Diolch Richard!
North. I’m having problems distinguishing past from future in pronouciation
I just posted this in another thread, but I think it should be here - Folks, I’m sure I should know this, but my poor old brain has gone blank. A white dog is ci gwyn, yes? A white cat? Cath wen or cath gwen? I think ‘wen’, but If so, is it ever right to use ‘gwen’ except in names?
Oh, OK: ddudith hi future, ddudodd hi past. Annoyingly similar, but just wait till @aran springs aeth hi and eith hi on you in Lessons 6 & 7 
ETA: it occurs to me that there’s a cross-linguistic thing going on – in that an Arabic-speaking student told me the other day that it’s the same in Arabic – of bright-sounding, front of the mouth vowels like e and i sounding like present & future, and duller, lower, back of the mouth vowels like o sounding ‘past’. “I think I can” vs. “I thought I could” – -ith vs -odd.
4 Likes
Oh, that’s really interesting… I wonder if there’s a language someone on here knows that would disprove it…
2 Likes
I saw the question in the other thread first and answered it there, hopefully correct
Dw i’n gweld cath wen
I see a white cat
3 Likes
Aah, it’s a broad generalisation to which I’m sure there’ll be loads of exceptions, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if someone here could come up with one
oh no…I’m just coming to terms with the nath o and naeth o (or however they are spelt) I think @aran is just laughing into his microphone.
1 Like
Something completely different…on Radio Cymru sometime on Saturday afternoon they played an acapella version of ‘I’m a train’ yn y Gymraeg. Does anyone who the group would have been?
Oh, yeah - if it’s Lesson 3 where @aran does his betting-on-a-game-of-golf shtick re wneith o and wnaeth o, it actually doesn’t get any worse than that. If you’re dealing with that, it’s all going swimmingly
1 Like
I’m afraid to say that is a distinct possibility… 
1 Like
to @Deborah-SSi and anyone else from NZ - Wellington was clearly named for the Iron Duke. Was this for the same reason as the boots- his association with rain due to his greatest victories being in or just after downpours?
(sorry for lack of any connection with Welsh except weather during Lions game!)
Latin, perhaps?
This phrase came to mind: ego sum pauper, nihil habeo, et nihil dabo. Apart from it being an exaggeration in my particular case, “dabo” translates as “I will give”
And of course, there is this language called Welsh: gwelais past, gwelwn future
1 Like
Yes but, no but… Pauper est, et nihil dabit (s/he will give) vs nihil dabat (was giving), if my memory of school Latin still serves
ETA Of course, there’s also the Perfect - dedi, dedisti, etc. all with front vowels, so I’ll shut up now.
2 Likes
I’ve noticed that ‘Pembrokeshire’ is sometimes translated as ‘Sir Penfro’ and sometimes as ‘Sir Benfro’. Can anyone explain why that is? Thanks
Would you be able to give an example, for context, of Sir Penfro please? I’ve only seen Sir Benfro. Sorry I can’t explain why, but this is interesting
3 Likes
Because some translators are not very good at their job
It’s Sir Benfro.
6 Likes
Haha, thanks! @AnthonyCusack I actually can’t remember now where I saw it - on a bilingual leaflet or something.
1 Like
I just remembered where I saw ‘Sir Penfro’ - I knew I’d seen it somewhere that looked like it should be a reliable source of correct Welsh. It’s in the title of the council’s website: http://www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/content.asp?language=CYM 