Tiny questions with quick answers - continuing thread

Agor and ar gau, as i’n when shops are open and closed?

Can’t say I’ve ever noticed any in Welsh in real life (the locks mostly seem to show green/red these days), but I’d probably opt for these:
vacant - gwag
occupied - prysur (or maybe even ‘llawn’!)

2 Likes

You could take a different approach and instruct your guests that while seated on the Throne of Power, or standing at the Aiming Point of Destiny, that they should chwibanu (whistle), or if they prefer to canu (no translation needed, I’m sure. :wink: ).

2 Likes

Can anyone explain why, (in Challenge 15), that when several sentences have begun with Dwedest ti, a few sentences later it changes to ‘i ti dddweud’ as in ‘On y meddwl i ti ddweud…’
I think I may have missed something somewhere.

Thanks

Hopefully, I have understood your question.
This is the trick -
In Welsh, when talking about something that happened in the past, we introduce the past tense and then switch to the present, because the thing that happened was present at the time. So,
“On i’n meddwl i ti ddweud”, literally means “I was thinking that you are saying”.

I think that’s right. The way that I check myself is to miss out the “that” in English -
So: I was thinking: “You are saying”.

We’re just giving you exposure to some of the different structures you’ll meet along the way… :slight_smile:

1 Like

Thanks both. Yes, you did understand and that makes sense. I also forget that of course there are more than one way of saying things, and the more I learn and the bettet I get, the more choice I’ll have. That’s a good feeling. :grinning:

Did anyone see BBC Celebrity Mastermind last night? Just happened to be flicking channels but caught this when winner Sean Fletcher spoke about how he learnt Welsh after marrying a Cymraes and then spoke only Welsh to his children… just got a bit excited at the positive mention of the Welsh language, an adult learner etc!! (but I did feel for him, as there was no such thing as SSIW back then :wink:)
You can see it here on iplayer starting at about 19:45 minutes.

2 Likes

I’m taking a little time to understand all the bits of sentences I had never really figured out! :smiley:

So in Level 1, Challenge 25 South, around min 25:30, there is:
My mother doesn’t like to talk much on Sunday morning
that I believe should be quite right as
Dyw fy/'yn mam i ddim yn hoffi siarad llawer [?] fore dydd Sul
but isn’t there something else between llawer and fore? Ar? Yr? Yn?
Or maybe it’s just an impression because of the way words are pronounced in this sequence? :thinking:

Yes it sounds like ar for your English on

2 Likes

I have had this question for a while, and I thought I would go ahead and ask here. When using “eto,” is there a way to distinguish between “yet” and “again?”

For example:

Alla’i ddim cofio eto.

Would this be “I can’t remember again,” or would it be “I can’t remember yet,” or could it be either one and the context would determine which is meant?

Also, I have been wondering if there are any simple ways I can cheer myself on when I experience small victories during the challenges? I end up using English and saying things like, “Yeah!” “Alright!” and “Got it!” :wink:

Thanks! Diolch yn fawr!

yeah, pretty much this!

you can still use “yeah” (sounds the same but spelt “ie”), and how about these -
gwych! = great!
da iawn fi! = well done me!
godidog! - (pronounced god-EEE-dog, stress on the EEE! :wink: ) = excellent/splendid/cracking!
:smiley:

6 Likes

@siaronjames

Thanks so much! :smiley:

1 Like

Blwddyn Newydd Dda i bawb.

Would New Year’s Resolution be Datrysiad y Flwyddyn Newydd?

Diolch yn fawr.

Almost - datrysiad is resolution in the context of resolving a question.

What you need in the context of New Year’s resolution is:
adduned Blwyddyn Newydd

1 Like

Diolch yn fawr iawn, @siaronjames.

2 Likes

I have a northern Cymraeg question. Can ‘ch’di’ and ‘ti’ be used interchangeably? Does it matter if I say
Mae gen i cwestiwn ch’di or Mae gen i cwestiwn i ti

If I remember correctly what I was told when I asked this question some time ago - yes. I have a hard time getting chdi out, so I asked it it was alright to use ti and I was told that, in most cases, they are interchangeable. So cwestiwn i chdi and cwestiwn i ti mean the same thing. I have a vague memory that there is some use of one that doesn’t work with the other, but I cannot currently recall exactly what that was.

2 Likes

Diolch o galon, Sionned. Gotta love late night US Cymraeg siradwr answering questions.

2 Likes

Hi again everyone. Can I ask if “gaf i” - may I is the same as “ga i” - may I? I think I remember seeing that “f” gets dropped off a lot of words if it’s at the end in speech? I.e. cyntaf—>cynta
I was just watching a load of lessons with welsh with us and it came up there as gaf i
Diolch!

2 Likes