I’m going to use this excellent little sentence in the new book - diolch yn fawr Richard!
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Good evening everyone. Sorry I’ve got 2 questions tonight.
First one…
In this translation I was looking to say “fod oedd e’n” for the “it was” bit but I guessed that you can’t have 2 forms of “bod” in the same statement, so “fod oedd e’n mynd"would be wrong? But is there any reason why it says “fod o’n mynd” instead of"fod e’n mynd” which I assumed was the South version?
My second question is about the use of “peidio” in this and some other translations.
The English says “so that I don’t..”
I was looking to say “er mwyn dw I ddim yn colli…”
I thought peidio had a sense of “must not” or "don’t when used as a imperative e.g. “don’t close the door” .
Can someone help me by explaining the use of “peidio” to mean “so that (I, you etc) don’t”?
Many thanks.
That seems to be the northern version being displayed in the southern course, as it should be fod e’n. We’ll have to check that - diolch!
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peidio is just a way of saying “to refrain from doing something” - so it can be a ‘command’ - paid gwneud hynny! "Don’t do that! (Refrain from doing that!) or it can be a desire to refrain from something like your example “to refrain from missing the second half” which in natural English is “don’t miss the second half”.
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Thanks for your answers
I am having a little look at Wales South, it explains that how is sut, the same as I’m used to. It says that it might be pronounced as shut, as someone from Northern England would pronounce it, would that be spelt siut?
It continues with sut, so perhaps it is just the pronunciation ?
Yes, sut is the standardized spelling. Sometimes you’ll see it written as shwd, to signify the southern pronunciation.
Although Welsh is largely phonetic (i.e. written as it sounds), some regional differences occur. A widespread example is the plural ending -au, which is pronounced -a by northern speakers and -e by southern speakers.
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Aran and Catrin are the models for the North, who provide the Southern version?
That depends on which version you use. The old course and the challenges have Iestyn and his wife cat. With Automagic the southern voices were changed to Richard Lynch and Mali-Ann Rees, two southern speaking actors.
I’m using the web app.
Are the words (g)wnaeth and (g)wneith ever confused in spoken Welsh? To my learner ears, they sound similar enough to potentially cause confusion. Context will often/usually help, but do they ever get mixed up?
They do sound similar, so there is potential for confusion, but as you said, there will usually be some context.
People in the south will usually pronounce gwnaeth as gwnâth, which considerably reduces the confusion.
And northerners will usually pronounce gwneith similarly to the english “ay” sound as in “hay”.
So it might trip you up if you don’t know where the speaker is coming from, but again, context usually helps.
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I haven’t heard any confusion coming from them, but then my Welsh is from South Wales where they’re pronounced quite differently - wnaeth rhyming with “path” (southern English) and the “ei” in wneith sounding like the “ay” in “day”.
EDIT: And Hendrik answered while I was typing 
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Does medru ever change endings? Or is it medru i, medru ni, medru nhw, etc?
Yes, medru changes endings depending on both tense and pronoun.
have a look here https://www.gweiadur.com/welsh-verbs/medru
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I’m confused about starting third person singular negative sentences. Both ‘Dyw’ and ‘Does’ seem to be used – what 's the difference in how they are used?
Does is the negative form of oes, so it is used in sentences expressing the absence of something: Does dim problem - “There is no problem.” or Does neb yn gwybod - “Nobody knows.”
Dyw (or dydy) is for other negative sentences, such as Dyw Owen ddim yn siarad Cymraeg. - “Owen doesn’t speak Welsh.”
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If I try to create a sentence - “Ac mae gynnon ni John yma, sy’n ddim gwybod am unrhywbeth” would “sy’n ddim gwybod” be correct, or would the form change because it is a negative after sy’n?
Sy ddim yn gwybod…
That’s what I would say.
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