Tiny questions with quick answers - continuing thread

Or a herd of two playful ele-cats :cat2: :cat2:

2 Likes

Another thing I’m not sure I understood:

agor - this seems to be the verb, am I right?
As in I open the door:
Dw i’n agor y drws

Or opening as in:
Amseroedd agor or Oriau agor (are they correct? Any difference between them)?
Although I see for there’s also:
agoriad and agoriadol

And then…what’s the difference between these two?
ar agor
agored

p.s. Oh the joys of googling Welsh words :angry: :sweat_smile:

1 Like

yes, agor is the verb “to open” and amseroedd agor/oriau agor are open(ing) times/open(ing) hours.

agoriad is the verbnoun “opening” (although sometimes ‘agor’ also gets used in the same sense)

agoriadol is the adverb ‘opening’ e.g. llinell agoriadol = opening line

ar agor and agored are the adjective ‘open’ e.g. mae’r drws ar agor = the door is open / awyr agored = open air

2 Likes

Maybe another reason it didn’t seem right :smile:

Thanks for the help!

1 Like

Can anyone help me with the ‘verb’ plus ‘ir’ form to mean something is being done

e.g. trefnu = to arrange & trefnir = is being or will be arranged.

Is that correct? Our class teacher gave us some homework at end of the last lesson to include this form. I’ve never come across it before and planned to read up on it but I can’t find any reference or info on it anywhere

yes, that’s right. The -ir ending is something that doesn’t translate well into English, but it is the future-impersonal form. You’ll mostly come across it in formal writing, signage, and media (e.g. news reports).
If you can get a look in Gareth King’s Modern Welsh Grammar, it’s all in there :slight_smile: .

2 Likes

Diolch Siaron, I should trust what our welsh teacher says but he didn’t give much detail so its good to have it confirmed

I need to get a better grammar book! I’ll have a look for that one.

2 Likes

It’s full title is Modern Welsh, A Comprehensive Grammar. One of the Routledge Grammar series. Gareth’s done others too, but that’s my ‘go-to’ one :slight_smile:

2 Likes

The other two are called “Basic Welsh” and “Intermediate Welsh”. All three deal with the grammar aspects of Welsh, focusing mainly on how it is actually spoken but giving lots of information on formal/literary usages as well. The two books I mentioned are self-study books divided into easily digestible units for learning and exercises, while the one Siaron mentioned is more of a “grammar dictionary” where you can look up specific constructions. It goes much deeper than the other two.

4 Likes

Thanks Hendrik,
I’ve got a fairly basic grammar book (Gramadeg Cymreag Cyfoes). It’s useful but i don’t find it very well set out so it’s difficult to find specific things in it. I’ve just now this very minute found a very brief reference to the ‘ir’ ending and others as well - ‘id’ and ‘wyd’ so there’s a bit of help in there but taken time to find it.

I plan to visit the book shop with your references in mind. Thanks for the pointers.

1 Like

It’s the most (newly acquired) thumbed book in our home of late

@garethrking

2 Likes

Sorry…I wasn’t trawling up 6000 posts to ask… Is it OK to use dod o hyd i as ‘find’ and in what sense?
@garethrking @RichardBuck @robbruce
Diolch i bawb!

Using dod o hyd i is perfectly fine for the sense of “to discover, to obtain, to come across”.
But in the sense of “I find it hard” (for example) you use Dw i’n cael hi’n anodd instead.

3 Likes

Danke. Das is eist! That’s it, diolch!

Is what my Cymraes said, but I had a different intention which you have captured. :+1:

And does darganfod feel like it has a slightly different range of meaning, or is just a bit more formal (cf. Eng ‘discover’ vs. ‘find out’)?

1 Like

Range of meaning… I agree.

1 Like

Often, context is everything…
Sometimes dwi’n cael hi’n anodd to get an answer straight in my head and so in order i dod o hyd i better explanation I turn to Gareth’s book to darganfod the correct forms.
:wink:

10 Likes

Yes - find means a number of things in English - if it can be replaced by come across, then dod o hyd i is the right choice. A body was/has been found… is always Daethpwyd o hyd i gorff… in the media.
Des i o hyd i’r rhain yn eich sied chi - I found these in your shed.
Lle daethoch chi o hyd iddyn nhw? - Where did you find them?

Endless fun. :slight_smile:

2 Likes

As part of my SSIW “homework”, I’ve been listening to Radio BBC Cymru. This morning they were talking about SSIW, I think?! Possibly related to the million speakers project, politics and Europe.

Sadly my Welsh is at an early stage so I’d be grateful if someone who heard it could clarify!

1 Like

See https://forum.saysomethingin.com/t/what-are-the-problems-what-needs-to-happen-differently/8733/197

2 Likes