book recommendation

This is a great book for anyone interested in Cornish history, language and dialect.

Dan Daddow's Cornish Comicalities by Alan Kent

Listen to Alan reading extracts in a Truro setting on
http://kernowpods.com/dan-daddows-cornish-comicalities

You can buy it on Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Daddows-Cornish-Comicalities-Alan-Kent/dp/190655143X

Pick and Mix answers 2

1.  An re na a wra doas. = Those will come.

2.  An gath na a wrüg gwary obma. = That cat played here.

3.  Den coth a wra clanhe sür. = An old man will clean thoroughly.

4.  An dhama skentel a wrüg desky ena. = The clever mother taught there.

5.  Ma hei o redya en trûan. = She is reading sadly.

6.  Anjei a wrüg resek en üskis. = They ran (raced) quickly.

7.  An vergh a wra cana der vaner teg. = The daughter will sing beautifully.

8.  Ma'n kei gwydn y vlew o moas. = The dog with white hair is going.

9.  Thero vy o tesky war an Sadorn. = I am teaching on Saturdays.

10. Mester Gov gwadn y lev a ganas en lent. = Mr. Smith with a weak voice sang slowly. 

Taking a new look at Cornish grammar 18 (indirect objects 2)

In Descans 17 we saw that in the English sentence “He gave me a book” the indirect object “me” could also be “to me”. In another context, “He made me a cake”, the indirect object “me” could be replaced by “for me”. We can do the same thing in Cornish, by using a new set of prepositional pronouns or prepositional phrases.

Ev a wras tesen ragam. or Ev a wras tesen raga vy.	He made me a cake. or He made a cake for me.
Ma va o cül tesen ragam.	He is making me a cake.

Here is the set of prepositional pronouns and phrases (omitting a few variants):

ragam or raga vy SWFM ragov	for me
rages or raga chy SWFM ragos	for you, for thee (familiar)
ragto or rag e(v) SWFM ragdho	for him
rygty or rag hei SWFM rygdhi	for her
ragen or raga nei SWFM ragon	for us
ragow(gh) or rago whei SWFM ragowgh	for you (plural or formal)
ragtans or rag anjei SWFM ragdha(ns)	for them

Here are some examples of their use (and some new transitive verbs). Notice that many of the verbs involve some form of creativity. And remember that you still need a direct object in order to have an indirect object.

Mons o terevel chei ragowgh. SWFM Ymons i ow trehevel chi ragowgh.	They are building you a house.
Dha dhama a wra gwia frawk rages. SWFM Dha dhama a wra gwia gwlanek (woolly) ragos.	Your mother will knit a sweater for you.
An limner a liwyas pyctur rag anjei. SWFM An lymner a liwyas lymnans ragdhans.	The artist painted a picture for them.
Ma hei o scrifa notednow ragen. SWFM Yma hi ow skrifa notennow ragon. different meaning from Ma hei o scrifa notednow dhen. SWFM Yma hi ow skrifa notennow dhyn.	She is writing us notes. (notes for us) She is writing us notes. (notes to us)

Tabm a Gernow 84 (after the storm)

Thera hager awel ternos. Gwenjek o ha gleb. Nag ew gwav whath, bes thew kidnyadh pur avonssys. Ma lies delen ha plodn e'n vownder.

Taking a new look at Cornish grammar 17 (indirect objects)

In our predicate, only transitive action verbs can have a direct object. This can be a noun, a pronoun, a phrase or a clause. (We will revisit them later.) Transitive verbs (but not intransitive verbs) can also have an INDIRECT OBJECT. You must have a direct object before you can have an indirect object.

   In English an indirect object may or may not involve a preposition, but in Cornish we have to use a prepositional phrase or prepositional pronoun. e.g. In English we can say “He gave me a book” or “He gave a book to me”. (Notice the different position of the indirect object.) Our Cornish version must contain “to” before or combined with “me”.

There are two ways you can say “to me”.

prepositional pronoun: dhebm or 

prepositional phrase: dhe vy (this is more emphatic)

Let’s build our sentence. How do you choose a word order? Generally, the more you want to stress a word the earlier you put it in the sentence. So, which is most important; the fact that he was the giver or that it was a book that was given or that it was given to me? We’ll just start with the subject because it is easier.

Ev a ros SWFM Ev a ros	He gave
Ev a ros lever SWFM Ev a ros lyver	He gave a book
Ev a ros dhebm lever. SWFM Ev a ros dhymm lyver.	He gave (to) me a book.
Ev a ros lever dhebm. Ev a ros lever dhe vy. SWFM Ev a ros lyver dhymm.	He gave a book to me.
Ma va o rei dhebm lever. SWFM Yma ev ow ri dhymm lyver.	He is giving me a book.

Here are the rest of the prepositional pronouns for dhe (omitting some alternative forms):

dhebm SWFM dhymm dhe vy	to me
dhis SWFM dhis dhe jy	to you (familiar)
dhodho SWFM dhodho dhe ev	to him
dhedhy SWFM dhedhi dhe hei	to her
dhen SWFM dhyn dhe nei SWFM dhynni	to us
dhewgh SWFM dhywgh dhe whei	to you (formal or plural)
dhodhans SWFM dhedha(ns) dhe anjei	to them

Let’s add INDIRECT OBJECTS to some of our previous sentences:

Ma hei o càna cân dhe nei. SWFM Yma hi ow kana kan dhynni.	She is singing a song to us.
Ma hei o tesky dhodhans descans hir. SWFM Yma hi ow tyski dhedha dyskans hir.	She is teaching (to) them a long lesson.
Ma hei o redya lever dhodho. SWFM Yma hi ow redya lyver dhodho.	She is reading a book to him.
Ma va o tanon dhis lether. SWFM Yma ev ow tanvon dhis lyther.	He is sending (to) you a letter.
Ma va o scrifa carten dhedhy. SWFM Yma ev ow skrifa karten dhedhi.	He is writing a card to her.

Tabm a Gernow 83 (bus stop)

Ew hebma an gwella savla buss (kyttrinva) en oll an bes? Na vern nag ew an buss a bres. (Ha thew an buss helergh lies gweyth.) Me ell mires ort an mor.

Ew hebma an gwella medhegva en oll an bes? Ma dhebm cussülyans gans an medhek ha awoja me ell kerdhes war an treth.

Gwag ew an todnow. Nag eus morplaynyer (surfer) veth hedhyw. Gwag ew an park kerry en gwav ha gwag ew an treth e'wedh. Alwhedhys ew lies shoppa ha bosty, drefen nag eus havyjy na moy. Nag eus bes nebes trigoryon an pow. Pe le ma an düs gen kenkethyow? Mowns en Loundres martesen. 

  

Taking a new look at Cornish grammar 16 (direct objects)

The verbs that we have used so far have been INTRANSITIVE. In other words, they have not needed a DIRECT OBJECT as part of the predicate. Some verbs, such as doas come/coming and moas  go/going are always intransitive. Some of the others can also be TRANSITIVE (do take a direct object).

Ma hei o càna. SWFM Yma hi ow kana.	She is singing.
Ma hei o càna cân. SWFM Yma hi ow kana kan.	She is singing a song.
Ma hei o clanhe. SWFM Yma hi ow klanhe.	She is cleaning.
Ma hei o clanhe hy skijyow. SWFM Yma hi ow klanhe hy eskisyow.	She is cleaning her shoes.
Ma hei o qwary. SWFM Yma hi ow kwari.	She is playing.
Ma hei o qwary pel dhorn. SWFM Yma hi ow kwari pel dhorn.	She is playing handball.
Ma hei o resek. SWFM Yma hi ow resek.	She is racing/running.
Ma hei o resek resek. SWFM Yma hi ow resek resek.	She is running a race.
Ma hei o tesky. SWFM Yma hi ow tyski.	She is teaching.
Ma hei o tesky descans hir. SWFM Yma hi ow tyski dyskans hir.	She is teaching a long lesson.
Ma hei o redya. SWFM Yma hi ow redya.	She is reading.
Ma hei o redya lever. SWFM Yma hi ow redya lyver.	She is reading a book.
Ma hei o tewis. SWFM Yma hi ow tewis.	She is choosing.
Ma hei o tewis pows nowydh. SWFM Yma hi ow tewis pows nowydh.	She is choosing a new dress.
Ma hei o preujy. SWFM Yma hi ow preusi.	She is judging.
Ma hei o preujy kesstrif. SWFM Yma hi ow preusi kesstrif.	She is judging a competition.

Here are some other useful transitive verbs.

danon SWFM danvon	send/sending
scrifa SWFM skrifa	write/writing
debry SWFM dybri	eat/eating
eva	drink/drinking
gwil/gül SWFM gul	make/making
egery SWFM ygeri	open/opening
keas	shut/shutting

And here are some examples of their uses.

Ma va o tanon lether. SWFM Yma ev ow tanvon lyther.	He is sending a letter.
Ma va o scrifa carten. SWFM Yma ev ow scrifa karten.	He is writing a card.
Ma va o tebry tesen. SWFM Yma ev ow tybri tesen.	He is eating a cake.
Ma va eva cor. SWFM Yma ev owth eva korev.	He is drinking beer.
Ma va o cül cota. SWFM Yma ev ow kul kota.	He is making a coat.
Ma va egery an gisten. SWFM Yma ev owth ygeri an gisten.	He is opening the box.
Ma va o keas y shoppa. SWFM Yma ev ow keas y gwerthji. (different choice of vocabulary)	He is shutting his shop.