Tiny questions with quick answers - continuing thread

Great, thanks everyone! I’ll go for “profiad darostyngol” :slight_smile:
So glad you all spend dark evenings with your grammar books so I don’t have to! :joy:

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Yes I’m used to daros-- type words. Thanks Sharon Great that you mentioned it has a few uses.
Are they also OK for humbling in a nice way?
I was going to suggest it but then remembered that I heard them used in the context of subjugating, humiliating, crushing under foot etc.

True, those are some of its other meanings, but it really all comes down to context, I guess. To be fair, synonyms for ‘humbling’ in English throw up the same kind of thing.

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Also I noticed the reflexive/selfie ymddarostwng which seemed milder.
I love those Ym- words. It would be great to do a study on them one time.
Come to think of it - some of them, I’ve learnt before the basic form, like ymlacio.

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Ooh, yes, good call John!

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I like ymddarostyngol! :slight_smile:

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I would use the ym- prefix definitely if the phrase relates to you (your person) in the context below

One meaning of -
ymddarostyngol - Self-abasing (self-humbling)

  • belittling or degrading one self

Gostyngedig - Humbling as in lowly or submissive

Pris gostyngedig - Lowly/reduced price

I have also heard the adjective used judgementally for a ‘cowardly’ group of people. (Derogatory use of ‘Submissive’)

Darostwng - Humbling as in subdued/abasing/ subjugated /reduced or demoted
Darostyngol - adjective of the darostwng noun :upside_down_face:

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In this week’s challenge email, Aran mentioned the Open Welsh speaking practice workspace on Slack. I have searched for this using the whole phrase as well as individual words but without success. Please can someone point me in the right direction?

The open workspace is WSP, Welsh Speaking Practice. If you email admin@saysomethingin.com (put WSP in the title), they can send you an invite.

Thank you, Siaron!

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Going over some course lessons and I was wondering… is there any difference between esbonio and egluro in nuanced meaning.
Both I have seen used to mean ‘to explain’ but is egluro more related to clarify? Oes gwahaniaeth?

Yes, there are nuanced meanings of each (but too nuanced to worry about in everyday speech, I’d say)

  • egluro (because it’s related to the word ‘goleuo’) is to explain in the sense of ‘shed light on’ / illuminate / reveal / enlighten… so perhaps a more subjective sense of ‘to explain’.
  • esbonio is related to the word ‘expound’ (which itself is to give a methodical, detailed, scholarly explanation of something), so it’s to explain in the sense of expound / interpret / explicate… so perhaps a more objective sense of ‘to explain’.
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Diolch am egluro ac yn esbonio hynny’n llwyr i mi :wink::ok_hand:

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Helo,

So I singned up - but where is the content?? There is only a welcome notice that learning starts on Monday, why that? In any case, this is not what I was told. I want to find the lessons right away, and not wait. So where are they?

Thx in advance

When you sign up to the structured course you receive an email every Monday with the coursework for that week and how to access the tutor support on the Slack 6/6 group.

If you want to start straight away on your own, click on ‘Learn’ in the top bar, then click on ‘Challenges’, then ‘Level 1’. Choose whether to follow the North or South course, then you can start the intro and first challenge. (These are instructions for a web browser - if you are using the app on a phone it may be different).

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Diolch!

The challenges teach “fedra i (ddim)”. What grammatical form is that?

They also teach “o’n i” for statements about the past, whereas my book (Mynediad Gogledd, 14) teaches “o’n i” only for questions and short answers, otherwise teaches “ro’n i”. Why is that?

Thx in advance

fedra i ddim is the short form (i.e. preterite tense) and is equivalent to “dwi ddim yn medru”

"o’n i " and “ro’n i” are pretty much interchangeable in spoken Welsh. Technically, to be perfectly grammatically correct, “o’n i” would be just the question form (being an abbreviation of “oeddwn i”) and “ro’n i” would be the positive statement form (being an abbreviation on “roeddwn i”), but it’s very common to hear “o’n i” used for positive statements too in colloquial Welsh.

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Thx.

“fedra i ddim” - Preterite? From this post Dw i'n medru -v- medra'i it looks more like it were future tense? Is there maybe a grammar page anywhere that explains it?

Thx in advance

My mistake - I’m getting my preterites muddled. Short forms in the past are preterite. fedra i ddim is both present and future - I am not able to / I won’t be able to - and it’s the context that tells you which it is.

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In Challenge 10, Level 2 at approximately 10:07, the sentence in English is “He said that she had better try to speak a little more slowly”. I translated this as “Ddudodd o yn well iddi hi drio siarad bach yn arafach”. However, Catrin and Aran use byddai. I think what they are saying is “Ddudodd o y byddai’n well iddi hi drio siarad bach yn arafach” but am not sure.

Please could someone clarify: have I have heard this correctly and why is byddai used here?