More
about This and That
For this
… or these
… we use an
+ noun +
ma.
For that
… or those
… we use an
+ noun +
na. The noun may be singular or plural, e.g.:
an kei ma
this dog
an gath na
that cat
an düs ma
these men, these people
an flehes na
those children
Optionally, the ma and na may
be hyphenated to a noun, but that is not essential.
an
chei-ma
this house
an
meyn-ma
these stones
an
benenes-na
those women
If we use any of these with ew,
the descriptive form of boas to
be, the rest of the sentence may be an
adjective, occupation, etc. You have a choice of how you start your sentence;
put the most important thing first. It can also depend on what question was
asked. e.g.:
Piw
ew coth?
Who is old?
An den na ew coth.
That man is old.
Fatel
ew an venyn ma? How
is this woman? What is this woman like?
Yonk
ew an venyn ma. This woman is young.
An kei na ew drog, bes an kei ma ew da.
That dog is bad, but this dog is good.
Teg
ew an flehes ma, saw hager ew an benenes na.
These children are beautiful but those women are ugly.
An den na ew tiek.
That man is a farmer.
An venyn ma ew coges. This woman is a cook.
An maw ma ew o mab. This boy is my son.
If we use them with any other verb we
have less choice of word order, e.g.:
An den coth ma a waras rugby. This old man played rugby.
An venyn yonk na a gerdhas[2] war
an treth.
That young woman walked on the beach.
Ma’n kei bian na o ponya gen flogh.
That little dog is running with a child.
Ma’n meyn ma o codha.
These stones are falling.
Ma’n den na o toas.
That man is coming.
Ma’n venyn ma o tebry keus. This woman is eating cheese.
For this
(one) or these
(ones) used as pronouns you still have the ending ma. For that (one) or those
(ones) used as pronouns (not combined with nouns) you
still have the ending na. In the singular, but not in the plural, there is a
difference between masculine and feminine:
hedna that (m)
hodna that (f)
an
re na those
hebma
this (m)
hobma this (f)
an
re ma these
Hedna ew den coth.
That is an old man.
Hodna ew benyn yonk. That is a young woman.
An
re na ew y flehes.
Those are his children.
Hebma ew kei.
This is a dog.
Hobma ew cath du[3].
This is a black cat.
An
re ma ew tüs da.
These are good men.
Matthew 3:17
... “O mab Meurgerys ew hebma…”
…"This is my Beloved Son…”
[1] for’ is
pronounced [vor], may also be spelt <vorr> in Late Cornish. SWFM< fordh>
[2] In RLC this is pronounced [gerraz] with
silent dh. Double rr means e in
the first syllable is short.
[3] Usually adjectives soften after female nouns,
except when the noun finishes with th, ss or s.
