Oh right oops sorry. Done
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I want to ask a question about asking questions - specifically using ‘gofyn’ with ‘wrth’.
It’s introduced in Challenge 10 of Level 1. (I can’t remember where it comes up on the original courses, but I remember wondering about it at the time.) On the vocab list one of the examples is:
“Mae’n ddrwg gen i ond dw i angen gofyn wrthot ti eto – I’m sorry, but I need to ask you again”.
I have not come across ‘gofyn wrth’ anywhere else, only ‘gofyn i’. Is this a particularly northern thing that doesn’t apply as far south as Machynlleth?
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This isn’t really a question, more a comment. You, @aran and @Iestyn say ‘don’t use the pause button’ too much and I really did try. Then I realised that, due to my medical condition, I can’t actually speak all that quickly. The words were in my head, but not coming out fast enough. I was getting very frustrated and going round in circles repeating Challenges. Today, I paused when I knew I wasn’t going to finish in time and it was blissful! So, I suppose I’m saying, to anyone who has a problem with speech, pause if you need to!!
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I have just watched an episode of ‘Week in Week Out’ on BBC Wales from a couple of weeks ago. One question: Was that our @Iestyn being interviewed ?
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Quite possibly. But apparently the person presenting the programme has gone missing!
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Hmmm… I think ‘gofyn i’ would be the technically correct construction there, and in an ideal world it might be one we should standardise throughout the course - but you will hear ‘gofyn wrth’ from time to time, so there may be some linguistic shifts going on that we can try to claim we’re surfing on…
My question is, “Whatever was this program?”. I thought I had seen all the WIWOs, but it rings no bells and the website tells me this one has been withdrawn ‘for editorial reasons’!! This and the quote above sent by @owainlurch implies it was pretty far-out!! If the whole thing is ultra-sensitive, do PM me!!! In fact, it clearly doesn’t fit in this thread, so PM me even if it isn’t sensitive!!!
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I am wondering about this “Owain Cyfenw” chap more than about the missing person…
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How do you express the idea of “catching up” or “to catch up” in Welsh?
I have a feeling that it is going to be one of those phrases in which the way it is translated it depends on the way it is being used, and so there probably will not just be one simple way of translating it.
Usually just ‘dal i fyny’, I’d expect…
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I believe the German “gesundheit” means “good health.” I know “gesund” is definitely “health.”
Yes…it’s meant to be gofyn i… You do hear gofyn wrth… sometimes, and I imagine that this is by analogy (though wrong) with dweud wrth… since both are verbs of saying. But for gofyn I would advise i. And certainly a command like ‘Ask her!’ in Welsh would definitely be Gofyn iddi!, not Gofyn wrthi.
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Can you say ‘Gofyn iddi!’ just like that, as an imperative, or do you need to say something like ‘Gofyna iddi!’? Thanks!
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Yes netmouse you can…in the colloquial norm there’s a tendency for VNs ending in a consonant to just use the VN on its own for the ti-imperative. Similarly Meddwl! Think! (beside Meddylia!); Aros! Wait! (beside Arhosa!). Grammar 378, I think. 
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Interesting, thank you, I’d been wondering about that!
By the way I’m finally considering succumbing to the temptations of some kind of formal grammar now… wonder where to start? (The feeling may pass of course!)
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Mr King may be too modest to mention them, so please allow me:
(other sellers and other grammar books are available … ).
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There was a great line on Rownd a Rownd recently from Jac, the newish young hairdresser, who had an ill-advised one-night stand with the ex(?)-girlfriend of Barry Hardy. He’s now afraid of some vengeance being wreaked by Barry.
Jac confronted the lady in question, who had not told him they were back together, and told her he was afraid that Barry might slice him up into a Pepperoni Surprise (Barry runs a pizza joint). She said he had nothing to worry about, to which Jac replied:
"“Ni yn son am yr un Barry Hardy?
Tal, tywyll, edrych fel un o’r Krays.”
“We are talking about the same Barry Hardy?
Tall, dark, looks like one of the Krays”
A great line I thought. However (and I copied this bit from the subtitles), I’m wondering about that sentence beginning with “ni”, where I would normally expect “dan ni” or “dyn ni” (Jac is a southerner).
I think I’ve noticed other cases in RaR where people have just used the pronoun at the beginning, and then the main verb with no auxiliary, and I don’t mean “short forms”.
I was wondering if this was one of those cases where English has begun to influence the structure of spoken Welsh.
Or is this a southernism, like “wi” for “dw i”?
Thank you Mike! (I’ve been periforarily aware of these for a while and I’m sure they are excellent!!)
Having done the ‘southern’ courses, I didn’t bat an eyelid reading the sentence starting with ‘ni’, which implies it is perhaps more of a southernism…
I may be wrong, but I suspect a habit of not bothering with words which are not strictly necessary when the context makes the meaning clear! This happens in English too. I’ll probably think of an example when I’m making dinner!!
p.s. To @mikeellwood Ioved the Kray line too, although I’d say Barry is far better looking than either of the Krays!! (No, Bach, my age doesn’t stop me looking!!!)
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