Ar fin?

Helo! I didn’t see this question elsewhere in the search, so apologies if I’ve missed it.
I’m working on course 1 (Northern) lesson 25. While introducing “Rhaid i mi” it is said that the first letter of the next word is softened as with “newydd” and “ar fin”. But I didn’t recall the next word being softened with “ar fin”, so I went back to lesson 24 to give it another listen. Granted, my hearing isn’t great, but I’m just not hearing the next word being softened. Is it time for hearing aids? :flushed:
Diolch yn fawr!

There is no SM after ar fin - no reason for it. So we say, for example, Maen nhw newydd fynd They have just gone, but Maen nhw ar fin mynd They are just about to go

Your hearing is fine :slight_smile:

7 Likes

Oh Thank Heavens - I didn’t want to have to invest in hearing aids just yet!
Diolch, and have a wonderful weekend!!

1 Like

Ahem. That sounds like a tired mistake! Thanks for picking it up… :sunny:

1 Like

Sorry for this act of thread resurrection but…

I noticed ar fin (about to) when I was doing Old Course Level 1, but I’ve just been looking at aspect markers in @garethrking’s Intermediate Welsh Assault Course and there ar on its own is given as an aspect marker (about to). So:

  • Dw i ar fin mynd
  • Dw i ar mynd

both mean “I am about to go”. Obviously, ar fin literally means ‘on the point/edge/verge’, but are they interchangeable in use or register, or is there a subtle difference between them?

(I shall gloss over the fact that, according to the Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru, ar fin is an 18th Century euphemism for to have an erection, as presumably it isn’t any longer, or Aran wouldn’t have put it in the course…)

I don’t sense any difference between dw i ar fin mynd and dw i ar fynd for I am about to go - but perhaps one would wish to see what a native speaker thinks about this just to make sure.

1 Like

Thanks, @garethrking!

1 Like

I am in urgent conversations with my publishers to get this title adopted for subsequent editions. :+1:

3 Likes