Soft mutations…

[David_B]

Could I just check my understanding of a couple of soft mutations, please?

Mae o’n ddyn mawr

Dyn → ddyn, because it’s a noun following a linking ‘yn’, therefore the gender and number is irrelevant.

Daeth y ddau

dau → ddau. I’m not sure about this one, because dau is masculine and therefore shouldn’t(?) mutate after y. Is it because it’s following a short form verb and there’s no linking ‘yn’? (Though I thought that was for direct objects, not for subjects…) Or is dau not masculine here?

I can’t find anything else that looks relevant in the list of mutation causes (there are 29 in the BBC Basic rules of grammar guide…) What am I missing, please?

Diolch!

[siaronjames]

@David_B

Dyn → ddyn, because it’s a noun following a linking ‘yn’, therefore the gender and number is irrelevant.

yes - nouns or adjectives used predicatively or adverbially after yn undergo soft mutation.

@David_B

dau → ddau. I’m not sure about this one, because dau is masculine and therefore shouldn’t(?) mutate after y. Is it because it’s following a short form verb and there’s no linking ‘yn’? (Though I thought that was for direct objects, not for subjects…) Or is dau not masculine here?

It’s an exception to the rule - both the masculine and feminine ‘2’ soft mutate after the.

[David_B]

But that’s just cheating!

Thanks very much, Siaron, as always!