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pwy is 'who', the question refers to a person. All the others have 'what'.

Dewrad, ble ydw i wedi gweld y defnydd 'ma, tybed??

Ea, Brian Distin ov vy. Trigys ov yn Statys Unys. I've recently been bitten by the Cornish bug but I have no clue what books or cds are considered decent for beginners. Any suggestions? You can see I obviously need help :)

The hard part is the orthography; each lesson I find spells half the words differently. Unfortunately at this point I only know things like "Pinta korev marpleg", "Sewena", and "Ple'ma an bysva?" in that order :) Consonant mutation confuses me to no end. Also, is this formed even remotely correct: "Sowsnek os'ta"?

marconatrix wrote:pwy is 'who', the question refers to a person. All the others have 'what'.

Diolch!

Dewrad, ble ydw i wedi gweld y defnydd 'ma, tybed??

Wyt ti'n bwriadu: "Oes mwy gwers?" Eithr dwi'n union iawn...

I'd just like to point out I'm jealous of all who speak Welsh and Cornish to a certain extent. I can only make the simplest of sentences (the most useful being "Dw i ddim yn deall" and "Ny wonn konvedhes"!) so to see people having a full conversation in them is really good to see!
If only I had the time to learn them properly...

Prmysl wrote:Ea, Brian Distin ov vy. Trigys ov yn Statys Unys. I've recently been bitten by the Cornish bug but I have no clue what books or cds are considered decent for beginners. Any suggestions? You can see I obviously need help

Best advice at the moment: wait until after the 14th of October. That's when we find out what the official orthography will be (maybe, perhaps), and then make a decision based on that.

The hard part is the orthography

Ain't that the truth.

marconatrix wrote:Dewrad, ble ydw i wedi gweld y defnydd 'ma, tybed??

Wn i ddim! Dw i'n gwadu popeth!

Welsh, I find, is such a different and unusual language. I have this Language Learning CD in which is made by Eureka which just so happens to have the language on it.
I have listened to the language many times, and boy, it is such an unusual language. They have like heaps of frictions and many letters in which have an 'Expected' sound make such a different sound in Welsh, eg. the 'dd'.

Anyway, I just have a question. I can't remember what the word was exactly, but it was something like w'y or something. The point is, I have noticed in my many visits to the Welsh section in that CD, that when I look at even the most simple Welsh Sentence they use that word (Despite the fact that I can't remember what is was) in which when I find a definition for it, it has no definition it just has to be there. Does anyone know what I mean, it's a word, in which has to be there, but has not definition. Well anyway, my question is, if you know what this "person" is talking about, lol, could you please let me know what the 'Undefined' words are actually used for.

Thanks heaps, and I hope I haven't confused anyone.

Yours,

julianallees

3rd April, 2008 12:21pm

julianallees wrote:could you please let me know what the 'Undefined' words are actually used for.

Shibboleth. Alternatively, grammatical function. I'll bet.

julianallees wrote:Anyway, I just have a question. I can't remember what the word was exactly, but it was something like w'y or something. The point is, I have noticed in my many visits to the Welsh section in that CD, that when I look at even the most simple Welsh Sentence they use that word (Despite the fact that I can't remember what is was) in which when I find a definition for it, it has no definition it just has to be there. Does anyone know what I mean, it's a word, in which has to be there, but has not definition. Well anyway, my question is, if you know what this "person" is talking about, lol, could you please let me know what the 'Undefined' words are actually used for.

It's impossible to answer your question without any examples to go by. My guess is that this would be a first person present indicative of the verb bod "to be", which variously shows up as dw i, rw i, rwy or w i depending on the dialect. If, by chance, you have the word backwards and it is really yw, then this is a present tense form of the copula. You can say either Dw/Rw/W i'n Gymro or Cymro yw i for "I am a Welshman".

Dewrad wrote:

Prmysl wrote:Ea, Brian Distin ov vy. Trigys ov yn Statys Unys. I've recently been bitten by the Cornish bug but I have no clue what books or cds are considered decent for beginners. Any suggestions? You can see I obviously need help

Best advice at the moment: wait until after the 14th of October. That's when we find out what the official orthography will be (maybe, perhaps), and then make a decision based on that.

Beth ydy orgraff swyddogol iaith cernow nawr?

Sut mae? Ydy rhywun eisiau dechrau y thred 'ma eto?

Efallai y byddai'n well inni ddechrau edau newydd yn Languages and Linguistics?

julianallees wrote:Anyway, I just have a question. I can't remember what the word was exactly, but it was something like w'y or something. The point is, I have noticed in my many visits to the Welsh section in that CD, that when I look at even the most simple Welsh Sentence they use that word (Despite the fact that I can't remember what is was) in which when I find a definition for it, it has no definition it just has to be there. Does anyone know what I mean, it's a word, in which has to be there, but has not definition. Well anyway, my question is, if you know what this "person" is talking about, lol, could you please let me know what the 'Undefined' words are actually used for.

yn?

In Lesson One, Dewrad wrote:As in English the Welsh continuous form uses a form of the auxiliary verb to be with the present participle. The present participle in English is formed by adding ?ing. In Welsh, however, the verb noun, from which the present participle is formed, keeps its ending but is preceded by the particle yn, which becomes 'n when following a vowel.

So, to break the sentence down into its constituent parts, we have:

Mae - there is, the form of "to be" used in declarative sentences.
o - he, the subject pronoun.
yn - a particle, which alone does not mean anything (c.f. however archaic English I am a-speaking)
siarad - speaking, the berfenw verbnoun. Celtic languages lack an infinitive, so the verbnoun is both the basic form and also the citation form.
Cymraeg - Welsh, the object of the sentence.

So, literally There is he a-speaking Welsh, which is how Welsh expresses the present tense.

Sut wyt ti'n pronounce hyn 'ffrindiau' ?

/fri:ndZai:/ neu /frindi:yai:/

1. Ydy o'n darllen?
2. Mae o'n cysgu
3. Mae Ioan yn bwyta.
4. Ydy Rhodri yn chwyrnu?
5. Mae Deiniol yn addysgu.
6. Mae Eleri yn gyrru.
7. Ydy Angharad yn gwrando?
8. Ydy Pharazon yn godro?
9. Mae Iorweth yn malu cachu.

Am I right? x3

Why do you use yn and not 'n when the word ends in -i?

Okay I think something might have clicked. Do you think Welsh yn might be related to Cornish yn? As in "He is in the act of speaking".

Prmysl wrote:Okay I think something might have clicked. Do you think Welsh yn might be related to Cornish yn? As in "He is in the act of speaking".

Well, I guess something like "he is in speak" would be the literal translation of "mae o'n siarad".

Skomakar'n wrote:

Prmysl wrote:Okay I think something might have clicked. Do you think Welsh yn might be related to Cornish yn? As in "He is in the act of speaking".

Well, I guess something like "he is in speak" would be the literal translation of "mae o'n siarad".

No. Yn 'in' and yn [grammatical particle] are different words.

Twpsyn Pentref wrote:No. Yn 'in' and yn [grammatical particle] are different words.

Synchronically that's unquestionably the case, but if it's true diachronically as well, then what is the source of linking-yn?

linguoboy wrote:

Twpsyn Pentref wrote:No. Yn 'in' and yn [grammatical particle] are different words.

Synchronically that's unquestionably the case, but if it's true diachronically as well, then what is the source of linking-yn?

I would like to know this too!

Children, children. Should you really like to know, PM me and I'll email you a PDF which offers an explanation.

Twpsyn Pentref wrote:

Skomakar'n wrote:

Prmysl wrote:Okay I think something might have clicked. Do you think Welsh yn might be related to Cornish yn? As in "He is in the act of speaking".

Well, I guess something like "he is in speak" would be the literal translation of "mae o'n siarad".

No. Yn 'in' and yn [grammatical particle] are different words.

Though for other phrases the 'yn' can be substituted with other prepositions.

1. Cymry ydy gorgynys yng ngorllewin Prydain.
2. Ioan ydy Crymro.
3. Mae e'n bwy yng Nghymru.
4. Saesneg ydy mamiath Ioan.
5. Mae e'n mynd i ddosbarth i ddyugu Cymraeg.
6. Achos fod e Cymro.

1. Yyd e'n darllen?
2. Mae e'n cysdu.
3. Mae Ioan yn bwyta.
4. Ydy Rhodri yn chwyrnu.
5. Mae Deiniol yn addysgu.
6. Mae Eleri yn gyrri.
7. Ydy Angharad yn gwrando?
8. Ydy Pharazon yn godro?
9. Mae Iorwerth yn malu cachu.

I've actually studied Welsh before a bit (as has everyone here, I should imagine) and "officially" had to use Welsh "as a living language" when I worked in a school in Wales. Literally 5 pupils spoke Welsh, as it was in a really English-speaking area, but it's the thought that counts...

Gulliver wrote:I've actually studied Welsh before a bit (as has everyone here, I should imagine) and "officially" had to use Welsh "as a living language" when I worked in a school in Wales. Literally 5 pupils spoke Welsh, as it was in a really English-speaking area, but it's the thought that counts...

Mind your spelling! You've written "ddyugu", "cysdu", and "addysgu". Only one of these is actually a Welsh word.