Tiny questions with quick answers - continuing thread

Yes, a friend of mine mentioned that the old county of Clwyd is a gate(way) in a figurative sense.

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Cloyd.

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I also came across someone mentioning there were names for places or houses right across Wales - Gwynedd to Gwent called Disgwylfa.

I don’t know how reliable that source was though, but sounds plausible.

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I’ve heard disgwyl used in more than one way, which makes it useful but also confusing sometimes!
Sgwyl! - Look! as in ‘Look, I’m about to say something controversial…’
Mae hi’n disgwyl - She’s expecting, as in she’s pregnant.
Beth o’t ti’n disgwyl? What did you expect? (What were you expecting, really)
All straight from the glorious Pobol Y Cwm!

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Yes, in my limited experience I think you can have the fy/fi before or after or both. Depending on preference or geographical region. I quite like both as it sounds balanced. Also I think thats what I hrard first. Having said that I often miss one off in the panic of speaking.
Edit.
Now Im posting in the wrong place. This was about the advanced content , fy neulu fi etc.

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I quite like the idea of balance as well, plus it’s less ambiguous.
However, I’m conscious that using it in every situation might possibly mark one out as a learner.

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There is often a greater sense of intention (and therefore immediacy) with na i… You see someone struggling with something, and you say to them Arhoswch, na i helpu chi - Wait, I’ll help you. You definitely WOULDN’T use Bydda i’n helpu chi in this particular situation. On the other hand, if someone asks you to help with the roof repairs and you’re (thankfully) just on your way out, you could say Bydda i’n helpu chi wedyn - I’ll help you later.

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@garethrking In lines with “na i” and “bydda i’n” (with immediacy etc)- If you wanted to say “I’ll be back” (think more Wenglish than the Terminator), is it more natural to say “Bydda i’n ôl” or “Dof i nôl”? Or something else?

I hope Im not answering twice - phone just lost 1st attempt.
Anyway, I just listened to a song , Dwin mynd nol.

Bydda i 'n ôl or Ddo i 'n ôl - both perfectly OK and natural.

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Perfect! Muchos diolchs

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Okay - I’m just curious here. In an S4C email about upcoming programs, this sentence is used:
Stori am fywyd cerddor athrylithgar, bywyd a ddaeth i ben a hithau ond yn 26 oed. The first part is fairly easy - somewhat literally translated it would say “A story about (the) life of a genius musician, …” (The English version given by S4C says “A story of a musical genius, …”)

But it is the last part that I find unclear - bywyd a ddaeth i ben a hithau ond yn 26 oed.
I can kind of see how it translates (to what S4C shows in English: “whose life came to a tragic end aged just 26.”), but it would help if I could get a more literal translation so that I understand how they get from one to the other.

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Something like “a life which came to an end and herself but 26 years old” literally?

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It’s one of those things that doesn’t quite match in translation into English, but the best I can explain it is -
A story about a genius musician’s life, a life too that came to an end at only 26 years old / a life that for its part came to an end at only 26.

It’s kind of clunky in English whichever way you say it, but it makes perfect sense in Welsh.

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Ah, so is the hithau then the bywyd rather than the musician?

yes, the hithau is referring to the bywyd here.

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MMmmmmmmmmmdon’tthinkitis… :wink:

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Distinction between … “Beth” (pa beth) and “Yr hyn sydd” … both mean “what” … but in different contexts?
Beth used as a question “what” ,… yr hyn sydd … used for non-questions

Yr hyn sy’n gwneud yr eisteddfod profiad pleserus … What makes the Eisteddfod an enjoyable experience … etc

Am I correct? Is there a better way of explaining this?

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May I test my ability to guess Welsh meanings on Sunday morning? :slight_smile:
Yr hyn sy’n would be literally the this that, am I right?

It seems like what in Italian we translate as “ciò che” (something I don’t know how to translate in English…a bit like the what that, this thing that
A bit more formal, and used in written form more than speaking, or to emphasize the thing you’re referring to a bit more than with a generic what.

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That’s how I read it too - a slight emphasis. So although in English you can say what makes the Eisteddfod an enjoyable experience is (followed by whatever it is), you could just as easily say the thing that makes the Eisteddfod an enjoyable experience is (whatever). If I translated the above sentence I’d probably do the second one (possibly because I’m too word-for-word :slightly_smiling_face:)
To me, yr hyn + sydd is a way of emphasising something (you find out what ‘it’ is at the end of the sentence presumably).

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