Clear as glass! Thanks so much.
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One of the slang/colloquial phrases I seem to have known forever is ‘wn i ddim’ = ‘I don’t know’. Is that very rare now? Southern? Northern? ??
I hear dwn i’m quite a bit on Rownd a Rownd (Northern).
I’m also guessing guessing Northern for Sain gybod
That seems to be the case in Swansea. I’ve managed to gain enough confidence to just put Welsh stuff out there on social media recently - I’m using unsuspecting friends as an extension to this forum 
Anyway, it turns out that “o’n i…” & “o’n i ddim…” are ok around here. I’ve also noticed it from Northerners.
Yes indeed - you’ll notice it everywhere, it’s completely natural and actually a good indicator of easy command of the language. Definitely to be imitated!
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It’s just a little frustrating sometimes when practising with online flashcards or language courses which expect WJEC Welsh rather than Welsh Welsh, and mark you wrong for missing out the r-
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Grin, through gritted
teeth and suggest those more influential than thee and me should have words with course designers!
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Yes - they are quite wrong to do that, and it shows their ‘policing’ attitude to the language, and (I am afraid) their (essentially) dismissive view of native speech. Soon they will be ‘correcting’ the -n nhw verb and preposition ending to -nt. And then we can all give up… 
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a quick question on gyda fi/ 'da fi. I’ve tended to think of a few things in my head first with 'da fi and because of uncertainty, quickly think of something else to say.
The sort of things that I’m thinking of are things like - I don’t feel confident - either: does dim hyderus gyda fi/sdim hyderus 'da fi, which comes into my head first or the form that I tend toswitch to which is more like sai’n teimlo’n hyderus. I was also just wondering about doedd dim golygu 'da fi or (maybe doedd dim golygu arna’i) wneud hynny, which could be switched to (d)on i ddim yn golygu gwneud hynny - somehow I prefer the arna’i here, but I realise my preferences can be wide of the mark and often plain wrong. For some reason using bwriadu in place of golygu it seems better in my head here to say don i ddim yn bwriadu gneud hynny.
Basically I don’t know the rules here and what’s right/wrong natural etc. If it’s an object like a table or a bag of sugar then I’m pretty fine with that, but what happens using these sorts of constructions with actions and feelings?
There is a translation mismatch here, @Toffidil - English ‘mean’ has two meanings: signify and intend. If it’s signify, it’s golygu, if it’s intend, it’s bwriadu.
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Oh - I was matching golygu with the English (or is it Wenglish) sense of “view” for “intend” - as in I had a view to do that, but then chose to do something else sort of thing. I wIll have to re-calibrate.
Just a thought - I feel as though hyderus (confident), being an adjective would work better with Sa i’n teimlo’n - I don’t feel confident. But hyder (confidence?) being a noun (much like the bag of sugar) would work with the gyda fi pattern wouldn’t it? Sdim hyder gyda fi.
Needless to say. I’m not 100% confident about this 
Now in my brain (big dusty space, not necessarily trustworthy) you might have a cold or a temperature ‘on’ you, but some feelings you clearly have ‘with’ you - Mae’n ddrwg gyda fi.
Like you, if in doubt, I tend toward the gyda fi - I’d be interested to discover why and which!
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Good point about hyder v hyderus - sdim hyder da fi, sdim hyder â fi. Until I know what, I’m likely to play safe with teimlo’n hyderus, but “mae eisiau i fi fwy hyderus” or is that hyder, I need more confidence and knowledge to start applying a range of variations, even though somehow they seem to come to mind first.
Often a good, and enjoyable, option…
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Dwn i ddim is indeed northern for sai’n gwybod. Also can eventually be “mbo”… Dw i ddim yn gwybod -> dwi’m yn gwybod -> mbo
Aren’t colloquialisms great?
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I agree with this view. I tend to use “…teimlo’n hyderus” instead of “gyda fi”. Just like confidence and confident would be used in English.
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Today’s episode: being taught syndod and anrheg and not (also) accepting syrpreis and present, though I’ve heard both of those words (well, the second as presant) on Rownd a Rownd from “real” Welsh speakers…
Leading to leaners speaking “more Welshly than the Welsh” and, no doubt, contributing to the sense of insecurity some speakers have that “their Welsh isn’t ‘good enough’”.
Meanwhile, I’m reminded of the people on the Duolingo German course who insist on translating the English word “baby” as Säugling, when in fact Baby is the most usual word among Germans, and insisting on using a “proper German” word actually makes them sound less natural!
And to make this into a “tiny question with a quick answer” – RaR has also taught me reit handi which seems to mean something like “very quickly” or “very soon” or “immediately”.
Is “right handy” used like this in English as well, in some parts of the UK? It’s not a phrase I’ve heard before.
Or is this a phrase borrowed from older English that has survived in Welsh but not in English? Or not even English at all but just looks as if it could be?
Also, am I misunderstanding the meaning?
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“Right handy” to my ear has a bit of a Northern twang. Kinda Geordie (thanks to Byker Grove).
I don’t know about the “very quickly” translation. “Very useful” would be my take on the English.
The problem with Duolingo and, from the sounds of it, WJEC is that they’re built on a formula of correct and incorrect.
I would say “anrheg” is the ‘correct’ Welsh. Presant is a direct English borrowing. I’d have no issue hearing it, but if someone asks you what the Welsh for present is there is a ‘correct’ answer.
This question was raised on the Duolingo users page too regarding “cennin”. Someone wasn’t very happy that it wasn’t accepting “cennin” for “leek”. Thing is, cenhinen is the ‘correct’ singular. “Cawl cennin” as a translation for “leek soup” is perfect. Doesn’t mean the words are identical though.
I don’t think you’d sound like a learner if you used “anrheg”. Plus now, the emotions this WJEC course has generated will make you remember these differences. At least that’s a positive
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