Thanks Hendrik. we do use “gofalus” in many forms including with the cat - although he’s never struck out in anger chwarae teg iddo! - it was more the gentle rathee than careful that I was going for, but thank you for your suggestion 
I always association it with Iestyn’s children 
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I wonder why?! 
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Would someone be able to tell me the meaning of the phrase
Dyna drueni bach
I literally translated it as ‘that’s a small pity’ but it doesn’t really make sense in the conversation it popped up in.
Thank you
It can mean a few different things depending on the context - for instance, it might mean “That’s a small adversity” or “that’s a small mercy”, and other things besides. Without knowing the context I can’t say for certain which it might be, but if you put “trueni” into https://geiriadur.ac.uk/gpc/gpc.html you’ll see the options.
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Another idea to add to Siaron’s answer… “bach” on its own is often used as a term of endearment, like “dear” or “love”. So maybe it was Dyna drueni, bach – That’s a pity, dear – would that fit the context?
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Hendrick, why didn’t I think of that. It works perfectly , thank you.
Thanks to you also siaron.
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Oh dear me.
I have been ploughing through level 1 challenges, just started challenge 9, (already one week behind, today I was sent challenge 10) . I do 30 minutes duolingo and 30 minutes SSIW every day, listening to the listening exercise (Helo, dwi’n trio dysgu Cymraeg…) and about 10 minutes of the challenge repeating it.
But it is so hard, I’m really depressed.
I am now re-doing 15 or 20 minutes of an earlier challenge, currently ch 3, before I start on my current week’s challenge, to try to reassure myself that I am actually progressing, but at the moment I am so depressed that I get tearful when trying challenge 9…
I feel like abandoning it all. 
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Jennifer - don’t give up! Most of us have been there at one point or another. One particular lesson will just seem impossible, trying and trying. Going back to reassure yourself with an earlier lesson does help; I’ve done that a LOT. Taking a short break can help too. But don’t despair! It does get easier.
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As Sionned says, don’t give up! Be kind to yourself and have a break of a few days. Watch a funny film, go for a long walk, switch the pressure off yourself. An hour a day, depending on what else you do with your life, is pretty full on. But then, go back to it. Slow down, or speed up, take a break, but don’t stop. That’s the reason people don’t finish. You can always change your target date. You can stop the emails for a couple of weeks. Yes, it’s hard, some bits are harder than others, but you’ll get there, if you don’t stop. And you’ve reached challenge 9. So much more than those who say they want to learn Welsh, but don’t want to put the work in. As I say, be kind to yourself, take a break, then come back to it.
Pob lwc, ac, ar ôl sbel, dal ati. Good luck, and, after a spell, keep at it. 
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Helo! I just joined yesterday, so I want to say hello to all, and I have a brief question. I’m working through the Welch Duolingo course at the moment. I’ve been keeping a notepad with questions as I go. So far I’ve been able to figure out the answer to all but one. So I thought I’d ask on here. 
I just want to verify that what Duolingo is telling me is correct, because it just doesn’t sound right. In the chapter where we used past-tense gwnued to create the past-tense of a second verb, the sentence “I did not write anything yesterday.” is translated as “Wnes I ddim ysgrifennu dim byd ddoe.” That sounds to me like “I did not write nothing yesterday.” which in English would be a double-negative and therefore, incorrect. Is it correct in Welsh? Or should I report it in Duolingo as incorrect? Let me know what you all think.
No, it’s correct: no he escrito nada. Double negatives are fine in many languages, including many dialects of English - just not in the dialects that happen to be the written standard English!
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Thanks @RichardBuck. Yes, you are right, Spanish does use the double negative in common speech. I grew up speaking Spanish and learned it by listening (as children do), so I’m not sure it is “correct” Spanish. I’ve found that reading a book in Spanish is very different than speaking it! In the past, I tried to work on “reading Spanish” by getting the Harry Potter books in Spanish. It hurt my brain to read them! lol Thank you again for your response.
Hi @longhurstjennifer,
I totally agree with the previous responses to your posting. Always remember that learning a language is meant to be fun more than anything else.
If you are not familiar with any other Celtic language (Gaelic or Breton for example) then the chances are that Welsh is quite unfamiliar to you. I think that most of us will fall into that category - I certainly do. Yes, it’s not always easy at the beginning - and the beginning does seem to be a long one for many of us! I agree that it’s often very useful to take a break for a short while and then go back to it. A few days or weeks at most in my opinion. I have done so several times, and when I resume my Welsh learning I always find that I am much more receptive to learning. Furthermore I always - always - find that I have retained far more than I thought. In fact I sometimes find that I’ve improved since the start of my break. I don’t understand why, but I suspect that @aran will not find this surprising, as he has written much on how our brain makes connections as we learn.
You may also try to watch YouTube videos or whatever in Welsh, just for the hell of it, to let your hair down without actively trying to understand a thing.
But whatever you do, make sure that you enjoy it, and pob lwc - good luck!
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Yes, No he he hecho nada and similar double negatives are correct Spanish, both informal and formal. @Eiandha
Thank you @Sionned, @margaretnock and @Baruch for your encouragement.
You are correct that I have no experience of Celtic languages, and am finding everything very hard going. My experience is Romance languages, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and I taught myself enough Italian in five days, just five days, when in Italy that I could argue vociferously with the bus inspector who said “Any foreigner who can say if I had known that, I would have done it clearly is familiar with Italy and knows the rules.” The rest of the bus was on my side, and I didn’t get fined.
How had I acquired such complex Italian so fast?
I saw in a bookshop a John Grisham book in Italian that I had brought with me in English. I read one page in English then the same page in Italian, until I could continue just in Italian. And lots of practice out and about speaking with everybody until my bus inspector event. Part of the Spanish-French-Portuguese family, you see, so I can read in Catalan too, although slowly.
But Welsh is overwhelming,
So thank you all for your helpful suggestions, I really appreciate you taking the time to be supportive, and I shall just have 3 or 4 days break from SSIW, keep on with the easy-peasy Duolingo, and resume with the pressure off me.
Diolch yn fawr. 
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Bore da bawb (well, it’s raining here in Swansea, but at least it’s a warm kind of rain falling on green leaves!) ,
In written English, it’s pretty common to start sentences with present participles. e.g. Seeing the light in the sky, Sioned started planning an afternoon at the beach.
Is this possible in Welsh, or would a conjunction be necessary?
Yn gweld y golau yn yr awyr, dechreuodd Sioned gynllunio prynhawn ar y traeth.
Ar ôl gweld y golau yn yr awyr, dechreuodd Sioned gynllunio prynhawn ar y traeth.
I love the sight of grammar in the morning. Diolch yn fawr!
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Hi. I also start speaking with with Gwneud forms, eg naeth. Theres loads of options with cael (cath, cafodd etc) or any verb: Dwedodd hi and so forth…Also conditional forms eg basai hi.
Ooo, now you’ve encouraged me to switch around a bit :
Or you could start with Dwi’n meddwl/deall/credu bo hi… Or mae hi wedi…
smile:
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I’m not well practiced in writing, but yes for -ing endings you could use yn before the verb. I think you’d then loose the g.
Or you could start with one of the because, therefore, in spite of type constructions.
Should be just showers now until late pm 
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Diolch yn fawr, John. 
The sky above me looks kind of yellow, so I’ll be erring on the side of caution for a while!