Taking a new look at Cornish grammar 24 (verbal particles)

If you see or hear a verbal particle on its own it has no meaning, but with an appropriate verb it does have a function. Often it alerts you to what the tense is.

So far we have met “a” which is used with the preterite (past simple) and the compound preterite, and the present-future and compound future tenses. In practical terms it softens the sound of some following initial consonants, e.g. for the verb tedna to pull initial t softens to d, (and the initial g of the auxiliary verb gwil to do is dropped).

An den a dednas kert de.	The man pulled a cart yesterday.
Ev a wrüg tedna kert.	He pulled (did pull) a cart.
Ev a dedn kert pub pres.	He always pulls a cart.
Ev a wra tedna hedna scon.	He will pull that soon.

We have also met the continuous particle “o” or “ow” (“owth” ^[1] before a vowel) which is used with the continuous present and the continuous past tenses. It helps to produce the present participle (which ends in “–ing” in English). In practical terms it hardens the sound of some following initial consonants, e.g. for the verb debry to eat initial d hardens to t. The initial t of tedna is already hard so is not affected.

Ma’n den o tebry tesen.	The man is eating a cake.
Thera an den o tebry tesen.	The man was eating a cake.
Ma’n den o tedna kert.	The man is pulling a cart.
Thera den o tedna kert.	A man was pulling a cart. or There was a man pulling a cart.

In the interests of fluency (in Late Cornish) these particles may be left out (particularly before the auxiliary verb), but their effects are still felt. Leaving them out (in the same way that we shorten things in English) does not affect the meaning of the sentence, e.g.

Hei wrüg redya lever.	She read a book.
Hei wra gwary tennis.	She’ll play tennis.

We have also met another verbal particle, th (SWFM yth) used with the verb boas to be. I call this the “positive particle” because it is only used in positive statements, not in questions or negative statements. It is associated with the verb (attached to it in Late Cornish) when it comes before its subject. Unlike the previous particles it makes a difference if it is omitted. The sentence is a question if the verb starts it without the particle.  

Thera nei o qwary en ta. SWFM Yth eson ni ow kwari yn ta.	We are playing well.
Era nei o qwary en ta? SWFM Eson ni ow kwari yn ta?	Are we playing well?
Tho whei lowen. SWFM Yth owgh hwi lowen.	You are happy.
O whei lowen? SWFM Owgh hwi lowen?	Are you happy?
Lowen o whei. SWFM Lowen owgh hwi.	You are happy.
Thera den o tedna kert. SWFM Yth esa den ow tedna kert.	There was a man pulling a cart.
Era den o tedna kert? SWFM Esa den ow tedna kert?	Was there a man pulling a cart?

This brings us to a new verbal particle, the negative particle, nag (SWFM nyns). This replaces th (yth) in a negative statement, e.g.

Nag era nei o qwary en ta. SWFM Nyns eson ni ow kwari yn ta.	We are not playing well.
Nag o whei lowen. SWFM Nyns owgh hwi lowen.	You are not happy.
Nag era den o tedna kert. SWFM Nyns esa den ow tedna kert.	There was not a man pulling a cart.

And, finally, we sometimes want to ask a negative question. For that there is an extra interrogative particle a, which goes before the negative particle.

A nag era nei o qwary en ta? SWFM A nyns eson ni ow kwari yn ta?	Aren’t we playing well? Are we not playing well?
A nag o whei lowen? SWFM A nyns owgh hwi lowen?	Aren’t you happy? Are you not happy?
A nag era den o tedna kert? SWFM A nyns esa den ow tedna kert?	Wasn’t there a man pulling a cart? Was there not a man pulling a cart?

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[1]  In a later post we will see how there are remnants of a missing “owth” on some old spellings of reflexive verbs.