So it’s been a couple of weeks since my last blog post and since then I’ve had a long weekend in Falmouth (Cornwall), contracted food poisoning, had a hazy week recovering from said food poisoning and painted our newly spruced up bathroom (“ty bach” yn Gymraeg – literally “little house”). I can’t lie my Welsh has taken a back seat throughout all of that. But I’ve kept up with my DuoLingo daily (ish) and conversing with Hedd.
Last week on 1st March we also celebrated Saint Davids Day (Dydd Gwyl Dewi) – The patron saint of Wales. I’m not sure if it’s because my senses are tuned into the Welsh language more this year but I thought there was a lot more coverage about it on telly/ social media. The BBC website, ‘Give Welsh a Go’ gave me a few giggles (http://www.bbc.co.uk/cymrufyw/39117700) where they had got TV stars from Eastenders, Casualty and Let It Shine videoed trying to say Welsh words. I’m relieved to report that my Welsh pronunciation is better than Dannii Minogue!
On the Duolingo I completed a some what timely set of lessons on health (!) including the phrase “Mae bola tost gyda fi” / “I have a stomach ache” which I was able to repeat with conviction earlier on last week!
I also completed lessons on ‘order’ (as in before/after) and now have the following phrase in the memory bank “cyn i’r heddlu gyrraeddd” / “before the police arrive”! Not sure what eventually Duolingo is preparing me for there!
Sport was another lesson – “England has lost” being one of the phrases…we all know who DuoLingo are supporting in the Six Nations then!
My favourite word learnt for this week has to be the Welsh for whiskey which is “Chwisky”…you literally pronounce it like you would if you were drunk on whisky!
Whilst I am channelling my inner “yes” to the Welsh language as I attempt to get back on the figurative horse this coming week, to complete the series on “saying yes, saying no” that I blogged about a couple of weeks back, here’s how you say no in cymraeg.
Just as in saying “yes”, there isn’t a single word in Welsh to answer “no” to questions. Take your pick from the following options*:-
- Na- no (caution:-sometimes can come across as a bit rude)
- Nac ydw- no I’m not
- Nac ydy- no he/she isnt
- Nac ydyn- no they/we aren’t
- Dim- none
- Naddo- no in the past tense
(*list is unlikely to be exhaustive…it’s Welsh after all!)
Tara rwan!
in the pursuit of welsh 