Tuesday, 26 May 2015

Learn Late Cornish Bit by Bit 91 (Objects)

A Bit About Objects

We have already come across direct and indirect objects, e.g.:

Ro dhebm tabm.                             Give (to) me a bit.

Ro give is the verb, tabm a bit is the direct object that is given and dhebm to me incorporates the indirect object me, the recipient of the direct object. This is a fairly straightforward sentence. (Some idioms are less so.)
Other examples of direct objects are in the following sentences. Notice that the noun object comes after the verb:

Ro dhebm mona!                         Give me money!
Me a venja eva gwedren a win.   I would like to drink a glass of wine.
Me a vedn cawas tabm moy.       I want to have a bit more.
Grewgh sewya an vownder.        Follow the lane.
Gwra maga o deves vy.[1]           Feed my sheep.

If we want to use a pronoun as an object when giving an instruction or order we can use the possessive adjective, with a change of word order, e.g.:

Ro/Roy  e’ dhebm.                         Give him (it) to me.
Grewgh hy sewya.                         Follow her (it). lit. Do her (its) following.
Nena deus, gwra o sewya.[2]        Then come, follow me.
Gwra aga maga.                              Feed them.

Where there is a verbal noun (such as sewya) the pronoun comes in front of it.
The same applies if you use the compound preterite (the past tense using gwil to do, to make as an auxiliary verb), e.g.:

Me a wrüg debry an desen.         I ate the cake.
Me a wrüg hy debry.                     I ate it. (I did its eating.)

You can also replace the noun with the ordinary personal pronoun, e.g.:

Me a wrüg debry hei.                     I ate it.
Me a wrüg hy debry hei.               I ate it. (more emphatic)



[1]  Jowan 21: 16
[2] Luk 18: 22

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