(Wot @aran said)
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Cwpl o gwestiynau…
After a rather long hiatus of not actually doing any SSiW lessons, but keeping up my Welsh through listening to music, watching S4C, or listening to Radio Cymru podcasts (at least something every day), I’ve decided it’s ridiculous that I haven’t finished Level 3 and so I am motoring my way through. Soon I will be able to say I’ve completed all the available Southern material, old and new 
First question: Lefel 3 Her 4 introduces ar gyfer (which I’d already learned doing the old Courses somewhere). I’m feeling a bit thrown by suddenly using ar gyfer with aros. We’ve always used aros am. Are these completely interchangeable? Would it be correct to use am in the following?
- Dw i’n ystyried sawl reswn dros aros ar gyfer hoe.
- Wnaeth e ddim aros ar gyfer y cwestiwn.
- Dw i’n aros ar gyfer diwedd y ffilm 'ma.
Second question: We’ve learned pa mor hir - how long, and pa mor hen - how old. Now we have faint mor uchel - how high. My brain would like it to be pa mor uchel. Is there a (reasonably simple to explain) reason why it’s faint instead of pa, or it’s just one of those "that’s just the way it is’ things?
Now, on to the next challenge, where I shall see if Iestyn explains to me exactly what the reasons for considering buying a wall are… 
Yes just diferent ways to say it, I think. But som sentences can dictate which to use. I just pick up the sound and go with that.
You’re deep into ‘all sorts of different things could work here’ territory now, and you’ll need to learn to love it…
‘Pa mor uchel’ would be fine…
Can’t off the top of my head think of a good reason not to swap ‘am’ for ‘ar gyfer’ (which doesn’t mean there aren’t any out there somewhere!)…
I do love it, or I wouldn’t still be here three years later! None of this bothers me, I’m just curious! Thanks for the info!
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There seem to be a few different ways to say ‘if’ in the courses.
I think I’m right in saying that ‘sen’ is just a shortened version of ‘tasen’, but is ‘os’ quite different or the same again?
Are these interchangeable, or is ‘(ta)sen’ only correct in some places and ‘os’ in others?
Diolch!
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With the proviso that direct translation doesn’t always work…
I am not sufficiently knowledgeable to say if they are interchangeable to any extent in answer to your question, but as I understand it, the (ta)swn i, (ta)set ti, etc. construction would equate to the English construction of were I, were you, etc. e.g. swn i’n gofyn i ti = were I to ask you, which in English is the same as if I asked you but in a higher register.
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I’ve had the same questions in my head for those two, but never asked. Glad @aran says pa mor uchel is fine - I thought it was but good to get confirmation.
Later on Iestyn says “for years” and I kept saying am glustiau, but that’s a different problem to do with retaining some adolescence in my old age.
I like ar gyfer - a bit more flowery than just using am all the time. Maye because of the old course “ar gyfer ei phemblwydd hi” sounds more natural than say “am ei phemblwydd hi”, but I guess both are OK and equally natural.
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What SteakandEggs says…
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Glad I asked, then! I like to get that confirmation, too
I like ar gyfer, too, it’s just that after saying “aros am” for three years, it took conscious effort to say “aros ar gyfer”!
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Diolch yn fawr iawn, so I guess that ‘os’ would be the straightforward equivalent of ‘if’.
I’m going to resist asking about subjunctives and suchlike! 
(Anyway, nawr dw i’n moyn bwyte steak and eggs!)
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I have the same issue with ar gyfer but it was the other way around when i finished the old course, where there were loads of patterns using “ar gyfer” and I was probably over ar gyfering.
I wouldn’t be surprised if on some forum for learning English, there’ll be someone asking why say things like “with regards to” or “with a view to” when simpler words like “for” or “about” will often do.
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That’s a relief for us all!
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I haven’t come across that before, but it looks like a verb to me. Multipurpose is amlbwrpas.
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That’s fantastic! That may surpass canolbwyntio as one of my favorite words!
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oops I got the spelling wrong… Mwydro … does that mean… to confuse? bewilder? Or does it mean to mither? or is that Meithrio
ah, mwydro - yes, I know that one well, the dog does it all the time! Mwydro is to moider, to bewilder, to make mad, to distract 
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In one of the challenges is the following phrase: “I wanted her to help you with the arrangements”
I keep ansering with “…iddi hi helpu ti”, but the answers are always along the lines of “de helpu di” (spelling probably incorrect)
is there a quick explanation why it’s going to di and not ti?
The t mutating to d is just something that happens in this echoe type of construction.
The pattern (of echoes) also occurs with the other pronouns (but none of the others happen to start with a letter that soft mutates!):
i fy helpu fi
i dy helpu di
i’w helpu fe/fo (the i’w = i ei, but I can’t remember the technical explanation why - you’ll have to trust me!)
i’w helpu hi (ditto!)
i’ch helpu chi (from i eich helpu chi)
i’n helpu ni (from i ein helpu ni)
i’w helpu nhw (like the i’w above but from i eu)
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As I understand it, modern spoken Welsh doesn’t really have subjunctives, except in a few set phrases.
As to “os”, the full story, when you have time for it, is in Gareth King’s Modern Welsh Comprehensive Grammar and Reference. However, he’s written two shorter grammar books, one for beginner, one for intermediate, which might explain things slightly more simply. (Although my copies are not immediately to hand, so I can’t quickly check).
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