Advanced use of language

Turn the A2 inventory into a working page of your own Welsh. Show what belongs under each heading and what a usable entry looks like.

1. 01Heading one — forms of bod

   Habitual present and future with Byddaf: Byddaf yn ysgrifennu bob dydd. Future perfect with Byddaf wedi: Byddaf wedi gorffen erbyn nos Wener. Future perfect continuous: Byddaf wedi bod yn gweithio drwy’r dydd. The subjunctive with pe: Pe bawn i’n barod, byddwn i’n dechrau; oni bai am y glaw, byddai’r gêm wedi digwydd. Five entries, five of your own sentences.

2. 02Heading two — short forms of other verbs

   The specification gives four models: Gwyliaf (present or habitual), Gobeithiaf (future), Darllenwn (indefinite), Gofynnais (past). Take four verbs you actually use and build the same four forms for each. These are the compact, formal alternatives to the periphrastic frames, and one or two per piece is enough to lift a register.

3. 03Heading three — the impersonal

   Short present: Agorir, Defnyddir, Gwelir, Rhestrir. Short past: Cynhaliwyd, Ysgrifennwyd, Trafodwyd, Rhoddwyd. Periphrastic present: Mae’r llyfr yn cael ei ddefnyddio. Periphrastic past: Cafodd y llyfr ei weld. Eight entries, and this is the single most useful heading on the page for Unit 5 and for any factual writing.

4. 04Heading four — word order

   The three emphatic patterns the specification gives: subject, Y dosbarth a drafododd y gerdd ddoe; object, Y gerdd a drafododd y dosbarth ddoe; adverb, Ddoe y trafododd y dosbarth y gerdd. Same three words, three different emphases. Write your own set of three on one sentence of your own, because seeing the same content re-ordered is what teaches the pattern.

5. 05Headings five and six — the noun phrase, and clauses

   The noun phrase: the genitive with no word for ‘of’ (pen y mynydd, car plismon, ysgol y pentref); composite prepositions (er ei mwyn hi, o’m hachos i); traditional numerals (deg plentyn ar hugain); the cyn equatives (cyn gynted â, cystal â); conjunctive pronouns (minnau) and pronominalia (ei gilydd, naill … llall, pawb, holl). Clauses: nominal with mai, y, i and na; relative with short verb forms; adverbial after er, pe, pan, os, oni, lle, wedi, er mwyn, gan, ers. Thirty entries in all, each with a sentence of your own — one sitting of about ninety minutes, and the register page exists.

Result: Six headings, about thirty entries, each with one sentence of your own Welsh. Ninety minutes of work, and every item on the page is something Unit 6 Section A can ask you to produce and Unit 5 Section B will reward you for using.

Rewrite this short passage impersonally, choosing the right form for each sentence and explaining the mutation in each periphrastic case. ‘Trefnodd y pwyllgor gyfarfod. Ysgrifennodd y clerc lythyr at bawb. Mae’r cyngor yn defnyddio’r neuadd bob wythnos. Gwelodd y trigolion y cynllun am y tro cyntaf.’

1. 01Sentence one — a completed event, so the short past

   Trefnodd y pwyllgor gyfarfod becomes Trefnwyd cyfarfod. (A meeting was arranged.) The subject disappears entirely, and with it the soft mutation on gyfarfod, which was there only because it was the object of a short-form verb. That second change is the one candidates miss.

2. 02Sentence two — the same, and note what is kept

   Ysgrifennodd y clerc lythyr at bawb becomes Ysgrifennwyd llythyr at bawb. (A letter was written to everybody.) Again the object loses its mutation — llythyr rather than lythyr — because the trigger was the inflected verb and there is now no inflected verb with an object.

3. 03Sentence three — a habitual present, so a choice

   Mae’r cyngor yn defnyddio’r neuadd bob wythnos gives either Defnyddir y neuadd bob wythnos (short, formal) or Mae’r neuadd yn cael ei defnyddio bob wythnos (periphrastic). Neuadd is FEMININE, so the possessive is the feminine ei, which takes the aspirate mutation — and d has no aspirate form, so defnyddio is unchanged. Writing ei ddefnyddio here would be the classic error.

4. 04Sentence four — a past event, both forms

   Gwelodd y trigolion y cynllun gives Gwelwyd y cynllun am y tro cyntaf (short) or Cafodd y cynllun ei weld am y tro cyntaf (periphrastic). Cynllun is MASCULINE, so the masculine ei takes the soft mutation and gweld becomes weld. Compare with sentence three and the whole rule is visible in one pair.

5. 05Choose a register for the finished passage

   As a report: Trefnwyd cyfarfod. Ysgrifennwyd llythyr at bawb. Defnyddir y neuadd bob wythnos. Gwelwyd y cynllun am y tro cyntaf. Four short forms, uniformly formal — exactly the register of a Welsh news item or a set of minutes. As an explanation to somebody, the two periphrastic versions would be better. The grammar is identical; only the choice differs.

Result: Four sentences made impersonal, two mutations correctly dropped with their vanished trigger, and one masculine-feminine pair — ei weld against ei defnyddio — that shows the whole agreement rule in a single comparison.

Start from ‘Agorodd y maer y neuadd newydd yn y gwanwyn.’ (The mayor opened the new hall in the spring.) Produce the three emphatic versions and say what question each answers.

1. 01The neutral sentence

   Agorodd y maer y neuadd newydd yn y gwanwyn. Verb first, then subject, then object, then the adverbial. This is the default and it emphasises nothing in particular — which is exactly right when nothing needs emphasising.

2. 02Emphasising the subject

   Y maer a agorodd y neuadd newydd yn y gwanwyn. (It was the mayor who opened the new hall in the spring.) It answers the question ‘who opened it?’ — and it implies that somebody had suggested otherwise. Note agorodd, softened after the particle a.

3. 03Emphasising the object

   Y neuadd newydd a agorodd y maer yn y gwanwyn. (It was the new hall that the mayor opened in the spring.) It answers ‘what did the mayor open?’ and implies a contrast with something else he might have opened. The same particle, the same mutation.

4. 04Emphasising the adverbial

   Yn y gwanwyn yr agorodd y maer y neuadd newydd. (It was in the spring that the mayor opened the new hall.) The particle here is y rather than a, and it takes NO mutation — agorodd, not agorodd softened. That difference between the two particles is the one thing to check every time.

5. 05Choose deliberately

   In a report, use the neutral order or the impersonal — Agorwyd y neuadd newydd yn y gwanwyn. In an argument, use whichever emphatic order matches the disagreement you are addressing. And use one, not four: a paragraph in which every sentence is emphatic emphasises nothing, which is the same problem as a paragraph in which every sentence is underlined.

Result: Four orders, three of them emphatic, and one particle difference to remember: a takes the soft mutation on the verb, y does not. Each answers a different question, and the choice should follow from what the reader is likely to be asking.

Put each of these into Welsh, choosing the right introducer and explaining the choice: (a) I know that the school is closing. (b) I know that he left. (c) I know that she is not coming. (d) They know that it is Siân who is the librarian.

1. 01(a) A general statement — y or yr

   Rwy’n gwybod bod yr ysgol yn cau, or in a more formal register Rwy’n gwybod y bydd yr ysgol yn cau. For an ongoing state the bod construction from Unit 3 is the natural one; the y introducer belongs with a finite verb. Both are correct and the choice is a register decision.

2. 02(b) A completed action — i

   Rwy’n gwybod iddo adael. (I know that he left.) The i construction takes a conjugated form of i plus a verbnoun with the soft mutation — iddo adael, iddi fynd, iddyn nhw ddod. It is compact, it is unmistakably formal, and it is the specification’s own example. A learner who owns this one construction sounds noticeably more advanced.

3. 03(c) A negative — na

   Rwy’n gwybod nad ydy hi’n dod. (I know that she is not coming.) The negative introducer is na, appearing as nad before a vowel. This is one of the commonest A2 constructions in argumentative writing, because half of arguing is saying what is NOT the case.

4. 04(d) Emphasis on a noun — mai

   Maen nhw’n gwybod mai Siân ydy’r llyfrgellydd. (They know that it is Siân who is the librarian.) mai introduces a clause whose own structure is emphatic — a fronted noun plus ydy. Use it whenever the English would be ‘that it is X that …’. Getting this right is one of the clearest signals of control in a second-language candidate’s writing.

5. 05Check the whole set

   General statement, bod or y; completed action, i; negative, na or nad; emphasis on a noun, mai. Four choices, all grammatical rather than stylistic, and each with a clear English trigger. Learn the four triggers and the choice stops being a guess.

Result: Four clauses, four introducers, four English triggers: an ongoing state, a completed action, a negation, and an ‘it is X that’ emphasis. The construction with i — iddo adael — is the one worth learning first, because it is compact and unmistakably A2.

(a) Change to the impersonal past: ‘Trafododd y pwyllgor y cynllun.’ (b) Change from singular to plural: ‘Mae’r ferch yn darllen ei llyfr.’ (c) Choose the correct word: ‘Dw i’n (gwybod / adnabod) y dyn yna.’ (d) Choose the correct verb: ‘Mae hi’n (clywed / gwrando) ar y radio.’

1. 01(a) The impersonal past

   Trafodwyd y cynllun. (The plan was discussed.) The -wyd ending replaces the -odd of the third person singular past, the subject disappears, and the object loses the soft mutation it would have carried after an inflected verb — here y cynllun was already unmutated because it begins with c and follows the definite article, so nothing visible changes, but check it every time.

2. 02(b) Singular to plural, and what follows the verb

   Mae’r ferch yn darllen ei llyfr becomes Mae’r merched yn darllen eu llyfrau. Three changes, not one: the noun pluralises (merch to merched), the possessive changes from ei to eu, and the object pluralises (llyfr to llyfrau). Note also that ei with a feminine antecedent would have taken the aspirate mutation while eu takes none — so a possessive change can silently remove a mutation.

3. 03(c) gwybod or adnabod

   The object is y dyn yna, a person, so the verb is adnabod: Dw i’n adnabod y dyn yna. (I know that man.) gwybod would be used of a fact — Dw i’n gwybod ei enw e, I know his name. The rule is about the OBJECT, not about the degree of knowledge, which is why translating from English does not settle it.

4. 04(d) clywed or gwrando

   The sentence already contains ar, and gwrando is the verb that takes ar. Answer: Mae hi’n gwrando ar y radio. (She is listening to the radio.) clywed takes no preposition — Mae hi’n clywed y radio would mean she can hear it, which is a different claim. This is the general method: let the preposition decide.

5. 05Re-read all four

   Trafodwyd y cynllun. Mae’r merched yn darllen eu llyfrau. Dw i’n adnabod y dyn yna. Mae hi’n gwrando ar y radio. Four answers, and three of the four decisions were made by something OTHER than the word in the gap — the ending, the possessive, the object’s animacy and the preposition. That is what these exercises are really testing.

Result: One impersonal transformation, one plural transformation with three knock-on changes, and two selections decided by the object and the preposition rather than by the English meaning. In each case the deciding evidence was elsewhere in the sentence.