Listing multiple possessions

Welsh General / Questions
1

i notice in one of the vocab units that when more than one possession is listed the ‘i have’ bit comes after the first one e.g. mae un cartref da fi, un ci ac dau teledu. Is this the normal structure when listing multiple possessions?

2

Which vocab lesson was that Stuart? I will have a listen. As I am doing Northern Welsh, I am loathe to advise of Southern constructions, but would be interested to investigate.

Hwyl,

stu

3

Well, I’ve done the Southern course, frequently speak Welsh to people in South Wales and I would definitely be loathe to give advice on such issues!

However, though as I say I wouldn’t normally think myself up to answering a question on such a matter, I have just asked a fluent speaker about the matter who said that he didn’t think that a list like that should be broken up. [Taking into account that this was outside the SSiW forum, where words like “should” are sometimes used in this context without being insults or implying legally binding situations! :wink: ]
(And the fact that if two Welsh speakers disagree on how the language is used, it is no reflection on either!)

So if Iestyn does so, I would say that the conclusion to be drawn is that it doesn’t matter whether you do or not! [Because Iestyn’s use of the language is always something to be relied on, of course!]

As I say, only reporting this as it was from a fluent speaker, as this seems to me as if it might be a very subtle matter.

4

It was in the first of the southern vocab sessions I think.

5

I sort of recall a thread on the old forum about this. If I remember correctly, the mae (obj) gyda fi … construct can also be used as mae gyda fi (obj) … So, with multiple objects you can put one after mae or all of them at the end.

1 Like
6

Right. Cashed in a few “talking about Welsh grammar” tokens tonight, which, contrary to what some people might think, I do very rarely.

Ci, cath a Cheffyl.

“Mae ci, cath a cheffyl gyda/'da fi.”
“Mae gyda fi gi, cath a cheffyl.”
“Mae gen i gi, cath a cheffyl”
“Mae ci, cath a cheffyl gen i.”

Or, without mutations and worrying about grammar and such-
“Mae ci gyda fi, cath a ceffyl”
“Mae gyda fi ci, cath a ceffyl”
And any other permutation you like.
Which will all be heard, understood and Welsh :wink:

[and that’s the simplified version ;-)]

So basically, just go with the flow and say it how you like :wink:

2 Likes