Tiny questions with quick answers - continuing thread

Can someone help me with edrych and disgwyl please. I’m not sure when to use which. I was using disgwyl, but I hear edrych a lot on Radio Cyrmu and it’s just popped up in the latest challenge. Are they interchangeable? Thanks.

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By and large edrych and disgwyl are interchangeable when meaning to look. You’re more likely to come across edrych in the north, and disgwyl in the south. Note that disgwyl can also mean to expect, but it will usually be clear from the context.

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Yes, in the South, for look(ing) Edrych is perfectly correct and also formal. Disgwyl is slightly more natural for everyday speech in our area. Disgwyl ymla(e)n - looking forward.

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Thank you both.

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I’m confused, please help :’<. In Course 1 Lesson 1 'I’m" is written as “Dwi’n” like “Dwi’n trio” but in Course 1 Lesson 2 “I’m” is written as “Dw I’n” like “Yndw, dw i’n siarad” is there a difference? or are there rules? like when and when not to write it that way? thank you in advance! <3

Im not sure but possibly the 2nd was written to reflect a bit of emphasis. As in Yes I am speaking.

Dwi’n tends to be more like I’m.

Not really a big thing as they are both abreviations of a longer term and just trying to reflect the spoken sound. I’ve noticed that different people will write it differently.

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If you mean you’ve seen it as both “dw i’n” and “dwi’n” then yes, you might have. Different people write it different ways, and it doesn’t matter which you use. As @JohnYoung says, they’re both an abbreviation of a longer term (“yr ydwyf fi”, I think?) anyway.

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thank you, guys so, so much, this has been bothering me a lot :’< good thing that’s out of my head now xD, but, another question has been pulling on my hair lately ;-;. so, I tried translating this literally “How do I say”, and is it correct if it’s “sut gwneud dwi dweid”? or is there another word in Welsh for “do”? Google won’t give out answers, that’s why I’ll only try to ask in here for questions that are on my mind, if that’s okay ^.^. again, thank you, words can’t express the gratitude I feel for such nice people like you :’<.

“How do I say…” = “Sut ydwi’n dweud…”
You don’t need the ‘gwneud’ at all because the ‘ydwi’n’ is the ‘do I’ here (not just the ‘I’).

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Try not to rely on Google translate. It’s notoriously awful for Welsh translation.

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Siaron beat me to it, but I was going to add a sort of "impersonal "version:

“Sut mae’n dweud …?”

which could be sort of interpreted as “how is it said…” or “how do they say …”
(not literally - literally, it would be more like "how does she say? or “how does it say…?”).

Not even sure if it’s what people say, but it’s probably what I would say in the heat of the moment, and I think it would be understood, since people would just hear “sut” and “dweud” and know what was meant.

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I think of it as “How am I saying…?”

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once again, thank you guys very much, you’ve been very helpful :’< the community here is amazing <3

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Hello, I am back once again :’< I apologize, but, a lot of things just really confuse me.

Okay, so first, I have just finished Day 2 in 1 Sentence in Welsh, and I was wondering, why is it “Dwi’n caru” instead of “Dwi caru”, doesn’t “Dwi’n caru” mean “I’m love” or does it mean “I am in love”? should I always use Dwi’n instead of Dwi? (the case is the same with Ti’n).

Second, the mutations, it is said as “Wnes ti weld”, (Wnes ti gweld) but is it written that way?

please enlighten me, and Dolch Ti! ( is that correct? ;-; )

Yes, you need the 'n (short for ‘yn’) with almost all verbs in this particular present tense construction (there are a couple of exceptions, eisiau being perhaps the most common). Although it doesn’t translate ‘straight’ and sounds odd in English, you are saying “I am loving”, the ‘loving’ being a verb, not an adjective when used like this in Welsh.
Just for clarification, “I am love” would be “cariad ydw I” and “I am in love” would be “Dwi’n mewn cariad”.

Wnest ti weld is written and said that way - the g drops off gweld because the short form ‘wnest’ causes a soft mutation.

And diolch I ti for asking - I just hope the answers don’t cause further confusion!

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Does “on i” convey both the past perfect and past imperfect, i.e. does “on i’n siarad” mean “I spoke” as well “I was speaking”?

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Hi @edmund

Well, there are some verbs where exactly what you say is true and Welsh differs from English.

These verbs are ones which tend to be a state of mind eg thinking, wanting and liking.

For these verbs the ‘was’ tense is the past tense, so for example:

On i’n meddwl = I thought = I was thinking (no distinctions)

For verbs which are actions rather than states of mind - you can say both ‘I was’ and ‘I did’ - there is a distinction.

So , for example:

On i’n siarad = I was speaking

Siaradais I = I spoke … or alternately

Wnes I siarad = I did speak = I spoke

Hopefully that makes sense - good question!

Rich :slight_smile:

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Remember that “caru” is a verbnoun, which sort of equates to either the “ing” form in English (loving) or the infinitive (to love). Love, as a noun, is a different word.

It’s “Dw i’n’” and not “Dw i” when you’re joining bod (“to be” - am, is, are, etc) to a verbnoun, noun or adjective:

Dw i’n caru - I love / I am loving (verbnoun)
Dw i’n hoffi - I like / I am liking (verbnoun)
Dw i’n oer - I am cold (adjective)

I wouldn’t worry too much about it. As you carry on through the course you’ll just learn when to use what.

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Er…and for every other language in the known universe as well… :confused:

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dim ond i adleisio’r hyn yr ydych newydd ei ddweud yn Sesotho

Er … le bakeng sa puo e ‘ngoe le e’ ngoe bokahohleng bo tsejoang hammoho le …: pherekano