Croeso yn ôl i Groeseiriau Cymraeg. The  course  schedule is as follows:-

Week 1  -  The Past Imperfect - Yr Amser  Amherffaith

Week 2  - Practice

Week 3 - The Past Tense - Yr Amser Gorffennol (long form)

Week 4 - Practice

Week 5 - The Past Tense - Yr Amser Gorffennol (short form)

Week 6 - Practice

Week 7 -  The Pluperfect Tense - Yr Amser Gorberffaith

Week 8 - Practice

Week 9 - Revision & Practice Exercises

Week 10 - Revision & Practice Exercises

As you can see this is a much lighter workload than Course   1 . This will give you the opportunity to explore the past tense in Welsh in much greater depth. There will also be short translation exercises throughout, in order to help develop confidence, and of  course , the crosswords to help develop your vocabulary.

You will recall from  Course   1 that we largely avoided the past and future tenses. Well the good news is that we will be covering the whole of the past tense ( more or less) in this section of the course . This, of  course , means that it will be much easier for you to talk about events and actions which occurred in the past. We begin with the Past Imperfect. A useful aide mémoire to assist with your recall of these forms is as follows:  roeddwn, doeddwn, oeddwn . This gives you the first person singular of the affirmative, negative and interrogative forms.

An important point to remember is that the imperfect is always used in Welsh to express the past tense of stative verbs. What is a stative verb I hear you ask? Well here is the Wikipedia definition:

" a stative verb is one that describes a state of being, in contrast to a dynamic verb, which describes an action. "

So verbs like  meddwl  = to think,  credu  = to believe, take the imperfect in the past tense. Others include  moyn ,  eisiau ,  gwybod ,  nabod  . These are all verbs which describe a lasting state rather than a fleeting and completed action.

In practice this means that, in Welsh, if you want to say for example, 'I thought', you would say  roeddwn ni'n meddwl  ( or  ro'n i'n meddwl  ) = I was thinking .

In the sections below you will find the affirmative, negative and interrogative forms of the past imperfect ( amser  amherffaith ) in Welsh. These must be mastered although you will more commonly hear the abbreviated versions in everyday speech -  ro'n i'n , ro't ti'n, ro'ch chi'n  etc . For more on the abbreviated forms please visit this page:- 

The Past Imperfect - Yr Amser  Amherffaith

..

Roeddwn i                            I was, I used to

Roeddet ti  (familiar)           You were, you used to

Roeddech chi  (formal)      You were, you used to

Roedd e/hi                             He/She/It was, He/She/It used to

Roedden ni                          We were, We used to

Roedden nhw                      They were, they used to ..

examples: ..

Roeddwn i'n cerdded i'r dafarn.  = I was walking to the pub.

Roedden nhw'n darllen eu llyfrau.  = They were reading their books.

Roedden ni'n chwarae yn yr ardd.  =   We were playing in the garden.

Roeddech chi'n nofio yn yr afon.  =   You were swimming in the river.

He was selling ice cream on the beach. =   Roedd e'n gwerthu hufen iâ ar y traeth.

She was cycling to work at the time. =  Roedd hi'n beicio/seiclo i'r gwaith 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. )
..

The negative forms:

Doeddwn i   ddim                            I wasn't

Doeddet ti   ddim  (familiar)          You weren't

Doeddech chi ddim  (formal)     You weren't

Doedd e/hi   ddim                            He/She wasn't

Doedden ni   ddim                           We weren't

Doedden nhw ddim                     They weren't

examples:

Doeddwn i ddim yn gwybod yr amser.  = I didn't know the time.

Doeddech chi ddim yn yr ysgol ddoe.  =  You were not in school yesterday.

They weren't listening. =  Doedden nhw ddim yn gwrando.

( 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.)
..

..
The interrogative forms:

Oeddwn i                            Was I?

Oeddet ti  (familiar)           Were you?

Oeddech chi  (formal)      Were you?

Oedd e/hi                            Was he/she?

Oedden ni                          Were we?

Oedden nhw                      Were they?

examples:

Oedden nhw rhedeg?  = Were they running?

Oedd hi'n byw yng Nghaerdydd ar y pryd?  =  Was she living in Cardiff at the time?

Were they staying at the hotel? =   Oedden nhw'n aros yn y gwesty?

( 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. )

...

Answers:

Oeddwn / Nac oeddwn                             Yes I was, No I wasn't

Oeddet / Nac oeddet  (familiar)                Yes you were, No you weren't

Oeddech / Nac oeddech  (formal)          Yes you were, No you weren't

Oedd / Nac oedd                                         Yes he/she was, No he/she wasn't

Oedden / Nac oedden                                Yes we were, No we weren't

Oedden / Nac oedden                               Yes they were, No they weren't

Translate and answer the following questions with the appropriate negative and affirmative answers. You will find the answers at the bottom of the page.

Oedden nhw'n cerdded yn y goedwig?

Oedd e'n cneifio defaid?

Oedden ni'n bwriadu mynd?

Roeddech chi'n gwisgo'ch siaced?

And so to our weekly crossword. The theme is -  'Yr Amser Amherffaith'

• 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 13   (interactive) or if you prefer to do it the old fashioned way you can download a hard copy of  the grid here Crossword 13 Print Version   (.pdf)
  
  
  

That's it for week eleven. We hope that you have enjoyed the first 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.

..
Roeddwn i'n cerdded i'r dafarn. = I was walking to the pub.

Roedden nhw'n darllen eu llyfrau. = They were reading their books.

Roedden ni'n chwarae yn yr ardd. =  We were playing in the garden.

Roeddech chi'n nofio yn yr afon. =  You were swimming in the river.

He was selling ice cream on the beach. =   Roedd e'n gwerthu hufen iâ ar y traeth.

She was cycling to work at the time. = Roedd hi'n beicio/seiclo i'r gwaith ar y pryd.

Doeddwn i ddim yn gwybod yr amser. = I didn't know the time.

Doeddech chi ddim yn yr ysgol ddoe. = You were not in school yesterday.

They weren't listening. = Doedden nhw ddim yn gwrando.

Oedden nhw rhedeg? = Were they running?

Oedd hi'n byw yng Nghaerdydd ar y pryd? = Was she living in Cardiff at the time?

Were they staying at the hotel? = Oedden nhw'n aros yn y gwesty?

Oedden nhw'n cerdded yn y goedwig? = Were they walking in the forest?

Oedd e'n cneifio defaid? = Was he shearing sheep?

Oedden ni'n bwriadu mynd? = Were we intending to go?

Roeddech chi'n gwisgo'ch siaced? = Were you wearing your jacket?
..

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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