Hi. I was doing some exercises using the future tense of gwneud and came across this.
Na wna, wna i mo’r bont heddi. No, I will not make the bridge today.
Na wnan, wnan nhw ddim cawl yfory. No, they will not make soup tomorrow.
What is ‘mo’ in the first example? Seems to be taking the place of ‘ddim’. And why is not in the second?
Thanks.
I’m sure some clever clogs will actually explain better but basically this is how I see it …
We use ‘mo’ with a negative short form structure when we have a definite article … so.
Weles i ddim cath = I didn’t see a cat.
Weles i mo’r gath = I didn’t see the cat.
So your sentences could be …
Wna i ddim pont heddiw = I won’t make a bridge today.
Wnan nhw mo’r cawl yfory = they won’t make the soup tomorrow.
Some say it may come from a contraction of ‘ddim o’ or something.
Crikey Moses! I actually understand that! I couldn’t see the pattern - but when you said it’s used with the definite article - clunk - penny dropping. Thanks - but it’s optional, yes? Not wrong to not use it?
This is how I understood it too, although I struggle to remember to do it!
Oddly, I’ve literally just got to this lesson on Duolingo. The lesson text says this:
Saying that you did not do/see/hear something specific
We usually use ddim in a negative:
Dw i ddim yn gallu gweld cath - I cannot see a cat Welais i ddim cathod yno - I saw no cats there, I did not see any cats there
But we cannot use ddim with y/yr/'r or with proper nouns, names or pronouns. Instead we have to use a pattern similar to ‘nothing of’ in English - ddim o, which is almost always abbreviated to mo
Welais i ddim ffilm - I didn't see a film, but Welais i mo'r ffilm - I didn't see the film Welais i mo Dewi neithiwr - I didn't see Dewi last night Ddarllenais mo'i stori hi wrthyn nhw - I didn't read her story to them (ddim + o + ei = mo'i) Pheintias i mo'r lolfa ddoe - I didn't paint the lounge yesterday
You won’t be misunderstood not it’s not ‘incorrect’. There’s lots of ways to say lots of things.
Gosh, thanks Stephen - that’s a very comprehensive answer. I have nothing in the lesson notes about ‘mo’…so I’m guessing it’s mentioned in one I haven’t got to yet - Future Short. But…it seems such a fundamental structure - I’m surprised we haven’t tripped over it before - but many thanks.
You’re welcome, but bear in mind it’s only copy and pasted and not from my own knowledge. It’s from the lesson “HappyAgain” which is 7 rows down on the tree from “FutShort”.
I think I’d be right in saying that it’s pretty common to hear the un-contracted form of ‘dim o’ as well, depending on where you are.
Welais i ddim o John
I didn’t see John
I tend to say that instead of ‘Welais i mo John’, as someone once told me that when I asked. But to be honest it’s not something I notice other people saying very often. It would be interesting to know what @garethrking says about usage, if he wouldn’t mind… 
(Of course, if you said ‘Welais i ddim John’, the meaning would be ‘I didn’t see anyone called John’ - which isn’t really what you want!)
“mo” is a contraction of “ddim o” - or that’s what I was told once anyway, so you can say “Weles i ddim o’r gath”. It’s useful if you’re halfway through the sentence and realise you’ve said “ddim” and forgotten about “mo”
Synchronised mouse-clicking 
I suspect they told you that because they thought they ‘ought’ to tell you - in other words, giving the learner the perceived ‘correct’ form instead of what everyone actually says, which is what the learner really wants.
I have always used and heard (everywhere) the contracted form mo in this construction, and I always advise others to do likewise.
Weles i mohonot ti
I didn’t see you
Welon ni mo’r rhaglen
We didn’t see the programme
sound MUCH preferable to
Weles i ddim ohonot ti
Welon ni ddim o’r rhaglen
which sound (to my ear) too ‘careful’, not to say a little affected.
Yes - or with any noun that is specific for any other reason, notably proper names and nouns preceded by possessive adjectives.
Weles i mo Susan
I didn’t see Susan
Weles i mo’i phlant hi
I didn’t see her children
Sorry, I’ve just noticed something in what I copied and pasted from Duolingo:
“Pheintias i mo’r lolfa ddoe - I didn’t paint the lounge yesterday”
Where has that aspirate mutation come from? I’m used to seeing soft mutations (as with Ddarllenais in the same example) but not aspirate. What’s the rule regarding mutating the first letter for negative sentences? Is this related to the missing particle “Mi” that I’ve seen at the beginning of similar sentences? “Mi wnes i fynd am dro”, for example?
Hello, I don’t know what causes aspirate mutation, but I remember in the old course 3, lesson 10,
chlywes i ddim I didn’t hear,
ches i ddim I didn’t get
There is no example for words with P or T in this lesson.
Ah, really interesting, thanks!
I will have to make an effort to spot it when it crops up in the wild!
There’s another construction with ‘mo’ that’s on the tip of my tongue. Could you say something like ‘Nid cwestiwn pwysig mohono’?
Negative short forms officially have an aspirate mutation - although you will quite often hear a soft mutation in the same place. (In SSIW I’m sure you hear ‘Chlywais i ddim…’)
Hi Brigitte,
Yes, on a negative…, in theory, if the first letter is susceptible to aspirate mutation, it takes that. Failing that it takes a soft mutation if the letter is susceptible.
I read that in practice the use of aspirate mutation is patchy, soft being used regardless.
Mi or Fe are optionally used for statements (not negatives) and cause soft mutation…the Mi or Fe are often dropped in speech…however despite them not being there, the mutation they cause is often retained.
Rich
I possibly haven’t got far enough for that yet. So it’s not a case of “aspirate where possible, but soft otherwise”?