-
In RaR they often use a structure that would be something like “rhywbeth yn y byd, gorau yn y byd”. I’m sure someone else will clarify.
-
I would go for something like “Siarad Cymraeg neithiwr, o’n i.” Again, I’m quite often wrong but at least I try.
2 Likes
1/ With things like “the sooner the better” or “the fewer the better” you’ll hear “gorau po gynta” and “gorau po leiaf”, so I’m pretty sure “the wetter the better” would follow the same pattern - “gorau po wlypa”.
(‘po’ being a form of ‘bod’ - but don’t ask me why!)
3 Likes
I guess that Po is related to the unusual bo in “ag y bo modd”???
Probably - but I don’t speak Grammar fluently enough to explain it! 
4 Likes
I wouldn’t understand even if you did - I’m a Grammar dunce, always have been and always will.
3 Likes
I agree with Geraint:
When you emphasise things in Welsh by switching the order you drop the “yn”. If you wanted to sound fancy-pantsy you could say “Siarad Cymraeg neithiwr, oeddwn”. Or you could say, (I think…) “Cymraeg o’n i’n siarad neithiwr”. The emphasis here is more on the Welsh than the siarad. So it was Welsh you were speaking and no other language.
As always, I add my caveat…there’s a strong possibility I’m wrong…
4 Likes
That sounds good (neat, compact, plausibly idiomatic) for my specific example, and I’ll have to try to remember it – I suspect po is some sort of fossil subjunctive, and I’m sure I could look it up, although I’m not at all sure that I shall 
But now I’m wondering about other “the - the” phrases – whether they’d all work the same with po, or different structures for different contexts. Say, “the sooner we get this finished, the happier I’ll be”?
1 Like
Just catching up tonight, and there was an example from last season: Cynta’n byd wnei di gychwyn, cynta’n byd gawn ni gychwyn – the sooner you make a start, the sooner we can make a start. (I heard it but didn’t quite catch it, recognised it sounded like what you’d referred to, and stuck the Welsh subtitles on. Might have been …gawn ni wneud cychwyn, I’m not sure.)
2 Likes
Which helps explain my indecision about what the hell to do with it
I know for sure that I’ve heard “cynta’n y byd, gorau’n y byd” (the sooner, the better) loads of times but I’ve heard the same kind of structure a lot with different words thrown in.
2 Likes
Yes, the first one sounds OK to you because it is OK!
We drop the yn when the VN is focused - though you do hear hypercorrection errors where the yn is retained (I heard an academic - inevitably - doing this only the other day)…it’s quite wrong though, and goes against the principles of the language.
Siarad Cymraeg o’n i - I was speaking Welsh
Palu’r ardd maen nhw - They’re digging the garden
Gwaethygu mae’r sefyllfa yn Libanus - The situation in Lebanon is worsening
4 Likes
Something I heard yesterday on Radio Cymru (pardon the pun) -
“Rhwy Peth” (with the “Rhee” type pronunciation).
I take it to mean “some thing” rather than “something”/“rhywbeth”.
The nuance even in the English (Some thing & something) takes a bit of thinking about, but I think I get it now, sort of.
Do you think that I heard correctly?
rhyw = rh’oo …
but rhwy would be "rh’oo’ee
Is rhwy a word?
Sounds to me more like a pause-for-thought in the middle of saying ‘rhywbeth’…
1 Like
Sorry, rhyw
Another quick twofer.
-
I’ve got it into my head that I’ve come across (in speech or subtitles or informal writing) something like tawaith, which I think is used as a tag on statements, meaning something like ‘though’ or ‘even so’. But I’m not sure enough about what might be the full, correct spelling to have succeeded in looking it up. Is this ringing any bells, or ami just confabulating made-up words?
-
On the learners’ weekend in Bethesda, Heledd told a joke a couple of times which was clearly a play on words, but I’m not at all sure that I get it (I have a guess, but it may be so wide of the mark that it is itself comical.) It’s a question and answer, and the second half clearly isn’t exactly the same as the first, but it sounds like: T’isio tatw? – Tatw ti ddim! My guess is that it’s something like Tat wyt ti ddim really, but I’m wondering if anyone can explain.
-
’ta waeth is a (mostly Northern) spoken form which stems from petawn/petai waeth which means “if that is anything to go by/ for that matter/however”
-
sorry - the joke is beyond me this time in the morning!
3 Likes
The joke is simply substituting tydw for tatw, you see…?
1 Like
Sometimes understanding a joke still doesn’t make it funny.
Take my “Friday Five 14/9/18” entry for example.
1 Like
What does ‘cant o cant’ or it may be ‘cant a cant’ is it an idiom? I can’t find it in the dictionary or my book of idioms.