Cadno neu llwynog yn ne Cymru?
Diolch
Usually fox is cadno in the South and llwynog in the North.
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I thought I had just about grasped possessive Gyda Vs Cael. But I’ve seen these today about “having time” . Both seem to me to need “Gyda” (insomuch as
the time belongs to you ) but the second example uses a form of Cael. Can anyone help me please?
Gest ti amser i wneud yn siŵr - In Welsh, when you have time for something in the past, we tend to use a form of cael - “did you get time to make sure?” or Gest ti amser da? - “Did you have (get) a good time?”
oes 'da chi amser i helpu? - Here it’s more focused on the time you have available now, so it’s asking “do you have time to help?”
Does that help at all?
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Yes it does. Thank you
OK, this isn’t a grammar question, it’s a usage questions. One of the things I struggle with a bit is understanding the emotional intensity of a phrase, and how that affects when it should be used.
So ‘thanks’ is ‘diolch’, which is find and dandy and easy to use. But how intense are the following:
- Diolch yn fawr
- Diolch yn fawr iawn
- Diolch o galon
When would you use them? When wouldn’t you?
I have just come to the part of the lessons (old course) that teaches how to say, “he needs” or “she needs” with “ma isie iddo fe” and “ma isie iddi hi”. My problem is.. I can’t seem to pronounce these phrases! I try to listen very closely, but I just can’t get it. I feel like I’m stuttering and spitting. Any suggestions would be wonderful!
ma is mah
isie is ish-eh
iddo is i-tho (with the th pronounced ‘heavy’ as in ‘this’, not ‘light’ as in ‘think’)
iddi is i-thee (th as above)
fe is veh
hi is hee
so ma isie iddo fe is mah ish-eh i-tho veh
and ma isie iddi hi is mah ish-eh i-thee hee
Try breaking them up into halves and just practising the ma isie, then the iddo fe and the iddi hi, and when you’re happy, put them back together.
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Morning!
AIUI, Mynd â is ‘to take to’, but how do you use it when the object precedes the verb? Where does the â go?
E.g.
I gathered some books to take to the charity shop.
Is it something like: Nes i gasglu ychydig o lyfrau er mwyn mynd â nhw i’r siop elusen? or something else? (And if it’s right, but stilted, is there a Welsher way of saying it?)
Diolch yn fawr…
That’s exactlly right @David_B. When the object is earlier in the sentence, Welsh likes to refer back to it with a pronoun 
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That’s great, @Deborah-SSi. Thanks for such a quick answer!
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Lately i’ve been encountering several occasions where “hi” seems to be omitted whereas other pronouns wouldn’t? E.g. “to her” is given as “iddi” (while “to him” is “iddo fo”); another “to her” is given as “wrthi” (while “to me” is given as “wrtha (f)i”).
Is this just a personal variation, and also: is this limited to “hi” (as in, could you also say just “iddo”, “wrtha”)?
This is one of those things that sometimes happen in natural colloquial speech, and it predominantly happens with iddi, and sometimes with wrthi, both dropping the pronoun hi. You can also hear iddo, but more in the North, as the dropped pronoun there would be fo (in the South people usually stick with iddo fe, not dropping the pronoun in this case).
I personally have never heard wrtha without the pronoun, but it is not unusual to just blend the two words wrtha i together to wrthai, so that it seems to consist of two syllables instead of three.
All of these are largely optional, so you are under no obligation to incorporate them into your own active repertoire, but it’s good to know that these variations exist, so as not to be confused if you encounter these forms “in the wild”.
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Took a bit of a break from my SSiW only to come back and notice a few changes, most notably a new feminine voice and some changes to the phrasing of the practice sentences (for the Southern Course).
It seems “I’d rather” has changed from “bydda i’n well 'da fi” to “well gyda fi” for example- a bit odd considering I learnt “mae well gyda fi” as “I prefer”
When did this happen and what have I missed!?
Both the male and female voices have been re-recorded for the Southern course, and a few alterations to the phrases, e.g. “I need” is now dw i angen instead of mae isie i fi. They’re both used in the south, but the first is a little more ‘standard’.
I wasn’t aware of any changes to “I’d rather” though. Do you have any particular example sentences showing that? Are you using the AutoMagic prototype, or the latest SaySomethingin app?
I’m using the app! I didn’t get the chance to screenshot where “well i fi” was used though, I think it might have just been a mistake that slipped through the cracks! I know Hendrik has been on the lookout for those!
I’m baffled by “that” malarkey - bod/fod, i, y and you can throw taw into the mix.
I can’t pick up the different usages from the patterns.
So my default is usually bod/fod.
I think I see “y” connecting two parts of a sentence where there is a conditional verb involved e.g. “…y dylet ti…”
I see that “taw” seems to be used for “that’s” e.g. “taw dyna…”
And don’t start on na/nag negatives vs ddim.
I’m sure someone has asked about this before so if someone can refer me to a previous discussion I’d be very grateful.
I’ve reached the bit where it’s introducing pretty eyes, but it’s written blin/ angry.
It sounds like del for pretty, I probably have the spelling wrong as I couldn’t find it in my dictionary.
Any ideas?
Diolch
Does this thread help, Nigel? Na, taw, bod
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Yes, Victoria, del is one of the words in Welsh for “pretty”.