In Lesson 6 of the new southern course, there is the phrase I don’t want to say anything else. In the old course, we would use dim byd rather than unrhywbeth for ‘anything’. Is this because we haven’t covered ‘dim byd’ yet? Or does this usage actually happen?
S’mae Craig!
When we use dim byd we are saying “I don’t want to say nothing else”. Using unrhywbeth is just another way of getting across the same meaning, and a useful new word to boot.
Hwyl,
Stu
Thanks Stu. I think that answers my question but it wasn’t phrased very well. 
I don’t think SSiW would teach us a construct that wasn’t used.
I’m more interested if there is a rule of thumb of when to use which or is it arbitrary.
No rules! Personal taste only.
Hwyl,
stu
Well, I’m a bit confused, too. I ran both ‘dim byd’ and ‘unrhyw beth’ past mymemory.translated.net, with and without ‘arall’, and I can’t really see where one is used rather than the other in negative sentences. If there is a difference, I hope Iestyn or Aran will help us out here.
(By the way, this is where I believe it would be more useful to have the last post rather than the first show up on the left, as many threads meander from the original subject and others continue to rumble around the point needing help, perhaps many posts later.)
I’m more interested if there is a rule of thumb of when to use which or is it arbitrary.
Can’t think of a rule of thumb off the top of my head - they’re pretty interchangeable, but probably not in every circumstance. You wouldn’t expect to hear ‘weles i’m unrhywbeth’, for example, although ‘wnes i ddim gweld unrhywbeth’ is fine, so I’d suggest that most of the variations in usage will be connected to ‘feel’ - in other words, only pickable-uppable via usage…
Showing the last post is an interesting and intriguing idea - but wouldn’t it risk people forgetting which thread it was if you only showed the last post?
Thanks for the responses everyone. Between the old and new courses, I’m finding Welsh to be very flexible.
Aran: Showing the last post is an interesting and intriguing idea - but wouldn’t it risk people forgetting which thread it was if you only showed the last post?
Oooh, I thought that was what the post title was for.
Oooh, I thought that was what the post title was for.
Okay, I obviously haven’t understood what you’re suggesting. Do you mean the title should be the original post, and the one line of text should be from the last post? Or there should be two lines of text? How are you picturing this?
Yes, keep the title showing, and the first line of the latest post (instead of the first line of the first post over and over).
It’s a hangover from my habit of zooming to the latest post in a thread on the old forum, I expect. It would help you know if people were still wanting help with grammar or if they’d gone on to exchange jokes about the colour of dinosaur feathers.
What I generally do, if I’m saying that “I didn’t see anything” I would use “dim byd” - “Welais i ddim byd”. But if I’m saying you could do anything you want, I would use “unrhywbeth” - “gallet ti unrhywbeth wyt ti’n moyn”
So, “dim byd” I would use to say “anything” in negative, and “unrhywbeth” for “anything” else! (If that makes sense?)
Yes, keep the title showing, and the first line of the latest post (instead of the first line of the first post over and over).
Ooh. That sounds a bit counter-intuitive to me, to be honest - but it’s a good point that being able to see some of the latest post would be useful. I wonder if we can think of a more obvious way to do it…