Friday, 22 May 2015

Learn Late Cornish Bit by Bit 75 (Prepositions with Pronouns)

A Bit About Prepositions with Pronouns

We have seen that prepositions can be used with separate pronouns, e.g.:

dhe vy                                             to me
Ma barv gwydn dhe vy.                 I have a white beard. 
gene’vy                                           with me
Gwin gwydn ew da gene’vy.        I like white wine.


This is a rather emphatic way of speaking. A more neutral way, with less stress on the person, is to combine the preposition and the pronoun. Using the combined version makes the other part of a sentence more important. Each preposition has its own set or paradigm, e.g.:

dhe vy > dhebm[1]                        to me
dhe che > dhis                               to you (singular familiar)
dhe ev > dhodho                           to him, to it(m)
dhe hei > dhedhy                          to her, to it(f)
dhe nei > dhen                              to us
dhe whei > dhewgh, dhew’          to you (formal or plural)
dhe anjei > dhodhans                   to them

Ma diw whor dhebm.                     I have two sisters. (… 2 sisters to me)
Dedh da dhis.                                 Good day to you.
Mettin da dhew’.                             Good morning to you.
gene’vy > gena’ma > genam[2]     with me, by me
gene’che > genes                           with you, by you (singular familiar)
gans ev, ganj ev > ganjo[3]            with him, by him
gans hei > genjy[4]                         with her, by her
gene’nei > genen                            with us, by us
genow’whei > genowgh, genow’   with you, by you (formal or plural)
gans anjei > ganjans[5]                   with them, by them


Fatla genes?                        How are you? (How is it with you?)
Duw genow’.                        Goodbye. (God with you.)
Fatla genjy?                         How is she? (How is it with her?)
Ma drog pedn[6] genjy.      She has a head ache.
                                             (There is a headache with her.)



[1] Middle Cornish dhymm
[2] Middle Cornish genev
[3] Middle Cornish ganso
[4] Middle Cornish gensi
[5] Middle Cornish gansans or gansa
[6] <drog> here is the noun for pain or something bad, <pedn> says what it is of. With word order the other way round <pedn drog> it means something completely different – someone who is evil minded,cruel, etc.

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