I have just taken delivery of a coffee mug from paned.cymru with a lot of Welsh expressions printed on it. It is really nice and I am looking forward to useful revision with my regular cups of coffee. However, I believe that most of the expressions are more likely to be used in South Wales (I am from South Wales). Are the following examples of expressions most likely heard in North Wales
“Wna i” – I will
“A i” – I’ll go
“Dw I’n dwlu” – I love
Is it Fyddai in northern dialect and Byddai in the south?
Rich has also said that in the south we often change “w” for “e”. Therefore can I say “Dylen i fod” instead of “Dylwn i fod” for “I should have”? and “Allen i” for “I could” instead of “Allwn i”?
Yes, I think the w or e or even a in some areas are all ok in speech.
I think fyddai is because it could be questioning or negative, or because the optional initial “mi” or “fe” is implied but dropped. Or sometimes just because every form is mutated by some speakers for fun
Bydd is a version of bod which is used as a stem - and has endings added to it - for both future (will) and conditional (would) tenses.
They have different endings…we were discussing the conditional endings on the other thread.
The future endings go…
Bydda i - I will
Byddi di - you will
Bydd e. - he will
Bydd hi - she will
It is quite common on the ‘I’ form, for the space to be ‘removed’ in speech and sometimes in writing, to give Byddai (something which in theory is potentially confused with the he/ she form of the conditional but context means it isn’t).
Iestyn is particularly fond of this on the southern course - ending up with something that sounds like ‘ai’, in various ‘I’ forms - this and other situations too.
As John says there are a number of reasons why the beginning is softened which can apply north or south…
I think that Dwlu can be a crazy love or infatuation. Also I’ve seen it referring to an innocent sacrificial love. Now you’ve got me interested in looking into it.
Thank you pawb. I guess it’s not unusual to hear speech that is not strictly in accordance with rules of grammar. As someone who’s main goal is to become an adequate Welsh speaker I’ll stick with what I’m hearing in the SSiW lessons and I’ll try not to get too “worked up” about the grammar. In those lessons I’m hearing:
Bydden i and Bydden ti for I would and you would
Fydden i and Fydden ti for I wouldn’t and you wouldn’t
Dylen i and Dylet ti for I should and you should
Ddylen i and Ddylet ti for I shouldn’t and you shouldn’t
In the north you also have the particle “mi” which is often found in front of positive forms of the verb. This causes a soft mutation. For example:
Mi fydda i
Mi fyddi di
Mi fydd o/hi etc
However, the “mi” is often dropped in colloquial speech but the mutation remains! (One of the things I love about Welsh is the way that invisible words that are no longer present can still cause mutations! )
Ah. Now I’ve found myself using this word in a message back to Aled Hughes
Anyway, I heard that youngsters were being criticised for using lyfio; but someone stuck up for them saying that it was probably because they were reluctant to use “caru” when talking about a thing rather than a person.
I tend to use wrth fy modd â rather than dwlu, which always seems a bit twee for my liking. Lyfo would be reserved for if I’m talking really informally with my daughter and/or her friends (and they’re probably cringing inside at the old bloke using such a word!).
I watch quite a lot of Hansh and am also slightly concerned young people will jyst crinjo at the Welsh I’m acquiring from them. Technically I’m a millenial but I don’t think I can really pass…
No, it’s pretty standard across Wales, and yes it does mean ‘means’ although it’s often translate as ‘way’ as in “to find a way of doing something” = cael modd i wneud rhwybeth.