I’m a second language Welsh speaker and I don’t use Welsh for anything formal or official. But I have the need to use Welsh in a formal written situation. I am a bit confused between whether I should use ‘Dwi’n’, ‘Dw i’n’, ‘Rydw i’n’ or even ‘Rwy’n’. What do you think is the best, most suitable option?
I think if formal it will probably be Rydw or possibly jump straight to a verb with a formal conjugated ending. Don’t ask me what it is though …ym at a wild guess. Any takers?
As I understand it there are many levels of formality, and I welcome any corrections to this.
Ultimately Dw i’n is a lazier less formal Rydw i’n and Rwyf yn or Rwy’n is formal.
dw i’n / wi’n - informal - I tend to use this in spoken conversations, or when typing on social media I tend to use dw i’n which is “slightly” less informal and less lazy than wi’n.
rydw i’n - Informal - Adding the ry is probably the most commonly used in personal documents. It is slightly less informal and you would use this in emails, your diary, a journal, etc.
rwyf yn / rwy’n - formal - Used in school or work documents, letters, job applications, your C.V., etc.
yr ydwyf yn / yr wyf yn - Most formal - This is used in formal literature; books. legal documents,
the two key levels are rydw and rwyf with lots of twisty turny points to make it more or less formal.
I’d suggest that dw i’n, wi’n and fi’n are all equivalent for speaking (even Radio Cymru presenters) depending on geography - so, probably not lazy as such. Some youngsters seem to use Rywi’n or Rydwi’n to adults, possibly because of school, but some change back mid-conversation, when they notice the adult is using dw i’n anyway
Same as I got pushed into saying “marster” in school but then changed back to “masster” afterwards.