Tiny questions with quick answers - continuing thread

In case anyone’s wondering, about ‘teaching’, I’ve heard someone say dysgu fel athro on Radio Cymru

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Thanks, it may always turn useful!

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Hi all! I was wondering if i could clear up the use of ‘ga i…’. I think we were taught it as ‘can I have…’ but I have heard it used as ‘can i do’ as well on radio Cymru and in speech.

‘Ga i dewis can gan…’ (can I have a choice of a song??)
‘Ga i nol dishgled i chi’
‘Ga i ofyn’ (can i have a question?)

I don’t know if that makes sense, but is that what is happening here? I thought one could use ‘gallu’ instead or as an alternative?
Diolch!!

It’s probably the English “can I have” that’s tripping you up. Yes, it does mean that, but “Ga i” can also be interpreted as “May I…?”, so your examples would be
‘Ga i dewis can gan…’ - May I choose a song by…
‘Ga i nol dishgled i chi’ - May I fetch a cuppa for you (May I get you a cuppa)
‘Ga i ofyn’ - May I ask

Gallu (medru in the N) is ‘can’ in the sense of “to be able”, whereas this form of cael is ‘can’ in the sense of “am I permitted to” :slight_smile:

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Ahh thank you siaron, I thought it looked like it was being used as ‘may i’…that makes a lot of sense!
Martin

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Please could someone tell me what “vrapio” means? I’m sure I haven’t spelled it right.
diolch

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Do you have any context or what a bit more of the sentence might have sounded like.

The nearest I can come up with so far is drabio, to cut into pieces. I think in the challenges we have Torri yn eu darnau

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Is this from one of the listening exercises? It’s ringing bells with me but I can’t find it from a quick search. If it is what I’m thinking of you should be able to find the transcript and translation of it.

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Got it. I couldn’t let it beat me! Go ddrapia is Damn it! It’s in listening exercise 1, North.

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Level 1, Challenge 6:

If you started is wnest ti ddechrau, why doesn’t you said translate as wnest ti ddweud rather than dwedest ti? Or are they alternative forms?

You guessed it! They are alternative forms. The second is the ‘short form’ which uses specific endings to the base to make the different tenses. The first is a little easier for learners at first, but it is useful to at least be familiar with both.

In the vocabulary ‘your sister’ is dy chwaer di. I cannot find anything for your brother other than eich brawd. In the lesson it sounds like dy brawd i. Is this correct.

Yes, there are two ways of saying “your” - the familiar/singular way is “dy … (di)” (the ‘di’ is optional) and then there is the polite/plural way, “eich … (chi)” (again, the ‘chi’ is optional).
“eich” doesn’t cause any mutations to the noun that follows it, but ‘dy’ does, it causes a soft mutation on letters that take it, so you could have:
Dy chwaer (di)
Eich chwaer (chi)
Dy frawd (di)
Eich brawd (chi)

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No way?? Seriously?? Damn it!! :lol:

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It’s in the listening exercise and apparently it’s “damn it” lol!!

Thanks, @Sionned!

Someone who told me that… Rhywun ddwedodd wrtha’i bod…
In the challenge (16) it does not sound like that. Is the above correct?

Hiya, just working through the old course 2 and wondering-
Do Mae rhaid i fi and dw i’n gorfod mean the same or is there a difference?
Thanks!

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Yes they mean the same but Dw i’n gorfod is so much easier to say that it’s no fun - so it’s not used as much :smile: (joke - they mean the same!)

Rich :slight_smile:

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:joy: thanks Rich, yes after all that work learning how to say mae rhaid i fi for different tenses and people I’ll stick with that!

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