"Mae coffi gwyn gyda llaeth gan Dewi Lingo."

Translation: Dewi Lingo has white coffee with milk.

[aadambialas]

Could someone explain the syntax of this sentence in detail? I don't get why the preposition "with" - gan/gyda/whatever seems to conjugate accorting to the subject or object (according to the tips & notes section)

[magrise]

It's the same syntax as Irish (I use Irish as a reference point since I see you have level 14 Irish): verb to be + thing we have + preposition + person who has.

Here's an example in Irish ex: ta + madra + ag + Dewi = ta madra ag Dewi = Dewi has a dog.

The same in Welsh would be: mae + ci + gan + Dewi = mae ci gan Dewi = Dewi has a dog.

So in this sentence we have:
verb to be: mae

thing we have: coffi gwyn gan llaeth

preposition: gan

person who has: Dewi Lingo

mae + coffi gwyn gan llaeth + gan + Dewi Lingo = mae coffi gwyn gan llaeth gan Dewi Lingo = Dewi Lingo has white coffee with milk.

(Whoever can, please feel to correct me if I've made a mistake, as I'm not fluent in either Irish or Welsh).

[aadambialas]

Thanks, it seems logical, but my main problem is with the propositions 'gyda/gan" which according to tips&notes are both form of welsh equivalent of 'with' and it seems it kinda conjugates, and I must admit that conjugating prepositions creep me out. I thought that it's like the irish contracted preposition+pronoun pairs, but there are no pronouns here.

[jhatcher88]

This may help to aid with this section: duolingo is trying to cover north and south Welsh. 'GYDA' is south wales for 'WITH' where 'gan' is 'has'.

[RobinV.]

Thank you. I can't wait until they figure out a way to label this sort of distinction. :)

[magrise]

Welsh has inflected prepositions just like Irish - this is a feature of all modern Celtic languages. You'll have to learn and memorize them (I guess at some later point in the course these will be dealt with more thoroughly...).

The same can be found in other languages, Hebrew and Arabic spring to mind.

Why? It is just how the languages developed over the millennia.

[y_ddraig_las]

er.... white coffee already has milk in it???

[jhatcher88]

oh it could be with cream!

[y_ddraig_las]

ych a fi!

[deactivated user]

I've just finished a section where they had curry and salad. I does make you wonder about Welsh food, doesn't it?

[SiblingCreature]

Yeah, "white coffee with milk" seems somewhat tautological