Tiny questions with quick answers - continuing thread

Ja, das ist richtig! Yes, that is correct.

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In its early introduction in level 1 “someone who told me” is : rhywyn ddwedodd wtha’i
but I’ve just heard it in level 1, lesson 16 (without any explanation) as “rhywyn wnaeth dwaed wrtha’i”

in lesson 17 it introduces “weles i” as “i saw” but does then explain that could also use “wnes i weld”…

So i think lesson 17 cleared up my lesson 16 confusion with the wnaeth making the dwaed wrtha’i past tense …but I just wanted to check that these patterns are both equally acceptable or if it depends on the context.

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Yes, nes i ddweud is literally “I did say”, and it means the same as wedes i.

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This is one of the things I love about Welsh. The use of bod and gwneud to make periphrastic sentences for past, present and future really makes it a relatively easy language to learn… initially, at least!

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Along the same lines of the use of bod and gwneud.

Bydda i’n gofyn iddi - I will ask her

Can you use Gwnaf here? (Mi w)na i ofyn iddi

yup, absolutely you can :slight_smile:

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Excellent! “Na i” comes to mind first normally :smile:

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And let’s not forget ar gadw as a way of doing kept - along the same lines as ar gau closed.

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At the start of level 3 (southern course) when we’re introduced to i newid e and i dwlid e, is this just a typo for ei newid e and ei dwlid e?

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I think a shortened version, how it sounds

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I believe it’s because it’s part of the sentence building. So the sentences are using the form “i newid” and “i dwlid” rather than the stand alone. So the “ei” is left out all together because the “e” is used. Otherwise it would be “i’w newid e”.

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I should have put some examples, to clarify what my problem was:

Naeth hi anghofio i dwlid e
Goffyna i iddi i dwlid e yn araf
Bydden well ‘da fi i dwlid e
Wyt ti’n moyn i newid e

These would all make sense to me if it was ei and not i.

We were introduced to structures such as dy helpi di for to help you so I assume this is the same kind of structure, where you have to wrap the personal pronoun and the object around the verb??

Edit: I’m pretty sure each of these examples take “i” as “to”, anghofio i - forget to.
You don’t always have to wrap the verb. You can drop either “ei” or the “e/hi ayyb” and it’ll make sense.
With these if you kept the “ei” it would become “i’w”. “i” + “ei” = “i’w” so it’d be anghofio i’w dwlid e. In the northern version “to change it” is taught as “ei newid” and they drop the “o”.

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Thanks Anthony.

There is still something that is bugging me though.

We’ve always been taught
well ‘da fi + soft mutation of verb
wyt ti’n moyn + verb
So I don’t quite get why these would have an i in them.

Yeah the more I think about it the less I’m certain, bloody thinking :laughing:

I’m pretty sure “anghofio taflu” would be how I’d say it. So it might be a typo…if in doubt, if you wrap a verb in a pronoun you’ll be fine, if you only use one half of it you’ll be fine…so you’ll be fine :smile:

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I just had to have a quick look at the vocab, as I did the Northern version. What I remember of the Northern version was Gad i mi daflu fo dros y wal i.e. Gad i fi i dwlid e dros y wal.

So the short answer is that you’re right: i here is an alternative to ei.

I remember reading somewhere that the forms we’re used to seeing as ei, but which are often pronounced i, are actually historically ‘correctly’ both i – at some point the spelling convention ei was adopted, possibly in order to help distinguish them from other words spelt i as in Rydw i, i as in Gad i fi, i as in i mewn, etc. I’m not sure whether the pronunciation ei that you hear was originally an alternative to i, or is a “spelling pronunciation” due to people being literate – in English the traditional pronunciation of the word ‘housewife’ used to be ‘huzzif’, but it’s gone back to ‘house + wife’ in the past century; so also pronouncing the ‘t’ in ‘often’, the ‘w’ in ‘towards’, and the ‘h’ in ‘forehead’, etc.

If it’s any comfort, in mediæval Welsh they sometimes spelt the word for ‘the’ as i instead of y, so I think the glossaries to Middle Welsh texts list about 6 different possibilities when you look up the word i

Also: in some of these sentences it’s going to be quite hard to hear whether the i is there or not (e.g. your Goffyna i iddi i dwlid e); and sometimes even if the word isn’t there (as in my memory of the Northern version), the softening it causes remains (although you could also explain it as being due to the mi, I think).

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Thanks Richards,

Pretty much confirmed my thinking of it. I also think you’re right about the last point; the softening would be there even if the ei wasn’t there due to the i or its various conjugations such as iddi etc

Level 1 (south) lesson 24. question about the Tense of a sentence

The prompt was “It’s possible that he wanted to help you”
The ssiw answer was “Mae’n bosib fod e’n moyn dy helpu di”

What makes the ‘he wanted’ past tense? I initially answered with " oedd e’n "
If I saw or heard the welsh first, I’d have translated it as “Its possible that he wants to help you”

Diolch!

@Mira I doubt I can answer your question because I just finished Level 1 last week, but out of curiosity, what is the timestamp for that prompt in Challenge 24? I’ll go back and have another listen.

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I’m listening to the downloaded file from the website. The question is asked at timestamp 17:16
I’ve just noticed its also written in the vocab list on the app (but not the website).

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