Oedd/o’n yes/no’s

So i’ve been happily going through the old & new SSIWs & happy with eg Oeddet ti’n chwarae rygbi ar y penwythnos? Do/Naddo. Went to welsh night class the other night & teacher said Do/Naddo is absolutely incorrect & I wouldn’t be understood. I thought all past tense was Do/Naddo. Is that not the case?

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Well there are a couple of points here.
Do/Naddo does get used in speech for yes/no in all past tense, although technically/grammatically the correct yes/no for a question beginning with “oeddet” is oeddwn/nac oeddwn.

So yes, whilst it’s technically incorrect in this instance, it’s not absolutely incorrect and you would be understood.

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What Siaron said. And again, funnily enough, I have just written the little entry about this very matter.

Your teacher is wrong to say that it is ‘absolutely incorrect’ - and I’m betting they would also object to do/naddo in response to wedi-tense questions. But from way back native speakers have answered wedi-questions with do/naddo, on semantic rather than formal reasons (and there’s nothing wrong with semantics - meaning is what runs the language). Dych chi wedi prynu’r tocynnau? Do. And this has spread to other past-tense questions, including oedd. Admittedly, I would tend to answer Oedd Ffred yn bresennol? with Oedd/Nag oedd, but I do think do/naddo will spread, not least because it’s simpler.

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Hmmm, mmmm, if you’re a purist, but it’s a brave person to go against the Gareth!

Sorry, all due respect and so on, but that’s just silly… :wink:

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I agree with Aran - if they told you that, then frankly they’re lying to you, I’m sorry to say - of COURSE you would be understood, and they know it! :slight_smile:

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For the avoidance of doubt: I would recommend that you answer oedd (etc) questions with oedd/nag oedd (etc) rather than do/naddo, but I would have no hesitation whatever in OKing do/naddo in answer to wedi-questions - everybody does it, and it sounds natural to all but the purists and the language police.

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Just out of interest what is the purists’ correct answer to a wedi question?

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To be fair she said for wedi we could either answer Do or Ydw so I was quite taken aback this time. Apparently it’s o’n / nac o’n for oeddwn i answers. Never going to unstick ‘Do/Naddo’ from my mind now :joy: Thanks all x

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Normally the verb that is going to be echoed would appear as present tense in a wedi construction, so the purist’s answer would be ydw (et al.)

Wyt ti wedi bod yma o’r blaen? - Ydw.

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That’s what I hoped to be honest because that’s what always comes out if I don’t react to the ‘wedi’ bit.

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yup, that’s a shortened version of oeddwn/na oeddwn (the ’ stands in for the eddw :wink: )

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:slight_smile:

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Kind of a related question I have been wondering about recently, but if ydw is the answer to a question that starts ‘do / are you?’ and ydy to a question that starts ‘do / is it (he / she)?’, what is the correct response to a question that starts ‘am I?’ For example ‘Am I in the right place?’. (‘Ydw i yn y lle iawn?’ … I think …)

the answer would be either yes (you are) or no (you’re not), so wyt or nac wyt. :slight_smile:

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I thought that must be it, but I couldn’t remember ever hearing / seeing it. Thanks

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Think of a pantomime …
Oh, yes you are! = “o, wyt mi wyt ti!” :grinning:

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I used to live and work in Anglesey where the majority of people I interacted with were speakers of Welsh as their first language. They said do and naddo. Maybe they’re all wrong and your teacher is correct. Next time I’m up there, Ill correct them!! Will I survive the experience…

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Helpful thread. Diolch !

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