He said

I’ve been trying to get to grips with the various ways of saying 'he said '.

I think I’ve understood that
Ddidodd o
and
Wnaeth o ddeud
are pretty much interchangeable and both refer to a discrete event. But
Oedd o yn ddeud
means something more like ‘he was saying’ and implies something more inviting (but still in the past).

Also, it seems to me that when these are used in phrases like ‘She told me that he said’ or ‘the man who said’ you drop suth/bod/fod. But I am not sure if it’s wrong to use them, or just colloquial not to. (A bit like, ‘There’s a man down at the chip shop says he’s Elvis’ if you remember that.)

(Can I also say, on a personal punch the air moment, that for the last week, I’ve been talking with my mum on the phone in her native tongue for the first time in my life? So, thank yiu, SSi!)
Catriona

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Hi Catriona,

Huge Huge HUGE Congratulations for speaking with your Mum in Welsh!! That’s a great achievement and so lovely to hear people reconnecting on a new and in someways deeper level :slight_smile:

About he said:

the “She told me that he said” - Ddwedodd (ddudodd, wedodd <-- different forms you’ll hear) hi wrtha’ i (y) ddwedodd o - the (y) acts for “that” but is often dropped in speech.

The reason (well my understanding at least :smile:) is that “bod” isn’t just “that” it means “to be” and it’s present tense. So “Ddwedodd hi wrtha’ i (ei) fod o’n dweud” - would be: “She said that he is saying”

Does that bit make sense? (I’m not great a wording these grammatical thingamajigs)

Yes - ddudodd hi and wnaeth hi ddeud both mean - she said. The second word for word means she did say, but the meaning is “she said”. You could use them differently if you wanted :slight_smile: “wnaeth hi ddeud 'na” - she did say that (bit of emphasis) ddudodd hi hynna - she said that (bit less).

Does that help?

And yes you’re also right - “Oedd hi’n dweud” - she was saying.

:smile:

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Congratulations @Catriona, that’s really impressive.

I think that you can happily assume that because the sentence starts in the past, that the rest of the sentence is in the past as well, so this would mean" She said that he said…". Afterall, she couldn’t have told you in the past about something that he is saying now.

Similarly, you can say “Oedd o’n dweud bod hi’n sal” to mean “He said that she was ill” (He was saying that she was ill). She was ill at the time he said it. and may well still be ill, but the only thing that you know for certain is that she was ill when he was reporting the fact to you.

If you wanted to say that she is ill now, e.g. today, you would need to start in the present tense:
“Mae o’n dweud bod hi’n sal heddiw”, So, “He says that she is ill today”.

Hope I’m not confusing the issue and I’m sure everything will be clear from the context.

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Ddwedodd hi wrtha i fod o’n dweud pethau drwg amdana i - she told me he is saying bad things about me. - it’s ongoing

Ddwedodd hi wrtha i y ddwedodd o rywbeth drwg amdana i - she told me he said something bad about me.

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That is a HUGE achievement - llongyfarchiadau mawr iawn! :star: :star2:

Don’t worry too much about the whole he said/she said stuff - you’re on the right lines, and it’ll shake itself out for you via usage… :slight_smile:

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Thank you! Good to know I’m on the right lines. And thank you for your encouragement. So far I can say more to my mum than I can understand her saying, but that will start to change with practice, I hope. And at least my mum can’t get too cross with me if I keep asking her to repeat/explain :sweat_smile:
(By the way, sorry if I posted this in the wrong bit of the forum. I’m still trying to get the hang of the navigation.)

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It’s all good - we’re not overly picky about stuff like that… :slight_smile:

And yes - hang on in there, and you WILL start to understand bits - the more you speak to her, the sooner it’ll happen… :slight_smile:

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