2022 Day 85

 2022 Dedh Pajar Ügens ha Pemp

De Sadorn, wheffes warn ügens mis Meurth

Saturday, 26th March

E vedh dhen le a gòsk haneth en nos. Res ew dhen chânjya agan clockys. En gwenton, gwrewgh lebmel rag! Onan ar glogh e'n mettin a vedh dew ar glogh. Nei a wra kelly üdn our. Bedhowgh parys dhe vos skith. Piw a vedn chânjya an clockys brâs? A vedh own an pres war glockys en Truru?

We will have less sleep tonight. We must change our clocks. In spring, spring forward! One o'clock in the morning will be two o'clock. We will lose one hour. Be prepared to be tired. Who will change the big clocks? Will the time be correct on clocks in Truro?

Building up our Cornish language Part 17c

Cressya emann agan tavas Kernôwek Radn 17c

Here's another past tense for the verb bos to be.

If you use the imperfect locative with other verbs, it gives you a continuous past tense.

It is not so cut and dried as the preterite.

You need some form of adverb of time to distinguish it from the present locative.

Imperfect Locative 

1 sg era vy 

2 sg es ta 

3 sg era, m: era ev, era e, erava, 

                f: era hei 

1 pl era nei 

2 pl ero whei 

3 pl era anjei 

Theram ow kerdhes tre lebmyn. I am walking home now.           

Nanj ew diw seythen thera vy ow kerdhes en menedhyow. Two weeks ago I was walking in mountains.

Pe le thero whei ow mos de vettin? Where were you going yesterday morning?

De vettin thera nei ow mos e'n dre, bes e'n mettin ma thera nei ow tos tre. Yesterday morning we were going into town, but this morning we are coming home.

2022 Day 84

2022 Dedh Pajar Ügens ha Pajar

De Gwener, pempes warn ügens mis Meurth

Friday, 25th March

Da ew gen flehes lebmel, crambla ha slynkya en lowarthow ha parcow. Ow slynk y din ha trampolîn a wrüg dürya an enawellow. Da ew gen ow flehes wydn an trolergh e'n còsow. Ma deg steppen vrâs dhodho. Da ew ganjans an vergh agan kentrevoges magata.

Pe lies steppen eus rag desky Kernôwek? Otta steppen vian.

Children like jumping, climbing and sliding in gardens and parks. Our slide and trampoline survived the storms. My grandchildren like the footpath in the woods. It has ten big steps. They like our neighbour's horses as well.

How many steps are there for learning Cornish? Here's a little step.

Cressya emann agan tavas Kernôwek Radn 17b

Building up our Cornish language Part 17b

The preterite (simple past tense) of bos is used for things that are over an done with, e.g. one-off events like being born. It is frequently used with a verbal adjective (past participle) of another verb.

This is the paradigm for the forms you use in questions and negative statements, where the pronoun comes after the verb, or in affirmative statements beginning with a descriptor:

Preterite 

1 sg veuma, veu vy 

2 sg veusta, veu chy 

3 sg veu, m. veu ev, f. veu hei 

1 pl veu nei 

2 pl veu whei 

3 pl vons, veu anjei 

William Bodinar in his letter wrote “termyn my veu maw” when I was a boy

Usually we put the verbal particle a before the verb.

In a simple affirmative statement you can simply use

pronoun + a + veu

Termyn my a veu mowes, da veu genam marhogeth.

When I was a girl, I liked horse-riding.

Os ta parys? Are you ready? (present descriptive)

Parys veu vy solabres. I was already prepared, I was ready already.

My a veu genys en mis Whevrel. I was born in February.

An hogednow a veu pebys ken li. The pasties were baked before lunch.

Notice the use of adverbs/adverb phrases indicating time.

2022 Day 83

2022 Dedh Pajar Ügens ha Trei

De Yow, pajwora warn ügens mis Meurth
Thursday, 24th March

Ass ew an awel teg ha tòbm! Ew hebma agan hav solabres? O nei moy tòbm avel Ejyp? Martesen gwav a wra dos arta nessa seythen. Fatel vedh an gewer rag Pask?

How fine and warm the weather is! Is this our summer already? Are we hotter than Egypt? Perhaps winter will come again next week. How will the weather be for Easter?

Cressya emann agan tavas Kernôwek Radn 17a

Building up our Cornish language Part 17a

We started to look at adverbs of time. 

Some of them only make sense if you use the past tense of a verb. 

When you are talking about past states of being (e.g. using bos descriptive)

or past actions (e.g. using bos locative)

you need to decide whether something goes on for an

extended time (in which case you need the imperfect) 

or whether it is of finite duration (in which case you need the preterite). 

There are grey areas, of course!

For the verb bos to be we have three choices. 

Two of the choices look very similar to some of the present tense, 

so this is where we need adverbs of time to distinguish them.

Imperfect Descriptive 

The SWF M forms in brackets are not usual in SWF L.

1 sg (en), om, oma, o vy 

2 sg (es), os, o chy 

3 sg o, o ev, o va, o hei 

1 pl (en), o nei 

2 pl (ewgh), owgh, o whei 

3 pl (ens), o anjei 

Here are some examples comparing present and past:

Thew ev deskybel da e'n seythen-ma. He is a good student this week.

Tho va deskybel drog e'n termyn tremenys. He was a bad student in the past.

Descadores an tavas Kernôwek o vy lebmyn. I am a teacher of the Cornish language now.

Tho vy descadores sciens kens omdedna. I was a science teacher before retiring.

Skith o nei hedhyw. We are tired today.

Skith o nei de, ewedh. We were tired yesterday, as well.

We will look at the preterite tomorrow.

2022 Day 82

2022 Dedh Pajar Ügens ha Dew

De Merher, tryja warn ügens mis Meurth

Wednesday, 23rd March

Ma moy es trei hans dedh en üdn vledhen ha pub dedh ew specyal! Ma pub pres pedn bloodh dhe nebonan, etho thew an jedh a bris dhe'n person na. Martesen ma "dedh hanow" dhewgh. Eus hanow sans dhewgh? Ma tüs erel dhe gova ewedh. Ma degolyow ha dedhyow keswlasek rag pedery adro dhe daclow. De a veu Dedh Dowr an Norves. Oll an bes a dal cawas dowr pur ha glan rag eva ha golhy. Nag eus dowr lowr dhe lies person, soweth.

Otta tabm descans moy.

There are more than three hundred days in one year and every day is special! Someone always has a birthday, so the day is important to that person. Perhaps you have a "name day". Do you have a saint's name? There are other people to commemorate too. There are festivals and international days for thinking about things. Yesterday was World Water Day. All the world should get pure clean water for drinking and washing. Many people don't have enough water, sadly.

Here's a bit more lesson.

Cressya emann agan tavas Kernôwek Radn 16c

Building up our Cornish language. Part 16c

We started to look at questions that require adverbs in answers.

Our previous example tre is an adverb of place.

The following questions relate to time:

Pana dermyn? What time, when?

Pana bres? Pana pres? When? What time (of the clock)

Pe eur? When? What time?

Pe le ma hei ow mos? Where is she going?

Ma hei ow mos tre. She is going home.

Pana dermyn üjy hei ow mos tre? When is she going home?

Ma hei ow mos tre lebmyn. She is going home now.

Lebmyn now is an adverb of time.

Other time indicators include

nena, ena then (< e'n eur-na) in that time

en termyn eus passyes once upon a time

hedhyw today

de yesterday

avorow tomorrow

Times of day include:

mettin morning (SWFM myttin)

hanter dedh midday, noon

dohajedh afternoon

gordhûher evening

nos night

hanter nos midnight

Ma hei ow mos tre e'n mettin-ma. She is going home this morning.

Ma'n den ow mos tre hanter nos. The man is going home at midnight.

2022 Day 81

2022 Dedh Pajar Ügens ha Wonan

De Meurth, nessa warn ügens mis Meurth

Tuesday, 22nd March

Fatel alja üdn jedh bos mar sqwithüs? Na whath, ma descans bian dhe rei dhewgh.

How could one day be so exhausting? However, there is a little lesson to give you.

Building up our Cornish Language Part 16b
Cressya emann agan tavas Kernôwek Radn 16b

Introducing TRE
“By Tre, Ros, Car, Lan, Pol and Pen, shall ye know the Cornishmen”
Tre in place names means “Farm”
also means village
or town
Sometimes TREV
treveglos = village with church  = Churchtown
Tre is very versatile, as well as being a noun it doubles as an adverb of place.
It can be used with bos locative alone

Thera vy tre. I am home. I'm at home. I'm in.

an alternative is
Thera vy chei. I am home. I'm at home. I'm in.

or with bos locative plus a verb involving motion
Thera vy ow mos tre. I'm going home.
Theram ow mos tre. I'm going home.(less emphasis on “I”)
Thera vy ow tos tre. I'm coming home.
Ma va ow mos tre. He's going home.
Mons ow tos tre. They are coming home.

In place names
Hen + tre = ancient/original  > Hendra old farm, original farm, home farm

(as opposed to new farm, summer grazing, e.g. Goonhavern)
tre is feminine > after definite article an > an dre

Ma va e'n cres an dre. He is in the town centre (middle of town)

Building up our sentences with a variety of adverbs, etc.:

Ma va chei. He is in. He's at home.
Ma va en chei ev. He's in his house.
Ma va ow tos tre dhe'n chei ev. He's coming home to his house.
Ma va ow tos tre en üskis dhe'n chei ev. 
He's coming home quickly to his house.
Ma va ow tos tre en üskis dhe' n chei ev y hònan.
He's coming home quickly to his own house.
Ma hei ow mos tre hedhyw. She is going home today. 
Hei a wra mos tre avorow. She's going home tomorrow.
Hei eth tre de. She went home yesterday.

Some questions require adverbs in answers:
Pe le? or ple(th)? Where? (followed by affirmative)

e.g. Pe le ma hei ow mos? Where is she going?
Ma hei ow mos tre. She is going home.

More next time