This one is for the speakers and learners. Speakers - thank you for your help. Learners - see if you can fill in the blanks!
The quick backstory:
I am a proud Welsh learner. And I have two quite young children (5 and 2). It would be very fun - and I would like to encourage them to feel comfortable with a bit of Welsh in our everyday lives. I canât speak to them completely in Welsh because my ability isnât there yet, and we have actually made a commitment to speak another foreign language in our home - my wifeâs first language (not Welsh and not English - weâll keep it at that for the purpose of this discussion). They are completely fluent in both her native tongue and English.
For the purposes of Welsh, I know a few easy ones and use them sometimes already (Bore Da and âAmser Codiâ in particular).
So⌠how would you say some of the following phrases and sentences?
Rise and shine
Letâs go out
Letâs go to the playground
Letâs brush your teeth
Bon appetit (or something similar)
Oh my god!
Put on your shoes
Take off your shoes
A phrase that encourages good behavior - like âListen!â
Without attempting to âfill in the blanksâ I was wondering if you watch âti, fi a cywâ on S4C, click or youtube? Itâs chock full of phrases that are helpful to parents. Also you could follow @BabyTalkCymraeg on Twitter (although it has gone quiet for a while @CatrinLliarJones) for lots of everyday useful prases.
Rise and shine - amser deffro!
Letâs go out - awn ni allan
Letâs go to the playground - awn ni iâr maes chwarae
Letâs brush your teeth - beth am frwsio dy ddannedd?
Bon appetit (or something similar) - mwynha dy fwyd
Oh my god! - O fy Nuw!
Put on your shoes - gwisga dy sgidia
Take off your shoes - tynna dy sgidia
A phrase that encourages good behavior - like âListen!â - Gwranda!
Listen to your mother! - Gwranda ar dy fam!
Listen to your father! - Gwranda ar dy dad!
How was your day at school/preschool? - Sut oedd heddiw yn yr ysgol/cylch meithrin?
Take care of your sister! - Gofala am dy chwaer!
Whatâs this? [questioning what an item is] - Beth ydi hwn?
Sleep well / sleep tight - cysgaân dawel
Sweet dreams - very idiomatic, no immediate thoughts - we just say ânos da, cysgaân dawelâ
Myself and a close friend of mine who is also learning Welsh have been using âbreuddwydion melysâ a lot to say âsweet dreamsâ. Is this wrong???
Nope, not at all! Itâs not something Iâve ever heard anyone say, but I havenât spent a lot of time eavesdropping on other parents putting their kids to bed either
My gut feeling would be that it is the kind of direct translation from the English that just isnât a part of normal idiomatic Welsh speech - in the same way that âsleep quietlyâ just isnât what youâd usually say in English - but as Iestyn is fond of saying, hey, itâs your language too now, so say whatever you want to
My 8 yo would like to know how to say to another child, âplease could I have a go on that [play equipment] after youâ? Or âplease could I play with that [toy]?â, please can anyone give a way to say that kind of thing? Weâre learning South if it makes a difference. Even better if itâs written out in english sounds as we donât really read/write yet.
Something like âPlis ga i dro ar dy ol di?â or âPlis ga i dro wedyn?â or âPlis ga i chwarae gyda hynny?â⌠sorry, Iâm no good at figuring out how the English sounds would look - maybe someone southernish could do a Soundcloud recording for youâŚ
How about
"Please guy dro ar de () oal dee?" () as in eau DE Cologne
âPlease guy dro weddin?â
âPlease guy chwaray 'da honeyâ You know the Welsh ch as in loch, of course.