What are the Welsh equivalents of these words? How do I translate them?
This was the subject of a discussion on the SSiW forum to be found here
As always, one needs to be careful about translating the word itself, but to look at the underlying meaning.
Informally these words should not be too troublesome as they are mostly omitted in Welsh!
| |
Formal | Informal | |
| Who |
"Who" clauses using a verb-noun are formed with sydd, the special form of bod which means "who is" The man who cleans windows: Y dyn sy'n glanio ffenestri The girl who has won the prize: Y ferch sydd wedi ennill y wobr Other tenses and short form verbs use a+soft mutation The boy who was stealing apples Y bachgen a oedd yn dwyn afalau I saw the driver who had an accident Gwelais y gyrrwr a gafodd ddamwain Caution: Informally in English we often use "who" when strictly we should say "whom". See the next section |
Sydd is used in the same way the same informally. The particle a is mostly omitted infomally but the soft mutation persists: Mi weles i'r gyrrwr gafodd ddamwain |
|
| Whom |
"Whom" is the object of the subsequent clause: Welsh uses y(r) and usually inserts ei or the equivalent before a verb-noun to refer back to the object: The man whom the dog was biting Y dyn yr oedd y ci yn ei frathu With short form verbs a is again used: Y dyn a frathodd y ci. (note the possible ambiguity here - it could mean the man who bit the dog! It would be unambiguous in a sentence like Y dyn a frathodd gi because the mutation of ci indicates it is the object of the sentence) |
Informally the y is normally omitted, although oedd might become roedd. Likewise a is mostly omitted | |
| To whom |
Welsh has no qualms abut prepositions at the end of a sentence. (Nor does English most of the time except with pedants. Churchill famously poked fun with his sentence "This is the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put"). The construction is similar to the "whom" above with the preposition tacked on at the end. The woman to whom I am speaking: Y ddynes yr ydw i'n siarad wrthi. The same applies to other prepositions. |
Informally y(r) vanishes: Y ddynes dw i'n siarad wrthi |
|
| Whose |
This is the man whose poetry won the chair in the Eisteddfod (In translation the sentence can be thought of as being in two parts linked by yr:- This is the man - His poetry won the chair in the Eisteddfod) Dyma'r dyn yr enillodd ei gerdd y gadair yn yr Eisteddfod |
Y(r) is often omitted | |
| Which |
This is similar to who/whom The fire which is burning Y tân sy'n llosgi The ship which sank Y llong a suddodd The book which I am reading Y llyfr yr ydw i'n ei ddarllen. |
As above - a and y(r) often disappear | |
| That |
"That" is used in more than one way in English. It is frequently used as a substitute for "who/whom/which". If one of those words can take the place of "that", then translate that word instead. "That" as opposed to "this" is outside the scope of this discussion. "That" introducing a reported statement is the topic here and mostly uses the bod form: Statement "The train is late" - Mae'r trên yn hwyr "I hear that the train is late" - Dw i'n clywed bod y trên yn hwyr "He said that the train was late" Dywedodd bod y trên yn hwyr (the tense of the statement is understood from the context here) Statements with the future tense need y(r): "It will rain tomorrow" - Bydd hi'n bwrw glaw yfory "She says it will rain tomorrow": Mae hi'n dweud y bydd hi'n bwrw glaw yfory
|
||
| What |
Yr hyn is the more formal term to use He does not know what to do Ni ŵyr yr hyn i'w wneud
|
Beth is commonly used informally instead of yr hyn: Dydy o ddim yn gwybod beth i'w wneud |