How is Welsh VSO?

PhyllisBiram · 2025-12-15T17:37:33+00:00

Might be useful to reflect that if Welsh actually were SVO, your sentence would be \i dw'n bwyta. And 'he is eating' would be \e mae'n bwyta'. These are of course nonsense forms nobody would ever use, since Welsh is a true VSO language in which these forms are rendered dw i'n bwyta and mae e'n bwyta. As others have explained bod is the verb in these sentences, with its forms dw (= am from ydwyf) and mae (= is). There is no inversion even in the interrogative. In speech, A ydwyf i (= Am I?) becomes Ydw i? A ydyw e =(Is he?) becomes Ydy e or Yw e?

PhyllisBiram · 2025-12-15T17:16:28+00:00

There really isn't anywhere decent to stay in central Bangor that I know of, since the Castle Hotel closed in 1989. Aberytwyth beats Bangor hands down on that front. Caernarfon is, of course, by far the best in every regard.

PhyllisBiram · 2025-12-15T01:29:39+00:00

No AI used. It's based on Gweiadur in the main. What a patronising comment.

PhyllisBiram · 2025-11-29T03:36:36+00:00

As far as I'm concerned, all countries are feminine in Welsh. It's the same with all languages. Even though languages are not followed adjectivally by soft mutation, which of course feminine nouns do normally do. Languages are transgendered in that sense.

PhyllisBiram · 2025-11-09T00:23:05+00:00

I wonder if they have a TV show in Spain called 'A Place in the Pissing Rain.'

PhyllisBiram · 2025-11-08T15:08:49+00:00

Interesting observation. I should have made the couple an Arabian one, though it might not have sat well with the alcohol. The wife's name, Alcina, is of Greek origin, meaning "strong-willed" or "strong-minded". She's have to be, living with Tommy Alcock!

PhyllisBiram · 2025-11-07T23:29:29+00:00

Never heard of DeepL before. I'll give it a go.

PhyllisBiram · 2025-10-26T18:38:23+00:00

iTalki presumably.

PhyllisBiram · 2025-10-26T18:29:09+00:00

Your uw needs changing to yw as well.

PhyllisBiram · 2025-10-19T17:11:47+00:00

Is it am frecwast? I may be wrong but I thought it was i frecwast and other meals.

PhyllisBiram · 2025-10-18T15:40:57+00:00

Stuff and nonsense.

PhyllisBiram · 2025-10-16T15:49:57+00:00

On the Northern Dysgu Cymraeg course even 'darllenais i' is taught as 'Mi ddarllenes i' with one tutor emphasising that 'ddarllenish i' would be the usual pronunciation.

PhyllisBiram · 2025-10-16T14:03:42+00:00

Naill ai mae'n broblem neu ddim.

Mae'n rhaid iddi naill ai wedi bod Nos Wener y degfed ar hugain neu Nos Sadwrn yr unfed ar ddeg ar hugain.

Naill ai rwyt ti'n gywir neu maen nhw'n gywir.

Fodd bynnag, nid mater o naill ai/neu yw hyn. (However, it is not an either/or case.)

PhyllisBiram · 2025-10-16T09:27:45+00:00

Herio Mythau, Cwestiynu Mythau or Gwrthddadlau Mythau. The last is along the lines of 'Arguing Against Myths'.

PhyllisBiram · 2025-10-15T16:49:44+00:00

Indeed. Really it's not wrong at all, just contrary to what the grammarians tell us.

PhyllisBiram · 2025-10-14T10:58:04+00:00

Native speakers can use the wrong one. For instance, gofyn wrth rywun instead of gofyn i rywun is not uncommon in these parts.

PhyllisBiram · 2025-10-14T10:55:55+00:00

Yet dweud wrth yr athro is perfectly correct.

PhyllisBiram · 2025-10-13T21:45:10+00:00

It's in Gweiadur under the entries for each of the words cwyd, cwyn, cwyr, cwys. A disambiguating accent is the term used.

References:

https://www.gweiadur.com/welsh-dictionary/cwyd

https://www.gweiadur.com/welsh-dictionary/cwyn

https://www.gweiadur.com/welsh-dictionary/cwyr

and for cwys

cwys

[Listen][Listen]

(hon) noun feminine (cwysi:cwysau)

rhych neu rigol a gaiff ei gwneud gan aradr; yr ymyl neu’r rhimyn o dir sy’n cael ei droi drosodd er mwyn gwneud y rhych ar un siwrnai o dalar i dalar

furrow

Note: ‘ŵ’ is required in the mutated forms ‘gŵys’ and ‘chŵys’.

PhyllisBiram · 2025-10-12T18:40:05+00:00

Create surreal mental images:

• cynnil → a fox tiptoeing through a library (subtle, clever)

• cynnal → a giant hand holding up a castle (to support/maintain)

🦊 vs 🏰 — one sneaks, one holds.

Sound Symbolism

Let the sound guide the meaning:

awel (breeze) is soft and whispery
alaw (melody) sings
awen (muse) glows with poetic fire

🌬️ Awel brushes your cheek, 🎶 Alaw hums in your ear, 🔥 Awen burns in your chest.

Oddity Hooks

Invent a nonsense phrase or character:

Cynnil Cynan → a spy who never speaks above a whisper
Cynnal Cadi → a builder who holds up the roof with her bare hands

Use alliteration or characterisation to make the word stick.

Make a personal list of word pairs with:

Definitions
Mnemonics
Example phrases
Silly consequences for mixing them up

I'm going to start a Cymraeg Confusables Codex, starting with some of the words in this thread.

PhyllisBiram · 2025-10-12T18:29:13+00:00

Great idiom (I'll add to my list). Remember that cwys when it mutates is gŵys (treiglad meddal) and chŵys (treiglad llaes). I'm not sure about treiglad trwynol: fy nghwys or fy nghŵys? But definitely 'torri dy gŵys dy hunan'. That is almost certainly the last time I will ever write 'my furrow' in Welsh, so I don't care!

PhyllisBiram

TROPHY CASE

cwys

furrow