Bydded i'r hen iaith barhau?

Welsh General / Questions
#1

Why is the final line of Hen wlad fy nhadau “Bydded i’r hen iaith barhau”, and not “Bydded YR hen iaith barhau” if it’s THE old language?

Chris (Drysu o Gaerlŷr!)

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#2

I have never questioned this structure in detail, but the definite article is still in there, in the i’R. I would suppose that the phrase “May …” Just contains the preposition i, but I haven’t seen similar sentences so far.
With that, I’d probably translate “May you live long” as Bydded i ti fyw’n hir.

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#3

So does this work? Bydded i ti fyw’n hir a ffynnu. :vulcan_salute:

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#4

It’s because bydded is the imperative tense of bod which is always* followed by an i (or a form of i)

bydded i ti
bydded iddo fe/fo
bydded iddi hi
bydded i ni
bydded i chi
bydded iddyn nhw

  • except in the impersonal, which is just bydded + a verb.

And it’s more “let” rather than “may” (the English translation says “Long may the old language continue” but in Welsh it’s literally saying “Let the old language continue”)

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#5

Diolch yn fawr! Dw i’n deall nawr!

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