Croeso yn ôl i Groeseiriau Cymraeg.

Hopefully by now you have mastered the basics of the past imperfect tense ( gorffennol amherffaith ). You will have noted that it is equivalent in meaning and usage to the English past continuous tense i.e I was, you were, they were.

The past imperfect in Welsh functions in a very similar fashion to the past continuous in English BUT if you recall from last weeks email, the past tense of stative verbs always takes the imperfect.

Gareth King in his  Modern Welsh A Comprehernsive Grammar  expresses it as follows:- 

"With certain types of verbs the preterite ( past perfect tense, long or short forms ) is not normally used. These are mostly stative verbs expressing mental or physical states or other circumstances that cannot be thought of as actions. This is unlike the English usage, where such criteria make no difference in the past tense:  He ran  (action) and  He knew (mental state)  are both correct, but in Welsh they are rendered as follows:-  

Redodd e  - He ran  (Do not worry if you are unfamiliar with this tense. We will be covering it next week.)

Roedd e'n gwybod  - He knew ( literally: He was knowing )"

Other verbs which follow this rule include:

nabod  - to know (a person)

perthyn  - to belong

meddwl  - to think

credu  - to believe, think

ofni  - to fear

poeni  - to worry

This is the form of the past tense that you will probably use most often in Welsh, so it is important to master it completely. Take some time to acquaint yourself thoroughly with this page:-   Yr Amser Amherffaith  and be sure that you tackle the examples below and this week's crossword.

Whatever you do....enjoy / mwynhewch.

If there are is any vocabulary you need to look up go here:  Geiriadur You will find the answers at the bottom of the page. 

Ro'n i'n meddwl bod hyn yn wych pan ro'n i'n ifanc.  = I thought this was great when I was young.

Roedd e'n credu bod Sian yn hardd.  =  He thought that Siôn was beautiful.

Roedd hi'n credu'n gryf mewn annibyniaeth Cymru.  =  She believed strongly in Welsh independence.

They thought the door was open at the time. =  Ro'n nhw'n meddwl bod y drws ar agor ar y pryd.  

If there are is any vocabulary you need to look up go here:  Geiriadur You will find the answers at the bottom of the page. 

Doedden ni ddim/Do'n ni ddim meddwl am y dyfodol.  = We didn't think about the future.

Do'n ni ddim yn hanner drwg.  =  We weren't half bad.

Doeddech chi ddim eisiau mynd i'r dafarn.  =  You didn't want to go to the pub.

We didn't want to miss the game.  =  Doedden ni ddim eisiau colli'r gêm.

If there are is any vocabulary you need to look up go here:  Geiriadur You will find the answers at the bottom of the page. 

Oedden nhw'n hapus?  = Were they happy?

Beth oedden nhw'n fwyta?  =  What did they eat?

Ble roedden nhw'n byw?  =  Where did they live?

Were we early? =  Oedden ni'n  gynnar?  

You should practice answering the above questions with the appropriate affirmative and negative responses.

N.B.  The good news is, that in this tense, ALL questions can be answered with  do  = yes or  naddo  = no.

And so to our weekly crossword. The theme is -  'Dwi'n Hoffi Teithio'

• Click through the slides below and learn the words as you go.
  

• Optional: If you want help with pronunciation or wish to check out other vocabulary entries on the wordcard, click the pic or text below to be taken to the appropriate Geiriadur listing page. 

• Attempt the crossword puzzle here   Cymraeg - Vocabulary Crossword 14   (interactive) or if you prefer to do it the old fashioned way you can download a hard copy of  the grid here Crossword 14 Print Version   (.pdf)
  
  

That's it for week two. We hope that you have enjoyed the second instalment of the course and that your knowledge of the Welsh language has improved. Next week we will be covering the present perfect tense in Welsh.
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* Don't worry if some of the sample sentences are at a more advanced level. Concentrate on the simpler ones unless of course you are feeling adventurous and want to read ahead.

..
Ro'n i'n meddwl bod hyn yn wych pan ro'n i'n ifanc. = I thought this was great when I was young.

Roedd e'n credu bod Sian yn hardd. = He thought that Siôn was beautiful.

Roedd hi'n credu'n gryf mewn annibyniaeth Cymru. = She believed strongly in Welsh independence.

They thought the door was open at the time. = Ro'n nhw'n meddwl bod y drws ar agor ar y pryd.  

Doedden ni ddim/Do'n ni ddim meddwl am y dyfodol. = We didn't think about the future.

Do'n ni ddim yn hanner drwg. = We weren't half bad.

Doeddech chi ddim eisiau mynd i'r dafarn. = You didn't want to go to the pub.

We didn't want to miss the game. = Doedden ni ddim eisiau colli'r gêm.

Oedden nhw'n hapus? = Were they happy?

Beth oedden nhw'n fwyta? = What did they eat?

Ble roedden nhw'n byw? = Where did they live?

Were we early? = Oedden ni'n gynnar?  

AmeriCymru is committed to doing everything it can to assist its members and readers to acquire a working knowledge of the Welsh language. Whether your goal is fluency or merely the ability to order a pizza and beer when on vacation in Caernarfon you will find helpful resources on this site....  

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