Monday, 12 January 2015

Learn Late Cornish Bit by Bit 31 (Prepositions 4)

Prepositions 4

We have seen some prepositions that do not cause any mutations, e.g.:
en, et[1]                                       in
reb                                               by, beside
gen, gans                                    with, by
heb                                              without

Ma edhen en gwedhen.             There is a bird in a tree.
Ma va o sevel reb tan.                He is standing beside a fire.
Ma hei o toas gen carr.              She is coming by car.
Thera te heb tesednow.             There was tea without cakes.

We have seen that other prepositions cause soft mutation, e.g.:

war                                                  on
dhe                                                  to

Ma fardel a voos war vord.          There is a packet of food on a table.
Me eth dhe varhas dhe berna bara. 
                                                        I went to market to buy bread.

Another of the prepositions that we have already seen also causes soft mutation:

dadn[2]                                         under

Ma edhen dadn wedhen.            There is a bird under a tree.
Ma va o neyja dadn dhowr.        He is swimming under water.

One way of saying from is that little letter a, which also means of. Like war and dadn it causes soft mutation.

Ma botel a win a Bow Frenk.     There is a bottle of wine from (of) France.

Fortunately, most prepositions do not cause mutation. Here are some more examples:

tu ha                                             towards
rag                                                for
derag[3]                                        in front of
dhort                                             from

Ma hei o moas tu ha treth.          She is going towards a beach.
Ma va o moas tu h’an treth.        He is going towards the beach.
Ma tesen rag an maw.                 There is a cake for the boy.
An den a bernas kei rag y vab.   The man bought a dog for his son.
Thero nei o sevel derag an tan   We are standing in front of the fire.
Me a gerras derag hy chei.          I walked in front of her house.
Gwith nei dhort drog.                  Keep us from harm. Deliver us from evil.[4]
Ma’n cok pel dhort an tir.            The boat is far from the land.





[1]  et  is used in front of possessive adjectives
[2]  yn dann in Middle Cornish
[3]  dherag in Middle Cornish
[4]  part of the Lord’s Prayer 

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