BBC 1 Countryfile is about Wales, now. Also the intro was Newcastle; just saying 
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Bugger, I meant to watch that. From Pembrokeshire, wasn’t it? My Mum told me to watch it because we’re heading to Pembrokeshire on holiday in a fortnight. I’ll try iPlayer.
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Ga i ofyn cwestiwn? Actually my question is about “Ga i…”. This is the short-form future tense of cael, isn’t it? I understand that it’s used to ask for permission or as a “May i…?”, as above, but in that context is what we’re asking literally “Will I get…?”
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Good question, “will I get…” sounds like it’s amost conditional (I know that’s would, could, should) so I would say: will I be getting… might be a better usage (depending on context).
So I’d say “fydda i’n cael?” Instead of “ga i…?”
However, I’m open to correction.
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yes, but cael doesn’t only mean to have or to get, it also means ‘to be allowed’
no, when you ask “ga i …”, although you are asking "may I…? ", you are literally asking “Am I allowed…?”
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So really it’s just like “to have” in English, where we use it for far more than just possession (although not for possession, in Welsh!)
yes, and I guess the other way to think of it is that thing you’re ‘having’ in this context is permission (i.e. am I allowed = do I have permission)
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Can I just point out that the future short form stuff, including “ga i”, is present tense as well as future.
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Sorry, I know I have asked this before but I can’t find or remember the answer now. In ‘a’i eich plant chi ydy rheina?’ and ‘a’i dyma celwyd noeth?’ What is the a’i?
It’s ‘ai’, and it’s just a kind of thing (if you don’t want to call it a ‘thing’, you’d call it a ‘particle’, which as far as I can see means ‘thing’) that comes at the start of questions sometimes… 
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As far as I know it’s a particle which, when you put it on the beginning of a sentence, turns that sentence into a question. There isn’t really an equivalent in English (although there is in Catalan, funnily enough). I’m not sure if in Welsh it only works on identification sentences - “Dyna’r Celwydd Noeth” (‘That’s the barefaced lie’) -> “Ai dyna’r ayyb” (‘Is that’ etc.)
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Crossposted! Is it only with identification sentences, or could you say, say, “Ai Dylan ydy’n mynd i mewn i’r dref?”
You definitely can’t say that…
[Ai Dylan sydd… would be okay.]
How far we can extrapolate from that, I’d hate to say - but I’m happy to shout ‘No!’ or ‘Yes!’ at any samples you want to throw at me…
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If I’m remembering correctly (no guarantee!), you need the ai to turn a statement into a question when the statement doesn’t start with a form of bod.
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Yes, “Ga I” finally sank in with me when I started to think of it in an American way: Do I get to do have a coffee etc?
(Do I have permission?)
Editing a bit late in the day:
- “Do I get to do (something)/ have a coffee” etc?
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so does imply ‘is it those children that are yours’ rather than some other children and ‘is that one/answer** the barefaced lie’ rather than another of the answers
I’m taking it that the bit that comes after the ‘ai’ and before the verb would be emphasised in English with tone of voice - so “Are those your children?” and “Is that the barefaced lie?” - but I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong
Well, I tend to think of it as close to “can I get […a cup of coffee ]” etc, which to me sounds very American, although it’s what both of my (now very) grownup children say in cafe’s etc, although neither my wife nor I would dream of saying it. (We’d say “may I have…” or more everyday “could I have …”). I don’t know if “can I get…” is actually what Americans actually say nowadays in such situations, but I was assuming our kids had got it from TV.
Not only correct, in my view, but much better.
It’s aros am, and using aros ar gyfer (translating directly from the English) will sound like learner-speak to many people, I think. Unless things have changed radically in the last ten years.
Ar gyfer does mean ‘for’, of course, but really only in the sense of ‘for the benefit of’, which is not the sense in things like ‘wait for’. So we DO say, quite rightly:
Mae hyn oll ar eich cyfer chi
This is all for you
But we DON’T say:
-
Nes i dalu pum punt ar gyfer peint o gwrw yn Llundain
I paid five pounds for a pint of beer in London
(should be: Nes i dalu pum punt am beint o gwrw….)
or indeed:
-
Maen nhw’n aros ar eich cyfer chi
They’re waiting for you
(should be : Maen nhw’n aros amdanoch chi)
where, in both those cases, ‘for’ does NOT mean ‘for the benefit of’.
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You are remembering correctly
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