Yes that’s it or what it says in the course notes - it’s actually in the first few lessons of level 2 - no need exact time now I guess
So it’s ‘is’ - but why is it different? Is it because it’s plural (children) or … well I can’t think of another reason.
Anyway diolch to @Toffidil @owainlurch and @HowlsedhesServices for your help 
Ah sorry I’m not making myself too clear am I? 
Earlier I mentioned that I was surprised by the ‘yw’ because I was expecting to hear ‘y’ on its own… of course this might be my beginner’s ears getting it wrong, but I meant, why ‘yw’, rather than ‘y’.
But it makes sense anyway, knowing now that ‘yw’ can be ‘is’ or ‘are’…
I can’t comment on the spelling though - it’s copied from a thread with the course notes on, but I don’t know how official they are!
The word yw is a form of to be, used here as “are.” I don’t really have the grammatical terms to describe it, but yw (south) and ydy (north) are generally used in a construction like “these are better” or “whose are those?”
The word y on the other hand is simply “the” so it really doesn’t make sense there (or would double the ’r, which means the same thing)
I think.
Apologies for another question - I’m trying to understand the page in my Welshforadults book which unhelpfully doesn’t give all the necessary information to answer the questions it is asking.
I’m supposed to be translating “are the children playing?” and it gives the answer of the form dwy’r plant ddim yn gweithio but doesn’t say how I ask the question.
Is it just using Ydy plant yn gweithio? Or something else?
Yes.
Well, it’s “Ydy’r plant yn gweithio?”
(The 'r for “the”).
And “gweithio” means working - “chwarae” (or whatever form they give if the word) means playing. [that seems just to be a slip somewhere ]
But well done, you got it right, basically!
Oh sorry, yes I just typed gweithio when I meant to type chwarae
Careful! Remember what happened to Jack?
Thank you @Sionned I do get most confused between those connecting words… what I expect to hear isn’t always correct, but the real confusion comes when it is something totally new…!When I look back I think what I was trying to say was that I hadn’t come across yw in level 1, even though we have used it is etc, but it seems that the ‘is’ in those cases in the 'n in Mae’n (eg it is interesting = Mae’n ddiddorol)
The full glory of Welsh grammar will elude for some time yet I know, but it is really useful to be able to ask questions on here, so thanks all
Is it possible to do 35 (new) challenges in a weekend?
My tutor would definitely be happy with that, because she expects the answer to the question “Wyt ti eisiau …”, to be “Oes” rather than “ydw/yndw”. So, she seems to be treating it as if the question is “Oes eisiau i ti …?”.
I have the impression that it is a more traditional way of speaking in the north - perhaps your tutor thinks it’s a bit old-fashioned?
Well it is hard to say - of course there are (must be) a lot of ways of saying the same thing.
Despite being from the North, my tutor just didn’t think ma eisaiu i fi was right and instead said to use dw’i eisiau as discussed above.
My impression is that there is a fairly wide variety of spoken Welsh, so what sounds correct to one person sounds completely wrong to another.
Yup!
And it’s my experience, for what that is worth, that people normally accept all those different forms without too much comment in the “real world”!
With the normal caveats about dissects and north/south “differences”, I’ve a feeling that the “Mae eisiau i fi” construction tends to be used more in the South than the North, which would fit in with your tutor being from the North.
(N.B. Ignore the next bit unless you are interested! - There’s also a “eisiau arnaf i” construction, (using ‘ar’ instead of “i” which could be called old fashioned (certainly literary) which could be thought of as ‘right’ and give rise to the “oes” answer even in areas where “eisiau i” isn’t/wasn’t treated in the same way. Just a thought, though!)
The challenges are around 30-35 minutes long which would mean 35 of them would take around 17.5 to 19.5 hours to complete. If you take the weekend as Saturday and Sunday and would estimate being awake for 16 hours a day, taking a leisurely 2 hours a day for meals you are left with about 28 hours. So … My question wouldn’t be “is it possible to do 35 challenges in a weekend?” but “what would you suggest I do with the 8.5 hours of freetime I have this weekend?”
Go for it. Let us know how it goes.
It’s certainly a structure that you’d hear much more often in the south - but I’d expect any tutor to be aware of it as a variant…
I did 18 in a day for my Manx test, but I have some real doubts about how my brain would have held up if I’d tried to repeat it the next day - I was absolutely exhausted, really can’t-think-straight tired for the next two days…
Let us know how it goes!
Physically it might be possible, but I’m doubting you’ll take much in.
Thanks everyone, I’ll try!
As Aran has said, through experience, it’s an exhausting undertaking but you will come out the other side having learnt a huge amount of Welsh, even if you don’t retain 100% of what you hear you will be a Welsh speaker, and that is if you are starting from scratch.
This was meant for @Novem, sorry to cause confusion.
@fedoracat, you would be surprised, if you could handle the two days of really intense concentration you will absorb an incredible amount. You underestimate the human brain.
Well, OK, I know how I learn from experience and I know that there is a limit how much I can take in.
Some people are different to me. I think people who can retain hours of information crammed into a short period are few and far between.
But your mileage may vary.
As you may well know, “Mae” is the verb “to be”, meaning “is” in this case.
“It is interesting”
“Mae hi’n ddiddorol”
(Hi can be used for the ‘abstract’ it in sentences like this! But you can also hear “fe” being used.)
But in sentences like this, using an abstract it, the “hi” is often dropped, leaving
“Mae’n ddiddorol”.
So there is really no separate word for ‘it’ in “mae’n ddiddorol”!
Hope that helps!