Level Two - lesson 3 question

Welsh General / Questions
#1

Can anyone explain to me what the so means or is short for in this sentence please ‘so ni’n gweld’.
I understand ni’n as in we and gweld as in see but cannot work out ‘so’. I cannot find it in dictionary, is it short for something?

#2

It’s a little word without any meaning really, that is used in parts of south Wales to indicate a negative, and probably not in a dictionary though it is mentioned in good grammar books, e.g. those by @garethrking :slight_smile: You can put ‘so’ before everyone except for “I” when it becomes “sa”, so you get:

sa i’n mynd - I’m not going
so ti’n mynd - you’re not going
so fe’n mynd - he’s not going

etc, though it appears that some people use it without the ‘yn’ - “sa i mynd”, “so ni mynd” so you may hear it like that.

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#3

Correct, but you can also even do so fi for sa i - you certainly hear that in some areas.

So fi’n mynd I’m not going = Sa i’n mynd. I rather like it. :slight_smile:

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#4

I LOVE the variation that comes with Welsh. It makes it really belong to the ordinary people somehow!

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#5

And let’s not even get STARTED on smo… :smiley:

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#6

I thought I’d better not mention that one :rofl:

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#7

Teehee :wink:

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#8

(I don’t think anyone noticed, @Deborah-SSi - let’s move swiftly and quietly on…) :wink:

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#9

Diolch Dee.

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#10

I did notice! But I have no idea of what this smo thing could be so I thought I’d better not ask for now!

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#11

A very wise decision, Gisella…

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#12

Are there things (negatives) that can only be discussed in Welsh when wearing bardic robes… is there a secret handshake, or a special sort of wink? Thanks @Deborah-SSi for your laying out the pattern… It will spice up my soap-watching, my Bang & Bore Mercher & Rownd a Rownd sessions when I can find the time again.