Taking a new look at Cornish grammar 5 (simple sentences present continuous)

Simple sentences in the present continuous tense

In English we can say “Children play” or “Children are playing”.  We can see a subtle difference in meaning. We read between the lines: “Children always play, it’s in their nature” as opposed to “Children are playing where I’m looking”. The same applies in Cornish. So we need a way of saying “Children are playing”. We use the appropriate part of the verb “to be” boas (SWFM bos) as an auxiliary with the interesting verb “to play” gwary.¹

You will need to learn the verb boas “to be”. As in Spanish, this verb has two forms. The form used with locations (and present participles of verbs) is called the “locative”. Some people call it “the long form”.  

How we spell it and say it is one of the major differences between Late Cornish and Middle Cornish (whether you use the Standard Written Form or not).  In conversation with others and when reading you will encounter both, so it is as well to know both. After this lesson, I will concentrate on the Late Cornish version.

In the previous posts we met a “verbal particle” a, used with the preterite (simple past) and present-future tenses. (Verbal particles are less obvious in English.  A continuous particle crops up in folk songs and sea shanties, e.g. “I’ll go no more a-roving”, where the “a” is probably short for “at”.)

There are more verbal particles to use with the verb “to be” boas. The equivalent of adding “ing” to an English verb is the continuous particle o (ow or owth in SWFM) used before the verb. (This is probably short for “orth” at.) It affects the initial letter of some verbs causing a “hard mutation”, e.g. the initial g in gwary hardens to q (k in SWFM).

The part of boas used in the following examples is ma meaning “is” or “are”. Occasionally it may be written ema (e.g. in poetry). The Middle Cornish is yma, so the initial vowel was dropped during the course of language evolution.

Flehes a wary. SWFM Flehes a wari.	Children play.
Ma flehes o qwary. SWFM Yma flehes ow kwari.	Children are playing.

Let’s put the rest of our previous examples into the continuous present tense. (Some verbs are “irregular”, so they may look a bit different. The verb before mutation is shown in brackets. As you can see, d hardens to t.)

Ma Jory o toas. (doas) SWFM Yma Jori ow tos.	George is coming.
Ma Mester Gov o moas. SWFM Yma Mester Gov ow mos.	Mr. Smith is going.
Ma Jowannet o càna. SWFM Yma Jowannet ow kana.	Janet is  singing.
Ma Mestres Angwin o clanhe. SWFM Yma Mestres Angwin ow klanhe.	Mrs. White is cleaning.
Ma edhyn o càna. SWFM Yma edhyn ow kana.	Birds are singing.
Ma dowrow o resek. SWFM Yma dowrow ow resek.	Rivers are running.
Ma descadoryon o tesky. (desky) SWFM Yma dyskadoryon ow tyski.	Teachers are teaching.

[1] Cornish is a Celtic language, so be prepared for changes to the initial letters of some verbs (and other words) in certain circumstances. These changes are called “mutations”.