Siaradais i, dw i'n siarad, wnes i

Welsh
#1

Bore da.
I think I understood the difference between Wnes i and Dw i wedi (above all after reading this fabulous - but too complete for my little level - link… https://forum.unilang.org/viewtopic.php?t=32408 ).
But here is my question : for my part, I like very much the “ais i” form (and other endings, with other persons). But have I to use it instead of “Wnes i” or instead of “wedi” form ?
Diolch yn fawr

#2

The first. In one case you are conjugating the verb itself, in the other case you use the auxiliary construction with “I did …”, but Siaradais i and Wnes i siarad mean the same thing, and they are interchangeable.

1 Like
#3

Diolch yn fawr Hendrik, that’s exactly what I wanted to know. So I’m now going to learn very well conjugating the 6 persons of the verb itself. I like very much this form, I find it nice to see, and nice to hear. !
Trugarezh

#4

Just to add to what Hendrick has said, the “wedi” form is the perfect tense, “Dw i wedi siarad” is “I have spoken”, compared to “Wnes i siarad / siaradais i”, “I spoke”.

#5

Yes, after this answer I went on the link I gave in my post, and it seemed to me indeed…

So : is “Siaradais i” working alone with its proper “location in time” (that sounds like TARDIS !) ? No use “instead of” ?

Sure that there are a lot of past temps in Welsh, and maybe each one has (or had) its reason to be. But I thought that currently there were maybe just 2 or 3 really used.
Do you find correct the first whole and very precise answer that gives the boy in the link above ?

#6

Personally, I don’t think his explanation of the difference in English is adequate. “I opened the door” and “I have opened the door” are, to me, quite distinct in meaning. In the former, the door opening was in the past. The door may still be open, it may not. The latter, “I have opened the door”, is something that has only recently happened and it strongly implies the door is still open: “I have opened the door and you may walk through it”.

Personally, of all the past tenses in Welsh, I think the difference between the preterite and the perfect is the clearest. Where I struggle is when to use “bod” for the past and when to use “gwneud”, for example “Ro’n i’n mynd” vs “Es i” (or “Wnes i fynd”).