Personal Descriptions 9 (questioning descriptions)

   So far we have looked at positive descriptions of people in the past or present. Now let’s look at questions. Suitable forms for questions appear in the last column in PD6 and PD8. Past and present are often the same so, as with a positive statement, you may sometimes need to add an indication of time. Names or nouns may replace pronouns in the following:

	SWFLt after the description:	Question:	starting a question:
I am	o vy	Am I …?	O vy..?
You are (fam.)	o che or osta	Are you …?	O che..? Osta..?
He is	ew ev or ewa	Is he …?	Ew ev..? Ewa..?
She is	ew hei	Is she …?	Ew hei..?
We are	o nei	Are we …?	O nei..?
You are	o whei	Are you …?	O whei..?
They are	o anjei or ens	Are they …?	O anjei..? or Ens..?
	SWFLt after the description:	Question:	starting a  question:
I was	o vy	Was I …?	O vy..?
You were	o che or osta	Were you..?	O che..? or Osta..?
He was	o ev or ova	Was he..?	O ev..? or Ova … ?
She was	o hei	Was she..?	O hei … ?
We were	o nei	Were we..?	O nei … ?
You were	o whei	Were you..?	O whei …?
They were	o anjei or ens	Were they..?	O anjei[1]..? or Ens…?

Here are some examples:

O whei skith hedhyw?	Are you tired today?
O whei skith de?	Were you tired yesterday?
Ew Elizabeth myternes dha?	Is Elizabeth a good queen?
O Victoria myternes dha?	Was Victoria a good queen?
Ew an den na coth?	Is that man old?
Ewa rych ewedh[2]?	Is he rich as well?
Ova bohojek en termyn eus passyes?	Was he poor once upon a time?
O anjei tew pub termyn?	Were they always fat?

---

[1]  O anjei is more emphatic than Ens.

[2]  RLC awedh or e’wedh as well, also = RMC yn wedh

Tabm a Gernow 11 (stiles)

En Kernow ma lies trolergh ha ma lies trapp. Nowydh lowr ew an trapp ma. Thew ev gwres a bredn, gen sethednow o tisqwedhes an vorr. Nag eus odhom anodho e'n eur ma, drefen boas opyn an yet.

Trapp aral ew cottha. Gwres ew ev a veyn growan broas, settys e'n ke. Hebm'ew trap chattal gen stappys opyn. Thew an meyn pur goth ha gorherys gen kewny. An nor tû west ew ûhella ha nag eus bes dew men.

Dhort an tû est nei ell gweles trei men, drefen boas an nor isella. 

Nag eus odhom a'n trapp ma naneyl. 

Ma hujes aja e’n ke, rag jinwethow abmeth.  

Nag eus post arwodh reb an trap ma.

E'n hav ma lies flourys adro dhe drappys coth. 
An re ma ew manegow lowarn ha blejow kenys.

Tabm a Gernow 10 (rainbow)

Jorna teg o hedhyw, ader termyn cott en mettyn.  E’n eur-na e veu cawas ha cabmdhavas (SWFM cammneves). Ma lavar coth: “Cabmdhavas en mettin glaw boas ettin,” ke nag era dhen glaw e’n dohajedh. 

Ma clowys genam edhen o cana pur wheg. Pehen ew an edhen? Ma heckamola vian e’n wedhen ma, saw nag üjy hei o cana en wheg. Nag ew an edhen ma. Ma hei o lavaral “Chip! Chip!”  

Ma edhen e’n ebòrn o neyja ûhel ha ûhella.  Ma semblans dhedhy a boynt e’n ebòrn.  Melwhes (awhesidh) ew, nebes avarr, martesen? Bes jorna teg ew, ma son lôwenek dhedhy. An gewer avorow a vedh drog, soweth.

Personal Descriptions 8 (descriptive past)

   Of course, you are not always talking about people in the present. You may want to talk about an ancestor, a historical person, yourself as you used to be, etc. For that you need to know the descriptive past tense of <boas> be, being (SWFM <bos>). Notice that in some cases there is no difference between the past and the present (you may need to use an adverb of time to make it clear which tense you are using): 

	SWFLt	an RMC “short form”	after description:
I was You were He was She was We were You were They were	Tho vy Tho che Tho ev Tho hei Tho nei Tho whei Tho anjei or Thens	My o Ty o Ev o Hi o Ni o Hwi o I o	o vy o che or osta o ev or ova o hei o nei o whei o anjei or ens

Two adjectives to set the scene!

marow                               dead

bew                                    alive

Marow ew ev lebmen.       He is dead now.

Bew o ev nena.                  He was alive then.

Cleopatra o teg.                 Cleopatra was beautiful.

Hei o myternes Ejyp.      She was a queen of Egypt.

Victoria o an vyternes obma. 
                                    Victoria was the queen here.  

Playn o hei.                       She was plain.     

An den na o hager            That man was ugly

bes rych ova.                    but he was rich.

William Bodinar o den bohojek.    

                           William Bodinar was a poor man.     

Tabm a Gernow 9 (muddy ways)

De Lün an howl a wrüg spladna rag nebes ourys bes nag o an gewer teg de Meurth po de Merher. Thera glaw, re a law. Gleb o, ha gwenjek.

Na whath, res ew purres dhe gerdhes gans o gast. Ma lies trolergh en Kernow. 

E’n eur ma leyjek ens. 

 Ma vorrow mergh ewedh. 

Ma polednow saw nag ens mar leyjek avel an trolerhow .

Tabm a Gernow 8 (Perranporth)

Hedhyw nag o an gewer teg e'n mettin bes thera howl e'n dohajedh. Otta tewednow en Tywarnheyl en golow an howl. Dres an tewednow ma'n dhew kensa eglos Peran.  Ma pons bian adreus gover. Hebm'ew an over o dalla gen lagen en Lanberan, ogas dhe'n tryja eglos Peran.

Thera howl, bes thera gwens ewedh. An mordardh o garow ha strolek (messy).

"Chapel Rock" henwys ew an carrek broas en mor. En termyn eus passyes thera chapel warnodho. Hanow an chapel o "engarder" - dhort "an gador".

Personal Descriptions 7 (modifying adjectives)

   Sometimes using a single adjective does not convey exactly what you mean. Here are a few words (some used more often than others) that help you to modify your adjective. Some go after the adjective and some go before it. Some cause the adjective to mutate (the initial consonant changes) – though this is less strictly observed in RLC than in RMC:

ettien[1]           totally,

                       completely,

                       wholly,

                       utterly,

                       thoroughly, etc.

lowr                quite, enough

mar                 so

pur                  very

re                    too

Mool ettien ew ev.        He is completely bald.

Medhow ettien ew hei. She is completely drunk.

Tho vy broas lowr.       I am quite big.

Thew ev bian lowr.      He is quite small.

Thew hei coth lowr.     She is quite old.

Loos lowr ew o blew.   My hair is quite grey.

Pedn rous lowr ew ev.  He is quite a redhead.

Hir lowr ew hy blew.    Her hair is quite long.

Mar godnyk o whei.      You are so clever.

Tho vy mar wocky.       I am so stupid.

Pur wheg o whei.          You are very nice.

Den pur hager ew ev.     He is a very ugly man.

Benyn pur dhrog[2] ew hei.    

                        She is a very wicked woman.

Pur vroas ha pur vlou ew hy lagajow.

                 Her eyes are very big and very blue.

Tho vy re dew[3].          I am too fat.

Tho whei re ascornek.  You are too bony.

Thew ev re verr[4].        He is too short.

Re hir ew hei.                She is too tall.

---

[1]  some people prefer to use <warbarth/warbar’> altogether

[2]  soft mutation (lenition) d >dh: drog bad, wicked, etc. > dhrog

[3] soft mutation (lenition) t >d: tew fat > dew

[4] soft mutation (lenition) b>v: berr short> verr    

Tabm a Gernow 7 (yellow flowers)

Cres an gwav ew, bes nag ew an gewer yeyn hedhyw ha ma lily an Corawys reb an eglos solabres. 

(Ot gover vian adres an vorr ewedh.)

Ottobma flourys melin erel. 

Ma losow lagas longya dhe aperya avarr en gwenton - 

saw nag ew gwenton whath! Cres an gwav ew.  

E'n corfflan Lanberan ma brially melin ewedh, emesk an meyn cov.

Tabm a Gernow 6 (road to Ventongimps)

Ma vorr (SWFM fordh) vian adal dhe’n chei henwys Castle Lambourne.  

An vorr dhe Ventongimps (“gimps” < gumpas) ew, saw nag ew compes an vorr. 

Ma hei o moas war nans en vaner serth lowr,

Ma hei o moas war nans dres an ker “Caer Dane”. 

Reb an vorr ma cleudhyow ha goverow. 

Ma ventydnyow o resek adhor an gwelyow. 

En neb teleryow ma’n dowr o fedna adreus an vorr. 

E’n tnow ma dor gwernyk. 

En pelder me ell gweles jinjy bal. “West Chyverton Mine “ ew, theram o crejy (SWFM crysy).

Tabm a Gernow 5 (rainy day)

Glaw a wra en Kernow lies gweyth: 

glaw war venedhyow, 

glaw war an mor,  

glaw war an vorr (fordh) 

ha glaw war idhyow.