In Gareth King’s “Modern Welsh”, one of the criteria for applying the soft mutation is this: “Generally with all inflected verbs.. (but) ..this spoken usage is nor reflected in the written language”.
In my reading, I find lots of occasions where the inflected verb is not mutated, so I assume he is not just talking about literary Welsh, but also including written forms of the modern language. As an example, I see the sentence “Gorfodais fy hun i droi i ffwrd” - if I were to use this in speech, would I normally mutate the first word to “Orfodais”?
Thanks
Mike
When it comes to affirmative statements, an inflected verb doesn’t have to mutate if the optional affirmative particles “fe” or “mi” are omitted. These particles are what trigger the soft mutation. However, in common spoken Welsh, there is a general tendency to apply a soft mutation to all inflected verbs anyway, as if the particle were implied. As a result, you are likely to hear both mutated and unmutated forms in affirmative statements. For questions, it’s more straightforward, as people consistently use a soft mutation. With negative sentences, while the formal rule is to use a “Mixed Mutation”, it’s common in speech for a soft mutation to be used instead.
You will eventually get used to hearing every form and you will make sense of what is being said from context.
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Wonderful explanation and that explains what I’ve been seeing and hearing.
Thanks a lot
Mike
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You are very welcome 