Tiny questions with quick answers - continuing thread

Depends what you’re trying to say. You’ll often here people just say “mae”
There’s also dyna.

Mae 'na is perfectly understood everywhere.

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Thanks Anthony. I was thinking of - There is a wall, there is a problem, etc.

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What Anthony said… :slight_smile:

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It came back to me when driving again this evening: Hytrach = Rather

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Not me, I don’t think. It’s normal everywhere.

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There’s a difference of course - dyna is definitely for pointing out something, either with a finger or metaphorically (and often corresponds to that or that’s) while mae 'na is simply existential. So you can see the difference in

Dyna broblem inni - That’s a problem for us (Or: Mae hynny’n broblem inni)

vs

Mae 'na broblem inni fan hyn - There’s a problem for us here

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Simple question:

“Geiriau’r wythnos Cymraeg” or “Geiriau Cymraeg yr wythnos”?

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Option B :wink:

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It’s not hwyrach, is it? Meaning perhaps (i.e. = efallai), and almost invariably pronounced hwrach.

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Thanks. Ill listen out. I thought hyrtach for rather? which I rather like.

Also interesting how hyrtach and rather both seem to have the shortened more ending, but they dont seem to have a root noun. Unless its hydr/hyderus. Digressing into the English “rather’” it serms to come from some other simiar sounding old word.
Ill check later. .
.

As Gareth has said about the differences of the mae and dyna forms, its also worth daying that “mae…” and “mae ‘na…” aren’t usually stand alone statements. “Mae ‘na wal” or “mae ‘na broblem” would need a bit of context or follow up to make sense.

So too would “mae…” on its own. “Mae ‘na wal rhwng y ty bach a’r gegin (diolch byth!)” drop the ‘na and it still makes sense.
Dyna’r wal - that there is the specfic wall i was talking about.

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“Yn hytrach” = rather.

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Ah great, thanks. I was wondering if it could at one time have been be the comparative (ach = er/more) form of hydr (brave?) and hyder (confident).

For completeness, I found that “rather” has changed its original meaning, apparently from -
Origin
Old English hrathor ‘earlier, sooner’, comparative of hræthe ‘without delay’, from hræth ‘prompt’ ( see rathe).
Oxford dictionary

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“Sut ydych chi’n dweud”

I am having problems with saying the “ydych”, as i am use to just “dych”…

how does the “y” sound before the dych?

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it’s an ‘uh’ sound. ydych sounds a bit like ‘udder’ with a CH on the end :slight_smile:

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Is there a phrase in Welsh for “play around” as in; (take a broken thing to someone) “give me an hour to have a play around with it” or “I’ll play around with it and let you know”

Would it be ffidlo or ffidlan? Or is there another phrase?

you could possibly use ‘piltran’ which means to ‘potter about/fiddle’ - “nai i biltran efo fo”

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I like piltran. Excellent! Diolch @siaronjames

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Ooh, haven’t heard that before - gwych.

In some contexts, you could say ‘rhoi cais arni’ - you will of course also hear ‘chwarae o gwmpas efo’ as well… :slight_smile:

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I think in speech it’s just ych chi’n or rwyt ti’n down south now, mind. Although there are plenty of variations.