I keep seeing the verb “cael” being conjugated in two different ways - starting with either a “c” or a “g”. Are they both equally valid? Just to specify, I’m talking about a non-mutated context here.
Ces i
Cest ti
Gaeth e / Caeth e
Gaeth hi / Caeth hi
Gaethon ni / Caethon ni
Gaethoch chi / Caethoch chi
Gaethon nhw / Caethoch chi
It confuses me that these two forms seem interchangeable, even though there’s no mutation involved.
The answer may sound a bit tongue-in-cheek, but there is a mutation involved. Welsh has two so-called “positive markers” fe and mi, and their only purpose is to mark that the following sentence is a positive statement. These markers cause soft mutation. So the usual explanation is that the marker itself has been dropped from speech, but the mutation is kept.
So (Mi) ges i amser da. and Ces i amser da. are both completely fine and interchangeable.
Ah, that makes more sense now. Thank you!