Hi Aran or Deborah
I am enjoying the ssiw course (South Wales)and am working my way through steadily. I have begun to pay closer attention to the way phrases are used while listening to the tape. I would like to know when to use do’n i ddim and wnes i ddim in sentences, bit confused here as they mean the same thing. Diolch yn fawr Catseye.
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Well, strictly speaking they don’t mean exactly the same thing, but both are used to form sentences in the past. Wnes i ddim means I didn’t, and do’n i ddim means I wasn’t.
The “didn’t”-form is used for verbs that describe (short) actions, and the “wasn’t”-form is used for describing states, or something that happened over a longer period of time.
Wnes i ddim cau’r drws. – I didn’t close the door.
Do’n i ddim yn gwybod hynny. - I didn’t know that.
In English, both are translated as “didn’t”, but for the second example the Welsh is closer to “I wasn’t knowing that” – which is not a natural sounding sentence in English.
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Hi Hendrik
Thanks for your help.
You might find it useful to read through some of these comments too - it’s an often asked question 
I think thats one of the clearer explanations I’ve heard, thanks!
Ay…so ‘wnes i gerdded’ is perfect tense (a completed action in the past) and ‘Ro’n i’n cerdded’ is imperfect tense (an ongoing or incomplete past action) then. Also I believe ‘Wnes i gerdded’ is the same and interchangeable with ‘cerddedais i’.
Please shout me down if I’m mistaken with any of this.
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In many cases, yes, but the “(r)o’n i’n” form is also used for internal processes like ‘liking’ or ‘wanting’ - e.g. o’n i’n moyn (S) or o’n i isio (N) is the usual form for “I wanted”
And to use the “short form” you need to know the root of the verb - cerddais i so if you can’t remember that, the wnes i gerdded form is very useful.
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Oops. Missed the spelling error in cerddais 
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