Tiny questions with quick answers - continuing thread

Very useful information - thanks very much. Will keep up my sleeve for the next time it crops up!

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Morning! Bore da!
When someone asks ‘Ga i nol disgled o de i ti?’ how do I say yes? The ‘Yes, you can.’ type yes, not the ‘wrth gwrs’ type yes, or ‘is the Pope Catholic’ type response - although come to think of it, that would be handy. As I never say say no to a cuppa, I can live without knowing how to say no you can’t. :grin:

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Interesting question - because technically, the answer should be ‘Cei’ or ‘Cewch’ (depending on informal/formal) - but there’s something a little odd about saying ‘cei’ when someone’s asked if they can get something for you - almost as if you were royalty graciously allowing them to serve…:wink: So you’ll often hear a range of other possibilities - from just ‘Diolch yn fawr!’ via ‘Ww, os gwelwch yn dda’ through to ‘Byddai dishgled yn dda iawn, diolch!’ etc… :slight_smile:

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Oh good! This is an instance where it’s ok not to answer the verb at the front! Phew! As this is one of the most important questions in any language, I’m pleased to hear that nodding vigorously and saying ‘diolch’ beats ‘cei’.:relaxed:
Diolch @aran

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I was watching Octonots! (I try to blame my little dog for this, but I am a fan in spite of my age!) Anyway, this was an episode about morfilod. In English they are in schools. It sounded like praidd in Octonots, which is ‘flock’. Is this right?

It’s ‘haig’, which is used for shoal and school (in the aquatic life sense!)

diolch! I was even convinced I heard fy mhraid for my school! Fy haig it. must have been!

The heretic in me would also say “ie plîs” - that I would say very informally. I’d probably add, as @aran has said “byddai paned (sori Iestyn) yn dda iawn, diolch” - but that’s a real Englishism…:smile:

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2 quick questions…(the 2nd Q I can guess the answer- as its shorter form of saying something- but still curious)

Q1. How to say “mid” in Welsh…“it was mid-twenties in the sunshine today”…“it happened mid-game”

Q2 . Why do so few Welsh speakers I meet ever use the Welsh forms of sorry or please in speech

plis = please
sori - sorry (spelling wise)

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although there are just a couple of exceptions, mid is canol - e.g. mid June = canol Mehefin.
One of the exceptions that come to mind is mid Wales which is canolbarth Cymru.

the second question - yes you know the answer - it is indeed because they are so much shorter to say and write, although if someone was speaking or writing formally they would of course use the proper forms.

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I even hear the word sorry used in Germany by native speakers to each other now!

I like to shorten Mae’n ddrwg gen i…to ddrwg gen i…personally

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Sometimes, you can use “hanner” - “half”, e.g. hanner dydd - midday, and hanner nos - midnight.
But canol dydd and canol nos also work.

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Following on from discussion elsewhere, does Welsh have a verb(-noun) for “calling someone ti instead of chi”? – Like French tutoier, Catalan tutejar etc. I.e. “Tu peux me tutoier” (you – sorry, tha – can ‘thou’ me) = Mi fedri di…?

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Not that I know of… :slight_smile:

Tydïo: ‘Qui vous autorise à me tutoyer?’ (‘Pwy a roddodd ganiatâd ichi fy nhydïo?’)

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Ooh, thank you for that - the article looks interesting and, for me, just about readable with a little bit of a stretch. Also, I note from one of the captions that you can say galw rhywun yn ‘chi’, so I guess there are perfectly good ways around it without having to resort to tydio if it’s that recherché :slight_smile:

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Ooh, I rather love tydïo.

But sadly I have never, ever heard anyone use it, ever. I would use it with a certain trepidation, expecting that I might need to explain myself (depending on how clear the context was).

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Now you’ve mentioned it Louis, I see that it does occur in GPC ( http://geiriadur.ac.uk/gpc/gpc.html )

First reference is from 1592.

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No, I haven’t either :slight_smile:

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It would be a great pick-up line: “Ga i dy dydïo di?”

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