Tiny questions with quick answers - continuing thread

Could you also use this construction for sentences such as:

Dw i’n meddwl does neb yn moyn siarad saesneg?

Dw i’n meddwl na fy mam i yn hoffi siarad saesneg.

Dw i’n meddwl bod fy mam i ddim yn hoffi siarad saesneg.

English is very much on the out :wink:

Sorry Oliver to hijack your thread slightly, but I’m new to app/website/forum and I can’t figure out how to create a new post in this thread “tiny questions quick answers”.

I’d love it if someone could help me out as I always seem to have a lot of exactly that…

Oh, unseen to have done it…

(firstly id like to apologise for the spelling. I have not learned any written Welsh so the following is a poor construction of what my Welsh wife has taught me over the years…)

So my question is:

I’m on level 1 challenge 16.

Previously, “it” has always been “hi” or “or/for” like, “Sharad hi”, speak it.

But now in challenge 16 it’s “ai”, as in “ai gwylio yn fawr iawn”

Could some please explain why/when each is used?

Also, “told me” is “daid ortha fi” which I kind of translate in my mind to “said to me”.

And “someone who said” is “rhywun ddidodd”

So why is “someone who told me”, “rhywun nes I ddaid ortha fi”.

In my mind it would be “rhywun ddidodd ortha fi”.

Again, I’d really appreciate it if someone could explain why my mind is wrong! :sweat_smile:

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These all work for me…

Rich :slight_smile:

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These are examples I think from the Northern course as they don’t ring any bells but I can help on some points hopefully…

… there are different ways of forming the past tense…one is to use the past tense of gwneud - ‘to do’ - to create I did…something…eg I did say - nes i ddweud - and another is to create the past tense of the verb directly ie/eg cut straight to ‘I said’ - dwedais i. So either of the two forms is completely valid.

…the belt and braces on this would be ‘ei gwylio hi’…to watch it or watching it…but in speech, if the context is clear one or the other may be dropped. In this example because there is no soft mutation of gwylio - in which case it would be - ei wylio…it means that the ‘ei’ is a feminine thing…and therefore the following ‘hi’ isn’t strictly required on a minimalist speech kind of basis, to clarify that it’s female…

Hope that helps…

Rich :slight_smile:

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edifar

What is your question David? Do you want to know what ‘edifar’ means? (It’s ‘repentant’)

And in Gareth King’s dictionary edifaru means “regret” (verb-noun).

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Probably I’ve asked something similar before, but it’s never been clear in English and doubts always come back, sorry!

Would Dw i 'di bod yn dysgu Cymraeg am dau blwyddyn mean that I’ve started learning Welsh two years ago and I am still studying it?

And does Dw i ‘di dysgu Cymraeg am flwyddyn a hanner trwy SSiW mean that I’ve studied Welsh for a year and a half, but might as well be three years ago?
And does this automatically mean I’m still studying it?

Or if it’s something in the past, should say, for example:
O’n i’n dysgu Saesneg am ddeg mlynedd yn yr ysgol?

p.s. BTW I’m also testing if I remembering mutations and changes in year/years right! :wink:

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Would “Dw i 'di bod yn dysgu Cymraeg am DDWY FLYNEDD” mean that I’ve started learning Welsh two years ago and I am still studying it?

Yes - “I have been learning Welsh for two years”, which does imply that you’re still learning it.

And does “Dw i ‘di dysgu Cymraeg am flwyddyn a hanner trwy SSiW” mean that I’ve studied Welsh for a year and a half, but might as well be three years ago?
And does this automatically mean I’m still studying it?

Yes - “I have learnt Welsh for a year and a half through SSiW” - but there is no other time implied in neither the how-long-ago sense nor the still-studying-it sense

Or if it’s something in the past, should say, for example:
“O’n i’n dysgu Saesneg am DDENG mlynedd yn yr ysgol?”

Yes, this is fine, although there are other options for the same thing - your sentence is “I was learning English for ten years in school” but you could say “O’n i’n dysgu Saesneg yn yr ysgol am ddeng mlynedd” (I was learning English in school for ten years - the word order sounds better to me), or perhaps better still, because school is ‘completed past’, you could say “nes i ddysgu Saesneg yn yr ysgol am ddeng mlynedd” (I learnt English in school for ten years).

p.s. BTW I’m also testing if I remembering mutations and changes in year/years right! :wink:
[/quote]

see the bits I’ve capitalised above :wink: (don’t worry too much about the ddeg/ddeng one - it’s a bit of an odd one as far as mutations go!)

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Ohh, thanks @siaronjames a lot this is very complete and hopefully going to stick, this time. :sweat_smile:

However I guess I’ll just pass on ddeng :wink: :rofl:

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Strictly speaking it’s ers when it’s time up to and including now, and am for a finite period in the past:

Dw i’n dysgu Cymraeg ers dwy flynedd or:
Dw i wedi bod yn dysgu Cymraeg ers dwy flynedd (and I’m still at it)

Nes i ddysgu Saesneg am ddeng mlynedd (and then I stopped)

:slight_smile:

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Hi, i hope I’m posting in the right place. I am using the ssiw app and just started level 1 after doing the say 1 sentence taster sessions. My question is, is there somewhere where I can see the vocab written down? I’m dying to know how these words are spelled, and I like to visualise what I’m saying. Thanks!

Welcome Emma! Yes, this is the right place (there’s not really a wrong place on this forum!).
Gisella gives a good answer on this thread Accessing Past Vocab. Lists , but please do try not to look at the vocabulary in advance - it’s much better to look at it after you’ve done the particular challenge (otherwise it’s possible to start anticipating the sounds incorrectly). :slight_smile:

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Thanks a lot siaron, I’ve found it, great x

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Hi, Im just wondering if I’m doing the right bit. I did the say one sentence exercises, and now I’m working through level 1 (only on lesson 3). I’m LOVING it, and love the fast pace. But I keep seeing that the lessons are 6 minutes long, but the lessons I’m doing are 30 minutes long. Am I in the right place? Thanks!

If you want to learn Welsh, you are definitely in the right place! :slight_smile:
There are different ways to work through the main material after the “taster course”, and one of the ways is through a structured course that takes two years to complete, in which the material is presented in sessions of six minutes. Another structured course gets you through the same material in six months, and there every lesson itself lasts 30 minutes.
You can also work through the material at your own pace. And whatever you do, if you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask, and we’ll help in any way we can!
Pob lwc! (Good luck!)

Thanks, that’s really helpful. I’m in the right place then, I have plenty of time and want to go quicker! One more thing… I have this on the app and I haven’t paid anything. Should I be paying? Or am I still doing a trial?

You can access the first 15 lessons of level 1 without paying. If you want to go on past that, you’ll have to pay for a subscription or a structured course.
(If you do continue through to challenge 15, and you then switch to a structured course, you’ll see the same material again, as the courses start with challenge 1. But in the structured course you also get access to additional tasks and online tutoring which gets you to fluency faster.)