Yes that is right. On the northern course, old and new, they dip into this long form at times. When I was at school I learnt a semi-fictional version of Welsh where everything was in long form. I will spare you the details because it’s not helpful!
(Slightly less confidently) I think that the tense of one half of a sentence can often be neutral and drawn from the context of the other half - you have an ‘y’ as a tantalising ‘that’ for the second portion of the sentence - which I would anticipate is in the past tense - I think the portion you have given could be in several tenses dependent on the other portion. This is a surprising feature of Welsh which I didn’t learn in the fictional version!
(Less confident still!) I think this is essentially an idiom in English - and I’m not sure of the translation- by coincidence in the latest Sgwrs there is the use of ‘dyna’r cwbl’ which seems close.
Hello everyone! I just finished my second play-through of Lv. 1 Challenge 16 (S), and there’s a little something that’s puzzling to me.
I have been hearing “y llivyr 'ma” and “y llivyr 'na” and I am wondering, is that the difference between “this book” and “that book?” I was feeling pretty baffled until I went to write this post, when that theory came to me just now after going to look at the vocabulary notes again. Before, I was just wondering if it’s because I am slightly hearing-impaired.
Thank you, thank you! The answer came to me as I composed my question hahaha, but it is wonderfully comforting to have the mystery resolved and the solution confirmed! Diolch yn fawr iawn eto!
I downloaded a brilliant album on iTunes yesterday, ‘Y Ceubal, Y Crossbar a’r Quango’ by Geraint Jarman. Could someone be so kind as to tell me what is the translation of ‘Twyn ar ben y llodyn’ (from one of the tracks on there). Twyn = hillock or dune, and it’s on top of something. However no online translation facility I know seems to recognise ‘llodyn’.
Since I started watching Welsh TV series, when I try to make sentences in my head, I try to ask myself “Would this sound good in a dialogue in one of those episodes?”.
If it’s a bit too complicated, I usually answer “Naaa!” and look for another solution
It’s just an impression, though. I’m not familiar with Welsh enough to judge!
p.s. I started with “35 Diwrnod” by the way, and I really like it!
I’ve been listening to a song, and one of the lines is Sa na dafarn yn fan hyn, sa fo’n booming (I think)
I’m kind of assuming (based on the context) it means If there was a pub here, it would be booming
So the first sa is a shortened tasai but what is the second sa short for? Or am I mishearing it?
Thanks
** Edit
Sorry, straight after posting i thought would it be basai? If so is it common for both to be shortened like that in speech (“up north” at least) or is it just poetic licence?
That certainly sounds plausible - presumably it fits with the rest of the lyrics?
The ‘sa’ thing has confused me in the past - as you know it can be a shortening of tasai, basai or the more southern ‘sa i’ - meaning ‘I am not’ - same as dw i ddim - but it does seem that context sorts it out.
Rich
Ps we seem to have a bit of a dog theme going with the personal pics at the moment!
Hi. I have been trying to increase my playlist with Welsh Bands and I have not heard of Gai. The difficult thing is being in America and not having access to all the music. I tried to search Gai, but had mixed results. Can you let me know some album names so I can see if I can find them? I would be interested in listening to their music. Diolch yn fawr!
Ah, yes - Gai is Gai Toms. He’s currently performing under ‘Gai Toms’, but that song is an older one when his band was ‘Mim Twm Llai’.
He also plays/played with ‘Brython Shag’ and ‘Anweledig’
edit -
The song in question above is Tafarn yn Nolredyn from the Mim Twm Llai album “O’r Sbensh”, but he’s done so many albums with all his different bands, it’s probably easier to google the band names rather than the album names.
Diolch! Interestingly, my family was listening to Anweledig yesterday while eating lunch!
I will look up the bands and add it to my playlist. Again, thanks so much!
Shwmae Kelly! I have been working on my own Welsh music playlist, so I thought I would share them with you in case there’s something there you haven’t heard. I found most of these from the same YouTuber, so I am going to link their page as well. Hope you enjoy them! There are a bunch of different musical styles in there. I’d love to hear if you have some favorites as well! These playlists are works in progress. Pob lwc!
Wow!! Thank you! This is great. I find that if I play Welsh music at home my husband gets more interested in possibly learning Welsh. Usually in the car he asks how to pronounce the name or asks, “what are they saying?” Hopefully he will start and then I will have a conversation partner! These videos will be great to show him and gives me more music to listen to! Diolch!
It’s safer to think of popeth as everything, not all (though I admit there is overlap in English). Attached to something else, all is usually i gyd,; and when it’s on its own, it’s usually y cyfan/y cwbwl
Dioch i chi i gyd - Thanks to you all Mae’r bara i gyd wedi mynd - The bread’s all gone ’Na’r cyfan sy gen i - That’s all I’ve got Rhaid i’r cyfan fynd - It’s all got to go
