Defi (Davey) is a diminuitive of Dafydd (as are Dai or Daf), so I assume that the character Daf Dafis would have worked in a shop in his youth and was therefore known to all as “Davey Shop”. It’s oh so common in Wales for people to take on the names of their job / house / village / distinguishing feature / notorious habit!
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I thought it was perhaps some traditional character like Sioni Winions but now you’ve explained, ‘Dave the Shop’ makes a lot more sense…
Many thanks!
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I’d appreciate some help on this one please.
The second part of the sentence appeared emphatic to me “that THAT film” (as opposed to any other film) so expected “taw” instead of “bod”. So “taw’r ffilm 'na” or even “taw dyna’r ffilm”
Can someone explain another one of my brickwall bits of understanding?
Thanks
It’s not emphatic in this case - just talking about ‘that film’ that had been mentioned before but with no special emphasis, so it’s just normal word order.
If you wanted to have emphasis, then you could have something like dwedodd hi taw wedi cwpla oedd y ffilm 'na but that’s stressing the ‘finished’.
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Would it also be possible to say ddwedes i taw’r ffilm 'na oedd wedi cwpla ddydd Iau if the film which had finished was particularly notable, or being distinguished from another? This structure seems similar to an example given in Working Welsh, Mae’n amlwg taw safle amddiffynol oedd hi, which seems like it could also be Mae’n amlwg bod hi’n safle amddiffynol without the focus.
By coincidence, I just happened across this example as well - at least for me, even with the tone of Aran’s prompt in mind, this feels like a 50/50.
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Yes, that sounds perfectly fine to me as you’ve used the emphatic order, moving what you’re talking about y ffilm na in front of the verb oedd wedi
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@Deborah-SSi did you see the ‘so ni’n yn gwybod’ typo? Have we caught that? 
Yes
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Is the English correct? To me the Welsh says “They told us that they DON’T want to explain what was happening” Also, if it is correct could you also say “nag o’n nhw’n moyn”?
Yes, it is. Welsh and English state what was said in the past in different ways. Welsh tends to state what was said “at the time”, while English puts it all into the past.
So here, at the time, “they” could have said “we don’t want to explain what was happening”, but English reported speech puts all that in the past.
If you use “nag o’n nhw’n moyn”, then you’re reflecting that “at the time” they were talking about something that had happened earlier, and they actually said “we didn’t want to explain what was happening”.
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Brilliant. Many thanks for the detailed explanation. 
Cerwch/cer v ewch/dos: is there a regional difference with these commands, a formality thing, or is it more of a personal preference thing?
These forms are regional variations. Cer/Cerwch is used by southern speakers, while Dos/Ewch is used by northern speakers.
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I’ve get a similar question re minnau vs finnau. I realise it’s no big deal but was just curious. I’d assumed minnau was more common in the north but I’ve also seen finnau listed as a northern variant.
In my experience, minnau vs finnau – and by the same token mi vs fi – is more a question of personal preference than a regional variation. Just choose the one that sounds right to you.
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Neither is very common - and finnau the more common of the two.
You mainly need it for the two phrases
a finnau! me too!
na finnau chwaith! me neither!
both of which everybody on here should learn (if they have not already) and use.
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Cytuno that finnau is more common (going by my admittedly skewed data set).
But for example there’s this line in Dafydd Iwan’s song Hawl i fyw:
Rwi’n frawd i ti, a tithau’n frawd i minnau
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Yes - and I think the choice of minnau there is influenced by the preceding i - i mi is usual instead of i fi in the N of course. But after a and na (as in the above examples), mi is very unusual everywhere…extremely formal, to say the least.
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Which is the correct/best word for ‘apply’ to use in the sentence ‘the laws of the country don’t apply to them there’ ? Diolch!
I don’t think there’s a 1:1 translation for this.
Byd Term Cymru suggests that “bod yn gymwys” is the government’s official translation for “apply” in a legal context, so perhaps “nid yw deddfau [cyfreithiau?] y wlad yn gymwys arnyn nhw [drostyn nhw?] yna”?
But I would want to get that checked, because of the areas of uncertainty there. (I’ve only used “cymwys” from the other way around - to mean “eligble” or “competent”, where it doesn’t take a preposition.
If I was having to express this for work, I’d probably have to ask one of my colleagues to help…
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