I’m having trouble understanding the difference between “am” and “ar gyfer.”
From what I’ve read, “ar gyfer” is often described as meaning “for the benefit of” or “intended for.” However, in Level 3 - Challenge 4 of the Classic Challenges, there are a couple of examples where its usage doesn’t seem to fit that explanation (at least not to me—though I’m sure it does make sense!):
“Waiting for the end of the football” - “Aros ar gyfer diwedd y bêl-droed”
“Waiting for the end of the problem” - “Aros ar gyfer diwedd y broblem”
In the context of these sentences, it doesn’t seem intuitive to interpret “ar gyfer” in the sense of “for the benefit of” or “intended for.”
Could someone kindly explain why “ar gyfer” is used in these cases instead of “am”? I’d really appreciate the clarification!
The thing you need to keep in mind is that usually there is no one-to-one mapping from one English word to one Welsh word and vice versa, and this is especially true for prepositions. While ar gyfer can often be mapped to “for the benefit of”, that’s just not always the case.
Now, am is often used when there is a sense of exchange or reprocicity, but it is also used in fixed expressions, and you can also use it for aros am.
(As long as we’re on the subject of “for”, there is also i and dros: Dyma anrheg i ti → Here is a present for you Mae Jess Fishlock yn chwarae dros Gymru → Jess Fishlock plays for (= on behalf of) Wales)
For such questions I can really recommend Gareth King’s Thinking Welsh for further reading.
Edited to add: To expand on Siaron’s and my book recommendations: Of course Gareth King’s Working Welsh is also excellent, and you’ll find the pertinent info in both books. Thinking Welsh is ordered by English topics/keywords, so you can just look up the section for for, while Working Welsh is listed by Welsh keywords. So there you could start with the entry for am, and then you can follow the cross-references to the other articles.
ar gyfer is the most common way of saying “for”. In the examples you’ve given, the “for” is followed by a noun, so “for” = ar gyfer. When what follows the “for” is either a period of time or the “for” is actually “in exchange for”, then you would use am e.g. nes i aros am hanner awr, nes i dalu deg punt am anrheg santa cyfrinachol
I second what Hendrik says too - and Gareth’s Working Welsh is also really helpful for things like this
Thank you so much, Hendrik and Siaronjames, for your thoughtful and detailed response - I truly appreciate your assistance.
I understand that prepositions are likely one of the hardest aspects to map across languages. However, having some general “rules” or mental frameworks can be incredibly helpful when trying to assign a cognitive placeholder for them. Naturally, as with all things in language, there are always exceptions.
It looks like I’ll need to stop being frugal and invest in some of Gareth King’s books!
I don’t know if you’ve seen it recommended before, but Gareth King has also edited a Welsh dictionary. While it doesn’t go to as much detail as the other books, the entry for for, for example, lists the aforementioned possibilities along with one or two examples, which may help in getting a feel for the different meanings. On some trickier entries he includes “side boxes” with usage information, and it contains a very condensed grammar section, which is still very useful.
And of all of King’s books, this has by far the least impact on your wallet, so I found it to be an excellent entry point.
