Learn Late Cornish Bit by Bit 66 (More About Ma and Ma'n)

2. A Bit More About Ma and Ma’n

Ma is part of the verb boas to be. We can use it with any of the places noted above, e.g.:

Ma va ena.                                           He is there. It (m) is there.

Ma den obma.                                     There is a man here.

Ma va o toas mes alena.                     He’s coming out of there.

Ma deg kei en keunva.                        There are ten dogs in a kennel.

Ma cota en dilasva.                             There is a coat in a wardrobe.

If we want to use the definite article after Ma (and after en) we must use an apostrophe, Ma’n and e’n (and the meaning changes):

Ma’n den obma.                                 The man is here.

Ma’n deg kei e’n geunva.                  The ten dogs are in the kennel.

Ma’n cota e’n dhilasva.                     The coat is in the wardrobe.

We also use it with verbs involving place, e.g.:

Ma den o moas ena.                           There is a man going there.

Ma’n den o toas obma.                      The man is coming here.

Ma deg kei o triga e’n geunva.          There are ten dogs living in the kennel.

Ma’n cota o cregy en dilasva.            The coat is hanging in a wardrobe.

And we can say this and that in relation to place, e.g.:

Ma kei e’n geunva ma.                       There is a dog in this kennel.

Ma cota o cregy e’n dhilasva na.       There is a coat hanging in that wardrobe.

Ma’n den o moas dhe’n teller na.      The man is going to that place.

The place nouns ending in –va are feminine, so some of them mutate after the definite article, e.g.:

Ma’n bagas war wariva.                   The group is on a stage.

Ma bagas war an wariva.                 There is a group on the stage.