My dull brain is getting confused. I think I’m hearing, about 4.4 minutes in, “I thought it was fairly good.” as O’n i’n meddwl bod o’n eitha da. Then about 10. 4 minutes in, “I thought it was fairly good.” as “O’n i’n meddwl bo hi’n eitha da.” And also, “I thought it was complete rubbish” as "O’n i’n meddwl fod o’n sothach llwyr.’ But also, “I thought it was absolute rubbish” as “O’n i’n meddwI bo hi’n sothach llwry.” I guess I’m confused about bo hi’n and fod o’n. I’m stuck actually. Anyone want to pry me out of this challenge?
The soft mutation with bod here is the same as lots of other masculine/feminine mutations.
i.e. Dwi’n ei garu fo / dwi’n ei charu hi.
Dwi 'di ei ddwyn o / dwi 'di ei dwyn hi.
So … “… (ei) fod o …” / “… (ei) bod hi …”
The “ei” is often dropped but the mutation remains.
I hope this makes sense.
Hmm. I’m really sorry to say that I’m still lost. But I’m still going to keep re reading your reply and hopefully it will sink in
Ok, so in a sentence that refers to a masculine person or thing you’ll get a soft mutation if it can.
e.g. I love him … dwi’n (ei) garu fo
His head … (ei) ben o.
In a sentence that refers to a feminine person or thing you’ll get an aspirate mutation if it can.
e.g. I love her … dwi’n (ei) charu hi
Her head … (ei) phen hi.
The word we use for “that” (bod) uses the same type of mutation. So …
I thought (that) it was fairly good (a masculine it) … On i’n meddwl (ei) fod o’n eitha da.
I thought (that) it was fairly good (a feminine it) … On i’n meddwl (ei) bod hi’n eitha da.
The letter B isn’t effected by an aspirate mutation so bod stays as bod.
Ohhhh. Okay, that’s much clearer to me now. Thank you!
Thank Thor for that. I’m not very good at explaing things and was struggling to think how else to try.
So I’ve gone back and listened to Level 2 Challenge 20 again, and, not to belabor the topic but, are all the following correct then? So when I’m repeating after Aran, does it matter if I’m saying bod hi’n or fod o’n when it’s only in a random sentence in the challenge and not really part of a conversation to determine whether “it” is masculine or feminine? (If the sentence is about a film (feminine?) then it would be bod hi’n? Or, about pel-droed (masculine) it would be fod o’n?) Do I have that right?
O’n i’n meddwl fod o’n eitha da
O’n i’n meddwl bo hi’n eitha da
O’n i’n meddwl bod hi’n sothach llwyr
O’n i’n meddwl fod o’n sothach llwyr
Yes, those are correct.
Yes, spot on!
No, it doesn’t really. Although these mutated forms are the grammatically correct way to do it, it’s common in colloquial Welsh to also hear “bo hi”, “bod o” (or “bod e” in Southern dialect), without any mutation at all, so if you can get the mutations in, great, if not, don’t worry about it too much.
Okay, Thank you. It’s helpful to know that I think I got it right. I’m trying not to overthink what I’m saying, but at the same time, I feel I have to understand how it works so I can say it as correctly as I can.