Tiny questions with quick answers - continuing thread

Loved it!!! :joy:

By the way, the embarrassing truth is that the average beginner-to-intermediate English lesson in Italy sounds very much like the hilarious reading at the end. :flushed:

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That pattern was definitely taught in part of the old version of the SSiW northern courses (the “Courses”, as opposed to the “Levels”). (The pattern I actually remember was “taswn …mi faswn…”, but I don’t suppose it matters which order you put them in).

I hadn’t noticed it wasn’t in the “Levels”.

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My favourite example of this from a friend was when she couldn’t quite get the lengthened “e” sound in the middle of “sheet” it was a lot short and sound like a “sh*t of paper”

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Goes rather well with a Spanish student I heard of who said they were having trouble with their bowel sounds.

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It’s funny that you mention this, because every time I hear someone saying “don’t worry about making mistakes” there’s always one specific memory that comes to my mind:

as a teenager, first day in an hostel in England. Reception room full of other youngsters that of course I really want to impress with being totally cool, and so on.
I just have to ask for the bed sheets, but because of that tiny little detail…I don’t. :rage:
EVERYBODY laughs. :unamused:

I wanted to disappear, and felt awfully embarrassed for days.
But then I realized “After all…who cares?” :sunglasses:

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Don’t worry I have many embarrassing stories in Welsh and French, and about 1000 fold more in English

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I’ve just started reading “Ffenestri” by Lois Arnold, and so far all is well. Two stories into the Mynediad stuff and I’ve not needed a dictionary yet, but… one little thing has cropped up a couple of times that I need explaining:

“Nawr, 'te, sut dych chi?”

What’s the 'te in the middle of that?

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'te is short for ynte, and nawr 'te simply means “now then”, like you’d use at the start of an English sentence. :slight_smile:

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Thanks. I suspected it was something like “Now then…” but I’ve not come across ynte!

actually, I’ve misspelt it - the full word is ynteu (sorry!), and as well as ‘then’ in a phrase like this it can also mean: or / or else / otherwise

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Getting confused by the online use of “close to” in Welsh.

Agos at - close to (a person/ items?)

Agos i (place/location?)

I am seeing this rule being flexibly used on the internet … what is the difference in prepositional use?

I have seen Agos at and Agos i used both for = close to items (nouns)?

also why is it - “yn ymyl y castell.” - near/close to the castle … and not “yn ymyl i’r castell.” ?

I believe this is because the word you are using can be translated as “close to” or “near” - in which case the “to” actually needs to be considererd part of the word “close”. In other words, the word ymyl includes the “to” so it doesn’t have to be repeated. That is a guess on my part, but it makes sense to me.

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Hi again! can someone explain if there is a difference between “am” and “ar gyfer” for the use of the word for. I know that “am” is also used for about (about a month etc) would it be correct to say “ar gyfer am mis”? Diolch!

no, unfortunately it wouldn’t work like that here. In this instance I’d use ‘am’ (for) and ‘tua’ (about) - am tua mis.

There are lots of other words for ‘for’ too, which are all used on different occasions, and I’m afraid I don’t have a simple answer for which one gets used when! You’ll find plenty of examples, though, if you search for ‘for’ in Geiriadur Yr Academi (the list is rather too long to copy&paste!) http://geiriaduracademi.org/?lang=en

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Thanks for the reply. I thought it might be the case…I’ve not met the word “tua” before so thank you for that as well as the link :smiley:

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So I come back from a week away and there are 113 new comments in this thread, and I’ve missed what might just be the best post we’ve ever had:

If anyone has any unanswered queries in here, please ask again - I don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting through all the ones I’ve missed, not this side of about February… :wink:

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Dwi’n paratoi ar gyfer y parti - I am preparing for the party

Ar gyfer can mean “for the purpose of”…in a very long winded way

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Brilliant! Diolch!

Disgrifiad llawn / full description (meaning depends on context)

Ar gyfer - includes the word cyfer…which on its’ own means

‘direction, region, place, spot; opposite position.’

(Do not confuse in placenames with the little used homonym meaning “a day’s ploughing/ an acre”)

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