Help for Learners

[Brychan]

Also is it common to say Bord instead of Bwrdd as Gareth King suggests in Modern Welsh? Or is this a S-SE thing?

Bord is common Southern Welsh. There are a number of pairs like bord/bwrdd which are considered more common in North/South Wales. You quote some above: Also:

llefrith/llath
popty/ffwrn
ffwrdd/bant
agoriad/allwedd
grudd/boch
i fyny/ i lan

They do tend to be very common words you would use daily. It's not to say that there's not a cross-over and some Southern words are used further north and vice versa.

Digwi for digwydd/digwdd sounds strange to me. I can't say i'v ever heard that. Perhaps Sianco can advise on that one!

[Jashwntw]

Also is it common to say Bord instead of Bwrdd as Gareth King suggests in Modern Welsh? Or is this a S-SE thing?

Bord is common Southern Welsh. There are a number of pairs like bord/bwrdd which are considered more common in North/South Wales. You quote some above: Also:

llefrith/llath
popty/ffwrn
ffwrdd/bant
agoriad/allwedd
grudd/boch
i fyny/ i lan

They do tend to be very common words you would use daily. It's not to say that there's not a cross-over and some Southern words are used further north and vice versa.

Digwi for digwydd/digwdd sounds strange to me. I can't say i'v ever heard that. Perhaps Sianco can advise on that one!

Maybe it's just the -wydd 's that become -i newy' tywy' (newi and tywi). I don't know.

Is dihuno standard in the whole of the south? On cariad@iaith they was teaching them deffro. But I think the cariad@iaith was very learnerese

[Brychan]

i think perhaps digwydd doesn't turn to digwi is because it's a verb and people would be accustumed to its conjugations - digwyddodd, digwydde etc. with the full -wydd included. Then perhaps again some people do say digwi but i've never come across it. Digwdd is a very common pronunciation of digwydd.

I would say dihuno/deffro is a South/North divide along the lines of bord/bwrdd. Dihuno is pronounced dino in the SE where 'h' is very rare - 'eno, 'efyd, R'iannon etc. They tend to pronouce the 'h' the further west you go.

Nia Parry is from n wales on cariad@iaith, so that's perhaps why deffro was being taught in her lessons.

[Brychan]

Huno means to sleep, euphemistically for when you're dead, so on gravestones you'll see things like Hunodd ar y 24ain o Fawrth 1888 instead of Bu farw ar...

The di- is a negative thing so di-huno means 'to awake' - but not from the dead!!

[Jashwntw]

To sleep, to slumber (deep sleep)

Maybe that's a possible translation

[Sionned]

Well, "huno" figures prominently in the traditional Welsh lullaby Suo Gân - and there it is simply "sleep".

[Brychan]

Well, "huno" figures prominently in the traditional Welsh lullaby Suo Gân - and there it is simply "sleep".

From the cradle to the grave - you 'huno' on both ends (the last one forever unless you're a vampire) - but in the middle you 'cysgu'

Huno is used in lullabies, folk songs, poetry and gravestones - but not in colloquial speech.

[Jashwntw]

Another learner question about tenses

ei fod e, ei bod hi

How do I change these using the past oedd and the future bydd?

...that he/she was...
...that he/she will...

[sianco]

Well, "huno" figures prominently in the traditional Welsh lullaby Suo Gân - and there it is simply "sleep".

From the cradle to the grave - you 'huno' on both ends (the last one forever unless you're a vampire) - but in the middle you 'cysgu'

Huno is used in lullabies, folk songs, poetry and gravestones - but not in colloquial speech.

Here is an englyn to Henaint - Old Age - it refers to "anhunedd" - "insomnia" and "huno maith" - a long sleep = death.
(The first words "Henaint ni ddaw ei hunan" are often quoted semi jokingly by people when they have trouble getting up because of stiff joints or get a bit forgetful!)
Rough translation: Old age doesn't come alone; it brings groaning and complaining, and insomnia now and a long sleep soon

Henaint

"Henaint ni ddaw ei hunan"; - daw ag och
Gydag ef, a chwynfan,
Ac anhunedd maith weithian,
A huno maith yn y man."

[sianco]

Another learner question about tenses

ei fod e, ei bod hi

How do I change these using the past oedd and the future bydd?

...that he/she was...
...that he/she will...

I think we need more of the sentence. In some contexts, they remain as they are:

Roedd John yn falch ei bod hi'n ddydd Sadwrn ddoe
Mae Siwsi'n falch ei bod hi'n ddydd Sul heddiw
Mae Geraint yn falch ei bod hi'n ddydd Llun yfory

[Jashwntw]

On i'n gobeithio ei fod e'n enill y gêm

I hoped that he wins the game.

We already know the result. So would it be more correct to say that I was hoping for him to win the game? Perhaps an oedd in there?

[Siomedig]

I'm pretty sure that's wrong in English as well; you have to say 'I hoped that he would win the game', right? Same in Welsh: o'n i'n gobeithio y byddai e'n enill y gêm.

[Jashwntw]

I was hoping for him to win the game is perfectly acceptable English.

Looking back on I was hoping that he wins the game. That does sound dodgy, it implies that the game is still playing but I changed my mind. I now support the other side perhaps

So I guess I'm looking for how to say I was hoping for him to win the game

ie I was egging him on throughout. A past event.

I think using the conditional would imply he didn't win. I don't want to use that

[Siomedig]

Byddai, then. Or I suppose iddo fe ennill.

[Jashwntw]

Diolch Siomedig

If on i'n gobeithio iddo fe enill works I'm hapus iawn