs Do’n i ddim. Are all these interchangeable? Diolch

#2

  1. Many tenses in Welsh can be constructed in two ways: One is to conjugate the verb (in this case hoffi) directly, which is called short form. In the long form you conjugate the auxiliary verb bod in the appropriate tense and use the main verb in its unconjugated verbnoun form.
    So Byddai fe’n hoffi is the long form, hoffai fe is the according short form, and both are interchangeable.

  2. sydd yn and sy’n are also completely interchangable, just in the same way that “is not” and “isn’t” are in English.

  3. There are not quite interchangeable, as wnes i ddim means I didn’t, while d’on i ddim means I wasn’t, so the first is used to describe actions, while the second one is used to describe states. But even if you use the “wrong” one, people will still get what you mean.

1 Like
#3

Diolch, a very helpful explanation, I thought numbers 1 and 2 were as explained but I wasn’t aware of the action vs state in number 3. Diolch eto!

#4

The latest video from Nia practises this difference - Fideo 5: Wnes i & o’n i

1 Like