Hi Guys,
I’m reading a great book Sgŵp! but there is a welsh pattern that is confusing me a little.
Mae Gwenda’n dweud = Gwenda says (is saying) - pretty straight forward, but I am seeing:
Mae Gwenda’n ei ddweud. So an extra ei + soft mutation. Google translates this as the same thing.
I was just wondering what the difference is, why you would use on over the other.
Hŵyl
Gethyn
Hi Gethyn,
Yes that’s a good book…!
…literally means ‘Gwenda is saying it’ …so hopefully in context that makes sense…optionally it could have a ‘e’ or ‘o’ after the verb…
(…the soft mutation d -> dd indicates the ‘it’ is a masculine thing…which unlikely to be important )
Rich 
What @rich said.
If it’s still puzzling, then if you could find an example with a bit more context for us somebody here should be able to unpuzzle it
Oh! Well, I’ve just done Level 1, Challenge 15 (N). So, from that early perspective, I would have expected mae Gwenda’n ddweud o. But I’m starting to get a sense of the use of the possessive in these sorts of situations, and I’m wondering if my describing is the omission of the ei in speech, rather than different grammar. Is that right?
It is indeed. The soft mutation of ddeud shows the ei is implied before hand, so you’re spot on😁
Hi Guys,
Yes, I should have given the whole sentence in to start with, here it is:
Cysylltiadau yw popeth, mae Gwenda’n ei ddweud.
I think the meaning is clear enough ?
Contacts are everything, Gwenda says.
But the ei is puzzling.
The author uses this pattern with an extra unexpected (to me) ei or eu fairly regularly, so it’s been starting to stand out for me.
Any ideas ?
Gethyn
Maybe it could make clearer the reason for the patterns using ei/eu if you think of the tranlation as the less informal:
Contacts are everything is what Gwenda says
This is called “reflexive”, so “mae Gwenda yn ei ddweud” means Gwenda is saying it. This “it” refers beck to the “thing” Gwenda is saying. This is one of those moments Welsh just acts differently to English. In Welsh you refer constantly to the subject. So “ei” refers back to “mae”.
Cool. It’s good to have a name for these things for when I think I’ve got it sussed, realise later I haven’t at all, and then need to do some more research.
And thank you @gb101 for starting this thread, as this sort of thing has caused me no end of confusion too.
I think one of the reasons I get confused is because I’m locked into thinking in particular English patterns. And if I only think in those patterns, then I’m going to have a hard time figuring out a language with different patterns. So sometimes I like to make up silly contrived conversations in my head to help make sense of things. Following on from your explanation, what went through my head this time was:
Nonsense, I know, but I find it helps if I try to get the concepts straight in my head, rather than looking for an exact English equivalent. Then the Welsh doesn’t seem that strange after all. Well, that’s what I do anyway, YMMV!
Diolch pawb 