eto means ‘again’ or ‘yet’ (context usually makes it clear which), and hyd yn hyn means ‘so far’ or ‘up to now’.
Diolch yn fawr iawn am eich ateb.
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I’m confused about Challenges vs. Structured Courses. The Structured Courses page emphasizes 6-minute-a-day lessons where the Challenges appear to be 30-minutes. Which one does a new learner start with? I don’t mind paying a subscription fee but am not sure how to proceed if I don’t.
Hi @MarkDenio . Although the challenges are 30 mins, the structured course splits these up into smaller chunks -it’s the same content. Some people find 6 mins a day is more than enough, others find they can push on and do more so that option is there if they wish. A pay-wall will kick in as the whole course is not free, so I would suggest trying the first free bit (in big a chunk, or smaller chunks, however you wish) and then decide if you want to subscribe to carry on when you hit the paywall. 
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Helo, I’m on week 21 and looking for everyone’s questions, so that I can choose one to answer and gobeithio go from green to blue). But for the life of me, I’m just going round in circles. I’ve followed the link on the Week 21 page, and I’ve listened to some people’s answers … nice to hear people … But I can’t locate any questions? Please help.
The questions are on the “red to green” thread (where you posted your question to get your green badge) Going GREEN - week 19 'QUESTION' recording **Red to Green badge** ❇ (Awarded Mondays)
But remember, don’t put your answer there, upload your answer on the “green to blue” page (that’ll be the link on the week 21 page)
Sorry, I’ve only just spotted your reply. Thanks for your explanation. That has helped.
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Hi, I am struggling with challenge 4. It seems like whenever ‘that’ is in the English sentence I get confused with the Welsh! Partly it was that I was getting used to ‘bod’ being something to do with the verb to be, as in Dwi wedi bod yn dysgu. Does bod mean both ‘been’ and ‘that’ - like a homonym? I was also struggling with when to say bod and when to say bo fi but i can see that there have been other questions about that on this thread, so i think i understand now… good to know i am not the only one having trouble with ‘that’.
I also have a question about when to use ‘i’ for ‘to’, I noticed that mae gen i rhywbeth i dweud has an i before the dweud. But often there is no ‘to’ eg ‘I want to say something’ is ‘dwi isio dweud rhywbeth’…? Sorry if I have spelled the Welsh wrong! thanks.
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one last confusing thing about ‘that’ sorry…I noticed that ‘I think I must’ has a bod in it, but ‘I think I’d like’ doesn’t? Can you sometimes just not say the ‘that’, like you can in English?
“that” can be particularly confusing for learners because whereas English has one word (“that”), Welsh actually has three.
bod is used when the bit after the “that” would start with a present form of the verb bod if it wasn’t the second part of the sentence e.g. I must = Mae rhaid i fi, so: I think (that) I must = Dwi’n meddwl bod rhaid i fi
If the word following the “that” is any other verb form, we use “y” e.g. I would like = byddwn i hoffi/byswn i hoffi/hoffwn i - these are conditional tenses, not present tense of ‘bod’, so: I think (that) I must = Dwi’n meddwl y byddwn i etc. It’s very easy not to hear that little ‘y’ though, so it might sound like it’s not there!
The third way is for when the bit after the “that” doesn’t start with a verb at all - what is called a focused sentence, and for these we use taw in Southern Welsh and mai in Northern Welsh.
So really, it’s English that can get away with dropping the “that”, but with Welsh it’s always put in.
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Although in English we use “to” in both of those, there is a bit of a twist here in Welsh. The “to” is usually incorporated into the verb itself (as in dwi isio dweud rhywbeth) unless we are implying a reason (e.g. “in order to…” as in dwi wedi dod â llyfr i darllen" = I’ve brought a book to read = I’ve bought a book in order to read). The other sentence uses “i” because although “i” usually does mean “to”, it can also mean “for”, and that’s what is happening in “mae gen i rhywbeth i dweud” = I’ve got something for saying… which of course doesn’t sound right in English, so we translate it as “something to say”.
Hope that helps!
Thanks Siaron! I understand the ‘to/i’ thing now. Still a bit confused by ‘that/bod’ but I’ll try not to get hung up on it…
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Hi all, here are my first 2 questions:
I started with the old course and have now moved on to level 1 which I completed today.
I hope I haven’t missed the answers in the course so far as I’ve done it quite quickly in 2 months.
Q1. In the old course I recall that all past tense sentences began with wnes i, whereas in level 1 some past tense sentences begin with o’n i’n. Can wnes i be used in front of all verbs for the past tense to keep it simpler?
Q2, Why when verbs like aros, bwyta, yfed, etc mean to wait, to eat, to drink etc, is the welsh word i (to) placed before these verbs in some sentences. i.e. dwi’n moyn rhywbeth i yfed? To me this translates as ‘I want something to to eat’.
Any help greatly appreciated.
Q1.
This causes confusion for a lot of people - there are numerous posts on the forum about it (you can find them with the search function - worth a look as different people have different ways of explaining it, and whilst one may not make it easier to remember, another will).
Having said that, here’s the basic difference -
Wnes i ddim is used for actions that were over and done with. Do’n i ddim is used with ‘state’ verbs where the state was continuing (e.g. thinking, knowing). Gradually you’ll get used to hearing which verbs generally always go with wnes i and which ones generally always go with do’n i, but until then, try not to overthink it, just try to let it absorb - it will do eventually, honest!
Q2,
Don’t try to translate word-for-word, it often just muddles things even more! ‘i’ can be lots of different things and mean lots of different things. When it comes before a verb like you mentioned, it is acting as a conjunction (not as the preposition ‘i’='to), and it’s used when some idea of purpose is intended - you can think of it as saying “in order to” if it helps. E.g. dwi’n moyn rhywbeth i yfed = I want something (in order to) drink.
Again, you’ll gradually get used to hearing phrases where it’s used and ones where it isn’t, and these will sink in subconsciously too.
Hope that helps
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What an amazingly quick response, many thanks. I’ve only just come on to the forum so thanks for your advice on how to use it.
regards Pete
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You’re welcome, it’s what the forum community is all about - advice, support, and encouragement
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Hi, started the course ten days ago and find for long sentences I’m having to use the pause button for a good few seconds. Its as much trying to remember the English sentence as it is translating. I get the impression I should be speaking the Welsh part without thinking about it too much.
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I think that’s fine or just translate out loud what you recall. You’re definitely not expected to do it without thinking, but probably best not to overthink to the point when you are spending a lot of time before starting to speak.
One of the main things is that you are starting to build sentences rather than single words or short phrases. So you are doing great.
Thanks for that John, hopefully my brain will speed up!
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Hello everyone,
I just hit Level 1 Challenge 12, and I’m still repeatedly having trouble distinguishing when to use “Rhaid i mi [gwneud rhwybeth]” and when to use “Dw i angen [gwneud rhybeth]”.
For example:
The recording prompted: “But I still need to improve.”
I replied: “Mae dal rhaid i mi wella.”
The recording said: “Dw i dal angen gwella.”
Can both patterns be used for “I need [to do something]”, or am I missing some subtle difference in meaning? If there’s a difference, how should I recognize which to use based on the English phrasing? I generally understand the other mistakes I make when I hear the correct phrase, but this one confuses me, which is really frustrating.
Thanks in advance for your insight.