Only got as far as page 7 so far , but can tell I am going to love it - cannot for the life of me work out why in section 4 achos we should get “… achos mod i ddim wedi gwneud … “ in the first example of this section - which means bod has a nasal mutation applied to it rather than what I would ( obviously erroneously ) expect - a soft mutation ? Is this just literary correctness or am I misunderstanding where nasal mutations should be applied rather than soft mutations ?
Regards John Lever
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The nasal mutation in the bod is because the ‘fy’ that precedes it (and causes a nasal mutation) is often left out in speech but the mutation it causes remains - achos (fy) mod i ddim wedi gwneud.
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Dear Sharon,
Thanks - really helpful - from Gareth’s book - achos should be used with the Welsh equivalent of that ( because that ) following it - does it resolve to ‘because my that I haven’t done … ‘ ie I should assume ‘bod i’ or bod and any other personal pronoun should always be preceded by the possessive adjective eg fy (even if implicitly and not pronounced ) ? Are there lots of places where possessive adjectives are used and explicitly not used ?
Thanks again, John
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Not exactly - that would be a literal translation and some phrases in Welsh just don’t translate literally.
The mutations on bod depend on the pronoun it’s paired with. fy always causes a NM, dy and ei (= he) always cause a SM. ei (= she) causes an AM, and the others, ein, eich, and eu don’t cause any mutation.
Having said that, in speech these are often left out totally, so you’ll also hear “achos bo(d)…” for all of them.
This pairing of possessive pronouns is pretty common - it often happens when the object of a verbnoun is a pronoun, but don’t worry about them - with enough exposure to the language, your ears will absorb when they occur.
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Loving Working Welsh. I keep dipping into it.
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It’s an amazing time waster! I keep getting lost following tasty links from one section to the next, and the next and…
The examples of usage he gives are really excellent too - very varied and probably more useful than most language tutorials.
But also it’s on special offer at the publishers until 19th Aug - go to the “Sale” page.
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Well, I wouldn’t call it ‘wasting’ time 
but rather addictive, yes!
And he does have another book on the way, don’t you @garethrking? Will I be able to put it on my Christmas wish list? 
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All Gareth’s books are time swallowers but never a waste of time! 
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Thank you Jacky for your kind comments, and I am so glad you are enjoying the book! Diolch am eich sylwadau caredig. 
Diolch Deborah a Siaron.
Yes, another book is underway…I’m about halfway through the writing and it’s on target for the deadline, which (unfortunately for this Christmas, Deborah) is St David’s Day next year. So in the shops about a year from now, perhaps a little sooner?
All very much hush-hush on the details still - we don’t want to give time for spoiler operations from the enemy publishers…been caught that way once, long ago when I was still a bit innocent! 
Title not decided yet - but I am hoping to make it a sort of trio with the other two…in which case we might go with Doing Welsh. And that might give the universally intelligent people on this forum a clue as to what it’s going to be dealing with.
No final decisions yet, though.
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I bought Working Welsh and Thinking Welsh last year and really enjoy getting pinballed around from section to section. The method draws me in and encourages me to want to find my way into the language with a very friendly and erudite guide who leavens the grammatical explanations he provides with some deliciously wry humour and naughtiness. Please keep ‘em coming, Mr King!
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@garethrking have you thought of starting a fan club and selling t-shirts? 
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Thank you for buying my books, Jason - and for your kind observations on them.
I fully intend to keep the books coming!
The world is my fan club, Deborah.
Well, the Welsh-speaking and -learning world, at least.
Well, apart from the Usual Suspects, of course.
As for T-shirts, I hope you will feel able to pass suitable provisional designs directly on to the Adran Ddillad of my mega marketing empire, who enjoy my full trust in these matters.
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Dear Deborah / Gareth,
Leaving the Rhondda Fach at the age of four and going on to live and work in Regensburg for a couple of decades did wonders for my German but nothing for my Welsh. At the age of 70 and despite living in Staffordshire near Lichfield (which is Caerlwytgoed, by the way, if you didn’t already know) and having become very deaf, I’m still determined to become as fluent as I can in the language of my birth. It’s clearly a race against time for me, if you get my drift. I’m nearly three years into my 'taith iaith’ and have found SSiW and Gareth’s books to be invaluable and inspirational resources. Diolch o galon!
Encouraging the use of Welsh is what binds us all together in this friendly extended family of Welsh learners and teachers. I therefore hope you don’t mind my taking this opportunity to draw your attention to the admirable efforts of Rhian Hopkins, a resident of Hopkinstown (funnily enough!), near Pontypridd, to save the historic Capel Rhondda from falling into the hands of developers and instead be used as a valuable resource for the community which could include its future use as a teaching hub for Welsh language learners. The chapel, with its fine organ, is where the world-famous Welsh hymn ‘Cwm Rhondda’ (‘Bread of Heaven’) was first performed in 1907. A dwindling congregation meant that the Baptist Union of Wales sadly had to put the building up for sale recently. Rhian’s personal initiative to raise money to purchase the building for the community was suddenly rocket-boosted when the BBC caught wind of her efforts. Following a number of media interviews, including in particular one on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme as recently as 19 July, donations from not only across Wales but from kind people around the world, to whom the iconic ‘Cwm Rhondda’ hymn tune is second perhaps only to ‘Hen Wlad fy Nhadau’ as a musical expression of Welshness, have enabled the purchase price to be met. But much work still needs to be done to make the building fully fit for purpose and capable of being maintained in the future.
I happened to bump into Rhian, who is fluent in Welsh (as well as French and English), while standing in a queue outside the Pafiliwn at last week’s Eisteddfod Genedlaethol. Her commitment to taking this project forward is inspiring. Having already quickly achieved so much, she still needs all the help she can get in the months ahead. If you are able to make a small donation to ‘Save Capel Rhondda / Achub Cartref Cwm Rhondda’ via Crowdfunder, (https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/save-capel-rhondda it would help to reach the new extended fundraising target for Capel Rhondda and make a tremendous contribution to this very worthy cause. And if you can’t spare a Fiver, then perhaps you could very kindly help to spread the word amongst your many Welsh friends and connections, nearly all of whom will surely either have sung, or at least have heard and enjoyed, ‘Cwm Rhondda’?
Diolch yn fawr iawn
Jason
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