Hey everyone I just have a quick question on the future tense (not using mynd)
So when I am listening to the course on future tense i can’t tell whether the “th” sound is being used or the “v” sound is (using english sounds for all this because I can’t read in Welsh that well yet…)
For example:
I will speak welsh
buthine sharad cumraig
i will not speak welsh
thuthi vim un sharad cumraig
or should it be “vuthi vim un shared cumraeg”?
I have the same problem with you, him, and her tenses as well. I get the positive one always starts with a “b” sound but is the negative one always “v” or is it sometimes “th” sounds?
You answered by yourselves but you’re not aware of that.
B mutates to F what means you use (phonetically) v sound so the negative would be
Fydda i ddim yn siarad Cymraeg.
And for the rest:
Fyddi di ddim yn …
Fydd e ddim yn …
Fydd hi ddim yn …
So first letter you hear “v” and “dd” you hear “th” what makes things a bit tricky for “ti” at least when I’m speaking. I tend to forget to soften that “dd” part and end with “d” instead.
Just to add to @tatjana 's answer (and hopefully not to confuse you further), the “dd” sounds a lot like a “v”, but with a slight “buzzing”. Think of pronouncing the “th” in “with”. But also, usually when “dd” starts a word (often after mutating from “d”) it sounds a lot like an “L”, but with the slight “buzzing” - like when you pronounce the “th” in “this” or “them”.
At this early stage of the course, you really shouldn’t worry yourself about these though! Just trust in the method, reproduce what you hear and let everything fall into place throughout the course (trust me, it will all fall into place!).
I hope you are enjoying the course and best of luck with the rest.
Agreed. I for quite a long time all those "dd"s said as “v” sound and I believe no one put too much attention in this so you’ll surely survive if talking to someone.
Even more interesting is how some words mean different things between our two countries. Food items in particular vary quite a bit. What we call a biscuit is very different.
I had a question about the future tense…
I understand that the construction uses bydd and variations therein but my first language welsh speaking partner says that these constructions sound very strange and he would never use them.
He would use ‘dw i am mynd’ for I’m going to go (or dw i’n mynd i fynd) and he uses that in the same sense/tense for ‘I will go’ and all verb constructions. I just wondered what people’s thoughts were, particularly when it comes to writing formal welsh (as I will have to do in the mynediad exam) - presumably to write ‘correctly’ I would need to use the bydd construction??
I wouldn’t want to penalised for not using the correct form of the written welsh.
To put it in a nutshell, there are multiple ways to form future tenses, and a lot depends on personal taste. Constructions with bydd are often heard in sentences where “to be” is actually the main verb, such as Everything will be alright - Bydd popeth yn iawn
This is the so-called short form, and you can use the short-form conjugations for all other verbs to express future sentences: Awn ni? - Are we going? Tala(f) i. - I’ll pay.
The second way is to use the mynd i construction: Dw i’n mynd i drio siarad mwy.I am going to try to speak more.
Another construction is to use the short form future of gwneud plus the main action verb: Wna i drio. - I’ll try
As far as I understand it, the am construction usually expresses intent, so Dw i am fynd would translate to I want to go rather than I will go, but the lines may be a bit blurred there.
I am not sure what would be most acceptable in a mynediad course, but none of the forms above are incorrect Welsh. The “most-likely-to-be-used” in literal Welsh would be the short-form verbs, but I think that would be a bit too advanced for a mynediad course – for that, I think the mynd i construction should serve you best.
The ‘bydd’ forms occur if formal Welsh all the time. The ‘am’ construct is often translated as ‘want’, as Hendrik said.
Out of curiosity, how would you speaking partner say “I would go”?
