Lesson 7. My Perfect Thing to Have: Imperatives

<HEAD> <LINK rel="STYLESHEET" href="./main.css" type="text/css"> <TITLE>Lesson 7. My Perfect Thing to Have: Imperatives</TITLE>  </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR=white> <P> Here is the <A HREF="Lesson07.etx">setext</A> version of this lesson. <P> <H1><A NAME="Lesson 7. My Perfect Thing to Have: Imperatives">Lesson 7. My Perfect Thing to Have: Imperatives</A></H1> <DIV CLASS=TOC><B>Contents:</B><UL> <LI><A HREF="#7.1. How to Say My (and Other Nasally Mutated Things)">7.1. How to Say "My" (and Other Nasally Mutated Things)</A> <LI><A HREF="#7.2. The Perfect Tense">7.2. The Perfect Tense</A> <LI><A HREF="#7.3. How to Have Things">7.3. How to Have Things</A> <LI><A HREF="#7.4. Be Imperative!">7.4. Be Imperative!</A> <LI><A HREF="#7.5. How to Say Another or Else">7.5. How to Say "Another" or "Else"</A> <LI><A HREF="#Ymarfer 7">Ymarfer 7</A> <LI><A HREF="#Sgwrs 7">Sgwrs 7</A> <LI><A HREF="#Geirfa 7">Geirfa 7</A> <LI><A HREF="#Exercises 7">Exercises 7</A> <LI><A HREF="#Footnotes 7 (for the terminally curious)">Footnotes 7 (for the terminally curious)</A></UL> </DIV><HR> <DIV CLASS="revision"><CENTER><FONT SIZE=-1><P> <A HREF="ChangeLogFiles.html#Lesson 7. My Perfect Thing to Have: Imperatives">Revision 1.10</A> of this page, last updated on <A HREF="ChangeLogDate.html#2003/02/17">2003/02/17</A>. <BR> (C)opyright 1995-2003 Mark H. Nodine </FONT></CENTER></DIV><P> Note: This lesson introduces the nasal mutation, which is presented in Appendix A. For the benefit of those who are using the ASCII version of the lessons and who do not have Appendix A in front of them, here's the summary of the nasal mutation: <DL><DD><TABLE BORDER> <TR><TH ALIGN=LEFT> Original<TH ALIGN=CENTER> Mutated<TH ALIGN=LEFT> Example <TR><TD ALIGN=CENTER> c<BR> p<BR> t<BR> g<BR> b<BR> d<TD ALIGN=CENTER> ngh<BR> mh<BR> nh<BR> ng<BR> m<BR> n<TD ALIGN=LEFT> "cwm" (valley) becomes "nghwm"<BR> "Pen-y-bont" (a place) becomes "Mhen-y-Bont"<BR> "ty+" (house) becomes "nhy+"<BR> "gwraig" (wife) becomes "ngwraig"<BR> "brawd" (brother) becomes "mrawd"<BR> "drws" (door) becomes "nrws" </TABLE></DL> <P> <H2><A NAME="7.1. How to Say My (and Other Nasally Mutated Things)">7.1. How to Say "My" (and Other Nasally Mutated Things)</A></H2> <P> Back in <A HREF="./Lesson06.html#6.4. Possessive Nouns">Section 6.4</A>, you learned how to create possessives where one noun possesses another. Now we'll take possessiveness to its logical extreme by teaching you how to say something is "my something". The Welsh word for "my" is <I><A NAME="fy">fy</A></I>. It comes before the noun. In spoken Welsh, the personal pronoun "i" is also tacked on after the noun. Thus, the overall pattern is <P> <DL><DD><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=15> <TR><TD ALIGN=LEFT> fy x i<TD ALIGN=LEFT> my x (I hope she doesn't see this.) </TABLE></DL> <P> Unfortunately, there's a little bit more to it than that, or I'd have presented this material back in about Lesson 4: <OL> <LI>The noun labeled "x" undergoes the <A HREF="./AppendixA.html#A.4. Nasal Mutation">nasal mutation</A>. <LI>As mentioned back in <A HREF="./Lesson01.html#1.6. Other Strange Combinations">Section 1.6</A>, "f" is considered a <A HREF="./Lesson01.html#weak consonant">weak consonant</A> in Welsh. Thus, in spoken Welsh, it becomes simply "y", at least before consonants. Before vowels, it tends to become "yn" (no, they didn't do this just to confuse learners). <LI>The "i" at the end is sometimes dropped. </OL> Some examples: <P> <DL><DD><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=15> <TR><TD ALIGN=LEFT> fy nghar i<BR> yn 'y marn i<BR> yn afal i<TD ALIGN=LEFT> my car (car = car)<BR> in my opinion (barn = opinion)<BR> my apple </TABLE></DL> <P> Actually, as long as we're learning the nasal mutation, we might as well learn the other two places it comes up. <UL> <LI> After the <A HREF="./Glossary.html#preposition">preposition</A> "yn" (in). Just for grins, the preposition itself undergoes <A HREF="./Glossary.html#assimilation">assimilation</A> to "ym" (if the following word is mutated to start with an "m") or "yng" (if the following word is mutated to start with an "ng"): </UL> <DL><DD><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=15> <TR><TD ALIGN=LEFT> yn nhy+ fy mrawd<BR> ym marn yr athro<BR> yng Nghymru<TD ALIGN=LEFT> in my brother's house<BR> in the teacher's opinion<BR> in Wales </TABLE></DL> <UL> <LI> After the prefix "an-" (un-). Thus, we have </UL> <DL><DD><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=15> <TR><TD ALIGN=LEFT> cyfforddus<BR> anghyfforddus<BR> teg<BR> annheg<TD ALIGN=LEFT> comfortable<BR> uncomfortable<BR> fair<BR> unfair </TABLE></DL> <P> There, now you have seen all there is to know about the nasal mutation. All you need now is mhractice. <P> <H2><A NAME="7.2. The Perfect Tense">7.2. The Perfect Tense</A></H2> <P> The <A HREF="./Glossary.html#perfect">perfect</A> <A HREF="./Glossary.html#tense">tense</A> is not a description of a situation that's guaranteed to make you nervous. It's a form of a <A HREF="./Glossary.html#verb">verb</A> indicating that an action has completed in the past. In English, we form the perfect tense by using the <A HREF="./Glossary.html#present">present</A> tense of "have" as a helping verb: <P> <DL><DD><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=15> <TR><TD ALIGN=LEFT> I have studied grammar for too many years. </TABLE></DL> <P> Welsh forms the perfect tense in exactly the say way as you learned to make the present tense in <A HREF="./Lesson03.html#3.2. How to say I am reading">Section 3.2</A>, except that the preposition "wedi" is substituted for the particle "yn". <P> <DL><DD><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=15> <TR><TD ALIGN=LEFT> Rydw i'n astudio'r Gymraeg.<TD ALIGN=LEFT> I am studying (study, do study) Welsh. <TR><TD ALIGN=LEFT> Rydw i wedi astudio'r Gymraeg.<TD ALIGN=LEFT> I have studied Welsh.<BR> (lit. "I am after studying Welsh"). </TABLE></DL> <P> <H2><A NAME="7.3. How to Have Things">7.3. How to Have Things</A></H2> <P> Welsh, like Russian, has no verb "to have". <A HREF="#[1]">[1]</A> I guess they're very generous. Both Welsh and Russian express having something using the same <A HREF="./Glossary.html#periphrastic">periphrastic</A>: saying that the something is with them. Here's how it looks in Welsh: <A HREF="#[2]">[2]</A> <P> <DL><DD><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=15> <TR><TD ALIGN=LEFT> Mae llyfr gyda fi.<TD ALIGN=LEFT> I have a book. (lit. "there is a<BR> book with me") <TR><TD ALIGN=LEFT> Oes arian gyda fe?<TD ALIGN=LEFT> Does he have money? </TABLE></DL> <P> The word order can also be changed to put the thing being had last, but this rearrangement causes a <A HREF="./AppendixA.html#A.2. Soft Mutation">soft mutation</A> of the thing: <P> <DL><DD><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=15> <TR><TD ALIGN=LEFT> Mae gyda fi lyfr.<TD ALIGN=LEFT> I have a book. </TABLE></DL> <P> The rule here is that any noun <A HREF="./Glossary.html#phrase">phrase</A> (any group of words you could replace with a <A HREF="./Glossary.html#pronoun">pronoun</A>) causes a soft mutation of the following word: <P> <DL><DD><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=15> <TR><TD ALIGN=LEFT> Mae gyda'r dyn wrth y drws lyfr.<TD ALIGN=LEFT> The man by the door has a book. </TABLE></DL> <P> since you can replace "'r dyn wrth y drws" with "fe": <P> <DL><DD><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=15> <TR><TD ALIGN=LEFT> Mae gyda fe lyfr.<TD ALIGN=LEFT> He has a book. </TABLE></DL> <DL COMPACT> <DT><I><A NAME="Note">Note</A></I><DD>According to a Welsh teacher I spoke with, there are certain contexts where using the soft mutation is not particularly important in spoken Welsh. This soft mutation, however, is not one of them; if you fail to mutate, it will be noticed. </DL> <H2><A NAME="7.4. Be Imperative!">7.4. Be Imperative!</A></H2> <P> Sometimes people fail to take the hint when you make suggestions, so you have to order them around. The way to do that is using imperatives. Welsh has imperatives for every <A HREF="./Glossary.html#person">person</A> and <A HREF="./Glossary.html#number">number</A> except first person singular (you can't boss yourself around). In this section, we will learn only the second person <A HREF="./Glossary.html#plural">plural</A> and formal. These imperatives are easy to recognize, because they end in "-wch". <P> <DL><DD><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=15> <TR><TD ALIGN=LEFT> Dysgwch!<BR> Darllenwch!<BR> Ceisiwch!<TD ALIGN=LEFT> Learn!<BR> Read!<BR> Try! </TABLE></DL> <P> There are, of course, irregular verbs: <P> <DL><DD><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=15> <TR><TD ALIGN=LEFT> Dewch!<BR> Ewch!<BR> Gadewch!<TD ALIGN=LEFT> Come! (from "dod")<BR> Go! (from "mynd")<BR> Let! (from "gadael") </TABLE></DL> <P> You can say "let someone do something" by putting an "i" before the "someone" (which gets softly mutated -- see <A HREF="./Lesson05.html#5.5. Soft Mutation after i">Section 5.5</A>) and putting the "something" after the "someone" (the "something" also gets softly mutated -- see <A HREF="#7.3. How to Have Things">Section 7.3</A>). Thus, <P> <DL><DD><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=15> <TR><TD ALIGN=LEFT> Gadewch iddo fe fynd.<BR> Gadewch i ni ddechrau.<TD ALIGN=LEFT> Let him go.<BR> Let us begin. </TABLE></DL> <P> <H2><A NAME="7.5. How to Say Another or Else">7.5. How to Say "Another" or "Else"</A></H2> <P> We needed something else for this chapter. To get something else, all you need to do is put the word "arall" after the word you wanted something else of. <P> <DL><DD><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=15> <TR><TD ALIGN=LEFT> Rhywbeth arall?<BR> Oes afal arall yma?<TD ALIGN=LEFT> Something else?<BR> Is there another apple here? </TABLE></DL> <P> "Arall" can also be used as a pronoun: <P> <DL><DD><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=15> <TR><TD ALIGN=LEFT> Oes arall yn y gegin?<TD ALIGN=LEFT> Is there another (one) in the kitchen? </TABLE></DL> <P> The plural of "arall" is "eraill". <P> <DL><DD><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=15> <TR><TD ALIGN=LEFT> Mae afalau eraill ar y coed.<TD ALIGN=LEFT> There are other apples on the trees. </TABLE></DL> <H2><A NAME="Ymarfer 7">Ymarfer 7</A></H2> <P> 1. Practice making sentences from the following patterns: <P> <DL><DD><TABLE BORDER=2 CELLPADDING=0 CELLSPACING=2> <TR><TD ALIGN=LEFT> Mae fy<TD ALIGN=LEFT> nghyfnither<BR> mhlant<BR> nhad<BR> ngwraig<BR> nghi<BR> nosbarth<BR> mrawd<BR> nefaid<TD ALIGN=LEFT> i<TD ALIGN=LEFT> yng Nghaernarfon<BR> yng nghefn y ty+<BR> ym Mhorthmadog<BR> yn nawns y dysgwyr<BR> yn ngardd fy nghymydog drws nesa i<BR> yn nhy+ fy mam i<BR> ym Metws-y-Coed<BR> yng Ngogledd Cymru<TD ALIGN=LEFT> . </TABLE></DL> <P> 2. <H2><A NAME="Sgwrs 7">Sgwrs 7</A></H2> <P> [A <A HREF="Conversation07.html#Conversation for Lesson 7">translation</A> of this conversation can be found in a different file.] <H2><A NAME="Geirfa 7">Geirfa 7</A></H2> <P> anghyfforddus - (adj.) uncomfortable <BR> annheg - (adj.) unfair <BR> arall (eraill) - (adj. & pron.) other, another, else <BR> astudio - (v.) study <BR> athro [-awon, m.] - (n.) teacher <BR> barn [-au, f.] - (n.) opinion <BR> coeden [coed, f.] - (n.) tree; (pl.) woods <BR> cyfnither [-oedd, f.] - (f.) female cousin <BR> cyfforddus - (adj.) comfortable <BR> Cymraeg [f.] - (n.) Welsh language <BR> Cymru [f.] - (n.) Wales <BR> cymydog [cymdogion, m.] - (n.) neighbor (neighbour) <BR> dosbarth [-iadau, m.] - (n.) class <BR> gogledd [m.] - (n. & adj.) north <BR> nesa - (adj.) next <BR> tad [-au, m.] - (n.) father <BR> teg - (adj.) fair <H2><A NAME="Exercises 7">Exercises 7</A></H2> <P> [The <A HREF="Answers07.html#Answers for Lesson 7">answers</A> can be found in a separate file.] <P> 1. Translate the following sentences into English. <P> <DL><DD><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=3 CELLSPACING=2> <TR><TD ALIGN=LEFT> a.<TD ALIGN=LEFT> This sentence is already in English. </TABLE></DL> <H2><A NAME="Footnotes 7 (for the terminally curious)">Footnotes 7 (for the terminally curious)</A></H2> <DL COMPACT> <DT><A NAME="[1]">[1]</A><DD>Technically, both Welsh and Russian have verbs meaning "to have"; however neither routinely uses it in the present tense. <P> <DT><A NAME="[2]">[2]</A><DD>This construction can also be done using the preposition "gan" instead of "gyda". "Gyda" is the way to do it in S. Wales. I am not teaching the "gan" version at this point, since "gan" has personal forms that you don't know yet. But if you're <EM>really</EM> terminally curious, you can check out <A HREF="./AppendixC.html#C.6.1. Gan">Section C.6.1</A>. </DL> <HR> <DIV CLASS="buttons"><BUTTONS><FONT SIZE=-1><TABLE BGCOLOR=#aaffaa BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=2 CELLSPACING=4> <TR><TD ALIGN=CENTER> <A TARGET=_top HREF="./Welsh.html" TARGET="_top">Top</A><TD ALIGN=CENTER> <A TARGET=_top HREF="Lesson06.html" TARGET="_top">Previous</A><TD ALIGN=CENTER> <A TARGET=_top HREF="AppendixA.html" TARGET="_top">Next</A><TD ALIGN=CENTER> <A TARGET=_top HREF="TOC.html" TARGET="_top">Contents</A><TD ALIGN=CENTER> <A TARGET=_top HREF="LexiconForms.html" TARGET="_top">Lexicon</A><TD ALIGN=CENTER> <A TARGET=_top HREF="./Glossary.html" TARGET="_top">Glossary</A><TD ALIGN=CENTER> <A TARGET=_top HREF="./Index.html" TARGET="_top">Index</A><TD ALIGN=CENTER> <A HREF="mailto:Mark.Nodine@mot.com">Comment</A> </TABLE> </FONT></BUTTONS></DIV> </BODY> <HR><I><ADDRESS><A HREF=mailto:Mark.Nodine@mot.com>Mark.Nodine@mot.com</A> -- Mark H Nodine,visitor</ADDRESS> <ADDRESS>14 June 2003 at 23:33:32</ADDRESS></I>