Yes, I always make this (not even so little) mistake. Might be I’ll remember not to do it now once and for all. 
Thank you.
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- Thanks for advice re earlier link.
- Would it help if you remember that ‘byddai’ would sound as if it ends with an English capital I, whereas what you want to say is “bydda 'i” which ends ‘a’ and then a short ‘i’??
Sorry, but in speach I don’t see any difference though. But thank you.
I’m not sure about this - I think they’d sound pretty much exactly the same in speech… 
It’s only important in writing because ‘byddai’ is the third person…
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I heard “…cadw fynd…” the other day on the radio.
(Actually, I’m not now sure if the “mynd” was mutated or not).
But my question is not about mutation (or not), but whether this is a genuine idiomatic Welsh phrase, or is it considered to be Wenglish, i.e. “…keep going…”?
That’s what I guessed it meant anyway.
I’m afraid I either didn’t pick up, or can’t remember the rest of the sentence to give more context.
But I think I have heard it before.
I don’t live in Wales, and (sadly) don’t spend as much time there as I would like, so my view on it is largely formed by S4C and Radio Cymru, which is of course not quite “real world” (depending on the programme). However, I think it would be a safe bet to use “chi” to anyone of is obviously of an older generation to you, partly as a matter of respect, and partly because (I would guess) the older Welsh speakers would be more used to that formal way of speaking.
I may be wrong, but I think I’ve noticed children in Welsh TV soaps use “chi” to their parents, which surprised me, and they definitely use it to their teachers (i.e. people in authority).
I remember someone on the original SSiW forum saying that if you are stopped by a Welsh speaking copper, then using “chi” is highly advisable!
This is interesting, and I remember being a bit puzzled when I first encountered it.
I think there are two possible ways of looking at it (just my surmise):
- It is an indirect question (so one that in English, would not strictly need a question mark, although people sometimes put one in).
Or possibly (and this is just my guess based on observation, not grammatical knowledge):
- “oes” can sometimes be used in statements, not just in questions, in a similar way that “ydy” does not always indicated a question.
(I think I need another delve into the grammar books now though; I find that small dips into them are best, coming up for air at frequent intervals. If you stay down too long then “decompression” is needed! 
)
This is a bee in my bonnet!! I was raised to ‘chi’ everyone because most people were older and wiser than I. Now I am aged. Not wise, but definitely older!! OK, I don’t get ‘ti’ from young nurses here because I’m in Scotland, but I get stroppy about being called out by my given name and had all the staff using formal address when I was last in hospital. When a young nurse was particularly helpful, I told her she could call me Jackie and she was really pleased! In Wales, I would be demanding my ‘chi’ until I told the person he/she could ‘ti’ me!! But if you haven’t learned ‘chi’, life is a bit difficult for you!! Please @aran and @Iestyn humour me by giving a bit of room to ‘chi’ at the same time as you introduce ‘ti’!! Something along the lines of ;-
“Some older people are used to the formal ‘chi’, for ‘you’. This is also plural, so six children would be 'chi.”
Then a few examples!
I think I have said elsewhere in the Forum, that I would naturally ‘chi’ both @aran and @Iestyn until told otherwise because they are teachers!!
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A bit late but from the heart … 
@edmund
I was wondering why Course 1 doesn’t teach the formal “chi” as well as “ti”
Course 1 teaches “chi” from Lesson 18 on. It might be a bit late in the course, but still it is there all the way from Lesson 18 till the end.
Levels however … let’s see what they have …
EDIT
Well, I’m actually surprised and didn’t notice though when going through Level 1 at all … Level 1 really doesn’t teach anything about “chi” but Course 1 from Lesson 18 is full of it.
Oh, but you probably know this all already since you posted the post already half a month ago.
I haven’t actually got to lesson 18 yet. Thanks for the input.
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Myself, I find it easiest just to think of it as being the case you don’t use “Mae” after “os”! 
“Os yw”, “os ydy”, “os oes”, “os bydd”, etc, but not “os mae”.
As always 
, there is a discussion on “Forum Wales” about this.
http://www.forumwales.com/fwforum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=7197
It gives, as always, a wonderful combination of how first language Welsh contributors speak and use the alternatives, and (in passing) how various grammar books discuss it.
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I started course 2 today! My head is spinning with grammatical questions, but I know not to worry about it!
My question is the phrases mainly come in two parts eg ‘When I played rygby, when you started to drink’ “O’n i’n chwarae rygbu pan ti’n ddechrau yfed”. I can rarely remember the second part, once I’ve said the first part, so sometimes I said what I thought i remembered, I usually stumble over whether I’m talking about me, you, he, she etc. Is this bad?
I say this because once in a while, some words are beginning to come without conscious thought (i.e seem to have began to think in Welsh :O)), then saying the actual phrase seems much more helpful.
so, I’m tempted to repeat the lesson to help me get up to speed, even though I’m comfortable with the material.
sorry that turned into a long question, i’m not entirely sure what it is that I’m asking!
Well firstly, llongyfarchiadau on starting level 2! My advice would be; if you’re comfortable with the material, move on. From what I know of the thinking behind the way the course is structured, you’re supposed to feel like it’s moving slightly faster than you’d like. From what you said, it sounds like you’re doing brilliantly. And if you really feel like you can’t keep up, you can always go back a challenge! 
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I am confused about ‘gwnest’
Is ‘*Wnes i fara’ I made bread and is ‘Dw i’n wedi bara’, I have bread? if so would ‘wnes i fwyta bara’ be, I did eat bread? So how would you say, I had bread to eat, is it ‘wnes i fara i bwyta’
Hopefully someone will understand my confusion!
A couple of questions - are you doing the old or new lessons (Course 1 or Level 1) and are you doing North or South? I’m guessing Course 1, since the “wedi” construction comes fairly early in that one, so some of this may be way beyond where you are. Anyway:
[quote=“Y_Ddraig_Las, post:399, topic:3153”]Is ‘*Wnes i fara’ I made bread[/quote] yes - da iawn.
Actually, no. “Wedi” is a different kind of “have.” Literally it means “after” so when you use it in a sentence like “Dw i wedi fynd” what you are literally saying is something like “I am after going” which works out to “I have gone” in English. If you want to say “I have bread” there are two basic ways of doing so (northern and southern). Northern would be “Mae gen i fara” and Southern is (I think) “Mae bara gyda fi” (both of which literally mean something like “bread is with me”).
Pretty much. It would usually be said in English as “I ate bread.”
Ah, now that is an interesting question. In this case, I believe you need a different kind of “have” - something like “Dw i wedi cael bara i fwyta” which would more literally mean “I have had bread to eat.”
“Have” in English is a word that means a whole lot of different things. So be very careful when you try to make your own sentences. Try re-framing the idea in a different way - using a word other than “have” - and you will probably find the best way to say it in Welsh.
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“Wnes i fara” would be “I made bread” and
“Dw i wedi gwneud bara” - “I have made bread”.
For “I have bread”, you use a special construction:
“Mae gen i fara” (in the north) or “Mae bara gyda fi” (south) - literally: “there is bread with me”.
However, there is another verb “cael”, which more or less means “to get” or “get to have” or a similar idea, which can have a sort of sense of “having”, so it’s possible you might say
“ges i fara i fwyta” meaning more or less “I got to have bread to eat”, but another way of saying it would be:
“roedd gen i fara i fwyta” (north) or “roedd bara gyda fi i fwtya” (south): literally: “there was bread with me to eat”, or loosely: “I had bread to eat”.
[Edit: I see Sionned beat me to it.. ]
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If I’d answer this question only a month or so ago I’d probably say YES, because I couldn’t sometimes remember even the first (English) part of the sentence what even second so I many times didn’t know what to say at all. BUT (yeeeeeeeeeeees, here is “but”) now I’ll say NO, it is not bad especially not in your case since you just answer what it seams to be proper in a context of the given sentence. I was taught (especially by @aran) that you’d rearly get just the same sentences in real speach so as long as you answer them in the context of given and the answer is still (let’s say gramatically even if this is not the right term) correct, then it’s just fine. You’re producing something what is more likely to be when speaking in the wild then given “answer” you have to say.
He, she, it, I … I mix them now aswell if only in the middle of the Level 2, previously going through the whole 3 courses and Vocab course 1. It just happens that you mix something then you stop mixing it and start to mix another thing. For me this is now “hefyd” and “eto” (“also” and “again”) … “hefyd” I mostly forget and use “eto” even where it should not be and “eto” is constantly on my tongue. And … it’s waste of time to say whatever about possessives and reflexives which I just can’t cope with. But I finally am comfortable even with that.
So, NO, IT’S NOT BAD. IT’S NOT BAD AT ALL!
Llongyfarchiadau! Ti’n gneud yn da iawn!
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(BTW, sionned and I have answered in slightly different ways, but just take from both whatever makes sense to you for now. But don’t worry: if it doesn’t all make sense now, it soon will do if you keep following the lessons/challenges.
I should have clarified that “ges i” is one of the forms of “cael” in the past tense. “Cael”, “gwneud” and a couple of others are irregular, but they are irregular in more or less the same way, i.e. they follow a similar pattern, so knowing one means that the others will make sense when you come across them.
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Course1, (now on 2) North, but I have all sorts of vocab from previous study, years ago!
“Wedi” is a different kind of “have.” Literally it means “after” so when you use it in a sentence like “Dw i wedi fynd” what you are literally saying is something like “I am after going”
That helps me so much! I have been trying to get my head into what the real meaning of ‘wedi’ is!
Pretty much. It would usually be said in English as “I ate bread.”
Well, yes, as my Welsh improves my English gets worse!
It seems that getting my head around the different patterns Welsh has instead of ‘have’ is what I’m at the moment. I used to think that cael = to have, I now know that it isn’t that simple, but I’m beginning to get my head into ‘cael’ too.
I’m probably trying to run before I can walk, I’m trying to understand how to make it clear when I am saying:
I had bread = I ate bread &
I had bread = There was bread, but it has all been eaten now
I’m glad it isn’t just me!
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