Gareth King's Grammar and Workbooks

A couple of questions from Unit 21 - Translating the sentence ‘Are you listening to me?’ I wrote i mi, but the correct answer was arna i. Why?

Also, I translated Can you (ti) as Alli di (after checking on p.25) but the correct answer is Elli di.
Is this a misprint or have I missed something?

Gwrando is a verb that takes the preposition ‘ar’ rather than the preposition ‘i’, so in Welsh, we don’t listen to, we listen on! The arna i is the form of ‘ar’ that goes with the first person ‘i’.

‘Alli di’ and ‘elli di’ are variations of the same thing - use whichever you wish :slight_smile:

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@siaronjames thank you.

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I had literally no idea which one to pick up either but just went with the basic one for now since I am on level 1 challenge 4.

@marc-evans I’d recommend doing a few more lessons first. Then, the basic grammar workbook if your understanding of grammar is dodgy, like mine!

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In Unit 24 Ex 2
no.6 ‘Join the squash club today’ the correct answer given is Ymaelodwch a’r clwb sboncen.
and in
no 12 ‘Join us!’ the correct answer is Ymunuwch ni!
Why the different words, please?

“ymaelodwch” is “become a member” - which we would tend to translate as ‘join’, and “ymunwch” is “join” as in “take part with”

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@siaronjames I thought it might be something like that. In fact, now you have said it, I can see the word ‘aelod’ in the 'become a member definition and ‘aelod’ is a member, isn’t it?

Yes, aelod is exactly where it comes from. :slight_smile:

… and ymuno comes from ‘uno’ which is ‘to unite’ :wink:

Yes - and the ym- prefix generally means self . Similarly for example, diswyddo means sack or fire somebody, while ymddiswyddo means resign (sack yourself!). :slight_smile:

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ym - meaning self - that’s a useful one to know. Thank you @garethrking

@siaronjames uno - to unite. I didn’t spot/know that!

If only I could remember everything I learn!

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Is ymddiried (trust) an exception to this? I’m asking because although we learned this word on the course, in my Bible it seems to use trystia (eg ‘trystia’r arglwydd yn llwyr’ diarhebion 3:5) and I’m wondering now if ymddiried is more of a trust in yourself because of the ym, so isn’t used of a trust in God? Or maybe it’s just that they chose a different word for trust.

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Yes Emma, it doesn’t always exactly mean self. With your example of ymddiried, it may be because trust comes from within you, which is sort of ‘self’, isn’t it?

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Aha, yes that’s true thanks. Lovely.

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Can anyone help me understand a few things I can’t work out for myself, please, from Basic Welsh exercises.

Uned 27 ex 2 q 4, turning Gawsoch chi hwyl into present tense, the correct answer is ‘Dych chi’n cael hwyl’
Is it ok to say Oes hwyl gyda chi?

Uned 30 Ex 1 Why mae’n bum and mae’n ddeng but not mae’n dri?

Uned31ex 2 q1 Correct answer is 'Oes digon o amser 'da ti?"
Is it ok to say 'Gest ti digon o amser/"
and q4 Faint o fisgedi hoffech chi? is correct but is it ok to say Faint of fisgedi fyddwch chi’n hoffi?

No - you need to keep the cael - gawsoch chi is cael in the past, and dych chi’n cael is cael in the present.

Well it WOULD be mae’n dri . Mae’n dri munud i bedwar It’s three minutes to four :slight_smile:

No. The ones with 'da mean possession, the ones with cael mean receiving.

No - that would mean How many biscuits will you like? (which we don’t really say). If you mean Faint o fisgedi fyddEch chi’n hoffi?, that would be OK. :slight_smile:

Thank you @garethrking. I haven’t got my head around Carl and gyda etc yet! Onwards and upwards.

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Always keep in the back of your mind that cael means receive, and you will not go far wrong. :slight_smile:

Hi, I’m on six minutes a day but I also bought Gareth King’s grammar and workbooks, so after Basic Welsh I’ve now started on Colloquial Welsh. The title of 1 b is “Enwi pobol a pethau”, and I’ve been wondering why there is no mutation (a phethau?) - is it because of the plural or the male noun or what? I did look in Intermediate Welsh and Grammar but couldn’t find an answer, or perhaps I’ve just overlooked something …
Also, I listen to the audio files and e.g. “ngwr” sounds like “nwr” - the “g” gets dropped altogether?

Because the Aspirate Mutation is not as consistently applied as the Soft Mutation in many areas. A phethau would be fine as well. :slight_smile: