Hello! I have started Level 2 , Challenge 1 and would be grateful if someone could explain the construction of the sentence in the vocabulary list for ‘are those your children?’ ie Ai eich plant chi ydi rheina? I can’t imagine ever being able to put that together- where does ‘Ai’ come from and why are ‘chi ydi’ there …? A simple explanation would be great - grammatical explanations confuse me!
Many thanks!
Julie
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I think ‘Ai’ basically indicates the start of a question, I.e. no need to bother about trying to translate into English, and eich plant chi means the same as eich plant but adding chi gives it a bit more emphasis: ‘Are those your children?’
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Thank you for your quick and easy to understand answer!
Julie
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Don’t worry, I know a lot of people feel they’ll never string this sentence together. You’ll get there!! It’s definitely a tongue twister 
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Thank you!
Julie
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Yes - ai starts a question when it begins with something that’s not the verb. And it’s optional - you could just as easily say:
Eich plant chi ydi’r rheina?
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Thank you for that - reassuring!
Julie
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Hi Julie,
That took me back in time, say 40 years. The A is an interrogative marker in other words to show its a question. Go with the good advice you have been given and ignore the Ai. I hate grammar too. Mal
A and Ai are two different words, of course.
A (+SM) is used to signal a question before verbs with endings.
Ai is used to signal a question before anything that isn’t a verb, and that includes VNs.
A dorrodd Horace ffenestri y tro 'ma? - Did Horace break any windows this time?
Ai Horace dorrodd y ffenestri 'ma? - Was it Horace that broke these windows?
Ai torri ffenestri mae Horace yn hoffi orau? - Is it breaking windows that Horace likes best?
Both can be dropped in speech. 
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Remind me not to invite Horace round to see my greenhouse.
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He’s a blinkin’ menace… 
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How interesting- I am learning such a lot!
Thank you!
Julie
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If you watch the Welsh TV quiz show, you’ll hear the presenter say, “Ai dyna celwydd noeth?” (Is that a lie?) It’s more formal and makes the question sound more portentous and builds tension!
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Does he not say
Ai dyna gelwydd noeth?
with SM?
Wow! You are successfully learning Welsh. Keep it up!
Actually, she says Ai dyna’r celwydd noeth? - Is that the barefaced lie?, so because of the article there’s no mutation.
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I thought she said “Ai dyna’r celwydd noeth?” with article but no SM - does that sound plausible? (If not - if no SM would be surprising++ from a native speaker - maybe I’ve misheard in line with my own non-native expectations…)
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With the definite article, she’s definitely off the hook… 
Yes, no doubt it should be Ai dyna’r celwydd noeth?
A couple of points arising from that. Firstly, I typed it quickly from memory but more importantly, this is why I couldn’t use SSiW until the vocab lists were provided. I just can’t hear and remember such subtle differences from audio alone.