"Edrychais i ar y teledu ddydd Iau."

Translation: I watched the TV on Thursday.

[Em484950]

Is the article required in the Welsh?

Is it commonly used in British English? In the US at least, we say "watched TV", not "watched the TV".

To me, the English sentence sounds awkward with the article. The only time I would say "watch the TV" is if I meant the actual appliance, rather than the shows on it -- e.g., if I were moving furniture and being careful not to hit the TV and knock it over: "Hey, watch the TV!"

[ibisc]

Looking at it again, the verb used is not really the right one. To look at - edrych ar. To watch - gwylio. A better sentence in both languages might be:

• Gwyliais i deledu ddydd Iau (I watched television on Thursday)
• Gwyliais i'r rhaglen deledu am eirth ddydd Iau (I watched the television programme about bears on Thursday)
• Edrychais i ar y teledu ddydd Iau, a'i drwsio fe (I looked at the television on Thursday, and repaired it)

[Em484950]

Wow, thanks for the quick reply! Good examples, too.

[crush]

Why is it ddydd here and not dydd? What causes the softening?

[TeganJones0]

I'm not 100% sure on this, and this is only a suggestion.

Perhaps it is because you would often say in English, 'I watched the TV on Thursday', but for the Welsh sentence they've drop the word "ar" meaning "on". "Ar" causes soft mutation, so perhaps they keep the mutation to show that "ar" came before 'dydd Iau', but has just been dropped as it's not 100% necessary, the sentence makes sense with or without it.

Hope this helps, and sorry if this is wrong!

[ibisc]

ddydd Iau is mutated because it is an adverb referring back to the 'watching' - I watched it on Thursday:

• Es i yno ddoe - 'I went there yesterday' - ddoe is mutated (and you will never come across doe anyway!)

• Dw i'n mynd yno bob bore Llun - 'I go there every Monday morning' - pob is mutated to bob because it is the first word in the adverbial phrase pob bore Llun.

• Bydda i'n dod yn ôl o fy ngwyliau ddydd Sadwrn nesaf - 'I'll be coming back from my hols next Saturday'

[crush]

Thanks, so you think the softening here is essentially optional? That makes sense as i feel like i've seen it both ways throughout the course.

[TeganJones0]

I've spoken to my welsh teacher and he said that it happens because when you talk in the past tense, days mutate, therefore dydd Iau becomes ddydd Iau.

Hope this helps further :)

[tachwedd]

Why not 'ddydd' here?

[HerrArbo]

It should be, but often native speakers say dydd.