Dyskans *1/5 Ref: Holyewgh An Lergh 1; 26-32, Skeul An Yeth 1, 6

Transcription

1 Dyskans *1/5 Ref: Holyewgh An Lergh 1; 26-32, Skeul An Yeth 1, 6 Describing Things There are several commonly-used phrases used to ask about what things are like in Cornish, one is py par which means what kind of.. and another is pyth yw.. which means what is.. A1) Py par chi yw henna? What kind of house is that? B1) Py par karr yw hemma? What kind of car is this? CH1) Pyth yw henna? What is that? When answering a question beginning with pyth yw you don t need to be too specific, D1) Q:Pyth yw hemma? A:Karr yw! Q:What is this? A:It is a car! E1) Q:Pyth yw henna? A:Chi yw! Q:What is that? A:It is a house! Py par chi yw hemma? Chi gwynn yw! In the answer, you can see that yw meaning it is goes after the name of the object. When answering a question beginning with py par it s necessary to be a little more specific and make use of adjectives. Adjectives are words which describe things; words like big, small, white,round etc. and in English they come before the nouns they describe, i.e.: a red book. In Cornish, adjectives are placed after the nouns they describe. Lyver rudh Lyver = Book Rudh = Red F1) Lyver rudh. = A red book. Unfortunately mutations get in on the act! If the noun is feminine in grammatical gender and singular (only one object is being referred to), any adjective which follows it has a second state mutation which has the effect of softening the first sound of a following adjective (where it can be softened), Moes (f) = Table Bras = Big G1) Moes vras = A big table It s possible to have more than one adjective following a noun, Karr (m) = Car Bras = Big Rudh = Red H1) Karr bras rudh = A big red car Karr bras rudh. In the situation where the noun is feminine singular and there s more than one adjective following it, only the first adjective is mutated, Moes (f) = Table Bras = Big Gwynn = White I1) Moes vras gwynn. = A big white table. Pur 2 The Cornish word Pur 2 means very and is used in much the same way as in English, it also carries a second state mutation. J1) Da = Good Pur dha = Very good. K1) Gwynn = White Pur wynn = Very white. Py par golow yw henna? Golow pur splann yw!

2 Getting Specific 1.5*2/5 Where you have one noun on its own, it can mean one of two English things. L1) Moes (f) = Table or A table If you want to say The table, you need to use the Cornish word An 2 which means the, M1) An voes = The table You can see that An has caused a mutation and changed the m in moes to a v, this happens when An is placed before a noun which is feminine and singular (meaning that only one of the object is referred to). We say that An has carried the mutation as it s the presence of an which has caused the effect. Extending the principle a bit, you can use a second small word to make the equivalents of the English this and that : N1) Chambour Bedroom / A bedroom O1) An chambour The bedroom P1) An chambour ma This bedroom R1) An chambour na That bedroom You can see that the extra words ma and na have been placed after the noun to cause this effect, but remember that they must be used with An before it. You can also do this where there s an adjective describing the noun, but it s important to remember that when doing this, An.ma/na goes around the outside of the whole phrase, S1) Moes (f) Table / A table T1) An voes The table U1) An voes wynn The white table V1) An voes wynn bras The big white table W1) An voes wynn bras ma This big white table Y1) An voes wynn bras na That big white table A2) Chambour (m) Bedroom / A bedroom B2) An chambour The bedroom CH2) An chambour bras The big bedroom D2) An chambour bras tewl The big dark bedroom E2) An chambour bras tewl ma This big dark bedroom F2) An chambour bras tewl na That big dark bedroom Py par lew yw hemma? Yw hemma lew bras gwyls? Yw! An lew bras gwyls ma yw re nes dhyn! Answering Back There are various ways of asking about things in Cornish depending on what you re asking about. The three basic questions are yw, eus and usi. Yw Yw is the equivalent of the English is and is used in much the same way, G2) Yw henna chambour tewl? Is that a dark bedroom? The answer to this type of question is also fairly similar to its English equivalent; H2) Yw! Henn yw chambour tewl. It is! That is a dark bedroom. Similarly, yw can be used to ask what something is like: I2) Yw an chambour na tewl? Is that bedroom dark? The answer s in a similar form to the English again; Eus chambour omma? J2) Yw! An chambour na yw tewl. It is! That bedroom is dark. Yw an chambour na tewl?

3 Eus 1.5*3/5 Eus translates as Is there in questions and is used in combination with another word; yma which means There is or There are in statements, K2) Eus gweli yn an chambour tewl na? Is there a bed in that dark bedroom? The answer to a question of this type uses both Eus and Yma, L2) Eus! Yma gweli yn an chambour tewl na. There is! There is a bed in that dark bedroom. Usi Usi is used in similar circumstances to Eus because they re both used to describe where things are. Usi is used instead of Eus when the thing being discussed is definite (a car = indefinite, the car = definite). M2) Usi an gweli yn an chambour tewl na? Is the bed in that dark bedroom? Answers using Usi are similar to answers using Eus : N2) Usi! Yma an gweli yn an chambour tewl na. It is! The bed is in that dark bedroom. Nag & Nyns, Getting Negative Nag and Nyns are two particles which have the effect of making other words negative (like the word not in English). Nag is only used to make the equivalent of the English No, whereas Nyns is used to make more descriptive negative sentences. Using the previous examples in negative form: O2) Yw henna chambour tewl? Is that a dark bedroom? P2) Nag yw! Nyns yw henna chambour tewl. It isn t! That isn t a dark bedroom. R2) Yw an chambour na tewl? Is that bedroom dark? S2) Nag yw! Nyns yw an chambour na tewl. It isn t! That bedroom isn t dark. T2) Eus gweli yn an chambour tewl na? Is there a bed in that dark bedroom? U2) Nag eus! Nyns eus gweli yn an chambour tewl na. There isn t! There isn t a bed in that dark bedroom. V2) Usi an gweli yn an chambour tewl na? Is the bed in that dark bedroom? W2) Nag usi! Nyns usi an gweli yn an chambour tewl na. It isn t! The bed isn t in that dark bedroom. It s important to remember that when you re making negative sentences about where things are, the word Yma is not used. This is because there s no negative form of Yma and Nyns cannot be used with it. Eus lew bras gwyls yn an chambour tewl na? EUS!!! Exercise 1 Choose five objects in the room around you, find out their grammatical gender using a dictionary, then make up some sentences about them in the same way as examples S1) F2). Translate the following: 1/ Is that big red car fast? 6/ Usi an aval yn an amari ughel na? 2/ Is there a sofa in that big room? 7/ Eus hanaf yn an amari ughel na? 3/ The small car isn t good. 8/ Yma karr rudh omma. 4/ Is that an open door? 9/ Yw an lyver na igor? 5/ The blue car is in that small white garage. 10/ Nyns yw an lyver berr na deges.

4 Who s There? Describing people requires a few other words and phrases *4/5 Gerva 1/5 A Ov vy I am On ni We are Os ta You are Owgh hwi You are (pl) Yw ev He is Yns i They are Yw hi She is All of these can be used with the particles Nag and Nyns when necessary, and also with another particle: Y/Yth ( Yth is used before vowel sounds). Y / Yth has the effect of turning a sentence which would otherwise be a question into a statement, its use is best explained by the examples following: Y2) Ov vy hir? Am I tall? A3) Os ta skwith? Are you tired? B3) Yw ev berr? Is he short? CH3) Yw hi teg? Is she pretty? D3) On ni parys? Are we ready? E3) Owgh hwi genev? Are you (pl) with me? F3) Yns i difun? Are they awake? Ov vy hir? To answer questions of this type it s necessary to make the answer reflect the question, G3) Ov vy hir? Am I tall? Ov!. Hir ov vy. I am. I am tall. H3) Os ta skwith? Are you tired? Os!. Skwith os ta. You are. You are tired. I3) Yns i parys? Are they ready? Yns! Parys yns i. They are. They are ready. Os! Pur hir os ta! To make negative answers of this type, use Nag and Nyns as before. J3) On ni parys? Are we ready? Nag on. Nyns on ni parys. We aren t. We are not ready. K3) Owgh hwi genev? Are you with me? Nag owgh. Nyns owgh hwi genev. You aren t. You are not with me. L3) Yw ev berr? Is he short? Nag yw ev. Nyns yw ev berr. He isn t. He is not short. Yw ev berr? Nag yw. Nyns yw ev berr! Yth can be used at the beginning of a sentence, as in the following examples, to make a statement when you want to put the person-phrases at the beginning, M3) Yth ov vy hir. I am tall. N3) Yth on ni parys. We are ready. O3) Yth yns i difun. They are awake. Exercise 2 Translate the following: 1/ I am tired. 6/ Nag ov. Nyns ov vy berr. 2/ Are they fast? 7/ Yw. Ev yw da. 3/ She is pretty. 8/ Skwith yw ev. 4/ You are short. 9/ Yns. Skon yns i. 5/ Is he good? 10/ Yw. Hi yw pur deg. Yns i skon? Yns! Pur skon yns i!

5 1.5*5/5 Gerva 1/5 B Aval Apple Nes Near Difun Awake Igor Open Gweli Bed Teg Pretty / Beautiful Chambour Bedroom Parys Ready Bras Big Rudh Red Glas Blue Stevell (f) Room Lyver Book Berr Short Splann Bright Byghan Small Karr Car Gweli-Dydh Sofa Deges Closed Howl Sun Hanaf Cup Moes (f) Table Amari Cupboard Hir Tall / Long Tewl Dark Skwith Tired Daras Door Re 2 Too / Quite Skon Fast Dhyn To us Gwyls Fierce / Wild Pur 2 Very Karrji Garage Pyth yw...? What is...? Da Good Py par...? What kind of...? Ughel High Gwynn White Chi House Genev With me Lew Lion Rastelleryow This is a crossword with a difference; no blocks. The words are on a grid and they re separated from each-other by the heavy black lines. This one uses words from all the worksheets you ve worked on so far and one or two of them are repeated. A-Dreus 1 Sofa 13 Cup 23 Is 32 Positive Particle 39 Drunk 7 Fas 14 Egg 25 Room 33 Tall 40 A certain 11 Lion 15 Exclamative Particle 37 Cushion 43 Quick Also 50 Garage 51 That (feminine) Happy 53 The 54 River 55 Garlic Near 58 Tired 59 Garlic Yn-Nans 1 Blue 2 Book 3 Open 4 Door 5 To us 6 And 8 Car 9 Beside 10 Something 12 Very 16 Tired 17 Sound 18 Goat 19 Tables 20 Church 21 Bedroom 22 Which 23 Cold 24 Soft 26 Warm 27 There 28 Milk 29 Chi 30 Supermarket 31 Silly 34 Remaining 35 Glass 36 Then 37 Pen 38 High 41 Sugar 42 White 45 Dog 46 Thin 48 Inside 49 Awake 52 Place 56 Dog