A Bit of a Lesson 1

A Bit of a Lesson 1

You will know that a sentence has to have a subject, that does or is something, and a predicate, containing a verb telling the actions or properties of that subject.

In English we might say “He came.” In Cornish that would be “Ev a dheuth.”

We can be a bit more precise about the subject by using a name or a noun rather than a pronoun.

Jowan a dheuth.                             John came.

Den a dheuth.                                  A man came.

An den a dheuth.                            The man came.

Adjectives give us more information about the subject.

Jowan Brâs a dheuth.                   Big John came.

Den coth a dheuth.                        An old man came.

An den rych a dheuth.                  The rich man came.

Adverbs of time, place and manner give us more information about the verb.

Ev a dheuth hedhyw.                     He came today.

Jowan a dheuth en lowan.            John came happily.

Den a dheuth mes a dhornow.      A man came unexpectedly.

An den yonk a dheuth tre.             The young man came home.

Here is another category of words (usually considered as adverbs) - padding words (often useful) that tell us more about their author than about the sentence. They do not alter the basic meaning of the sentence – we know no more about the subject or the verb – but there is an added level of subtlety. How do we feel about it?

E’n gwella pres, ev a dheuth hedhyw.  Fortunately, he came today.

Bettegens, ev a dheuth hedhyw.           However, he came today.

Soweth, ev a dheuth!                              Alas, he came!

Na whath, ev a dheuth.                           Nevertheless, he came.

E’n gwettha pres, ev a dheuth tre.        Unfortunately, he came home.

Bettele, ev a dheuth en üskis                 Nonetheless, he came quickly.

Dres ehen, ev a dheuth a-dermyn.         Surprisingly, he came early.