"Aethoch chi i'r swyddfa?"

Translation: Did you go to the office?

[SandraHarries]

How do you know whether this sentence say "did you go" or "you went"? In writing there is a question mark but in speech you don't have that!

[shwmae]

You use your voice to convey that it's either a statement or a question. The sentences "You went to the office." and "You went to the office?" sound different when you say them out loud, right?

[SandraHarries]

Thank you, yes that makes sense, emphasis on different words.

[MatthewSke1]

What word is Aethoch taken from? With some it's easy to work out (e.g.. bwytoch is from bwyta), but I don't think I've learned this one yet.

[areddragon]

Aethoch is the past tense, formal 2nd person form of mynd. It's irregular, which might be why you're having trouble! :)

• Dw i'n mynd - I go
• Es i - I went
• Est ti/Aethoch chi - You went
• Aethon ni - We went
• Aethon nhw - They went
• Aethodd e/hi - He/she went
• Ewch - Go (imperative)

[ibisc]

It may be worth writing out out some basic verb tables for the very common irregular Welsh verbs: Bod; Mynd; Dod; Cael; Gwneud. Each has common variations, so it is useful to note those as and when you meet them.

You will notice that some patterns begin to emerge among some variations which can be helpful, such as es, des, ces, gwnes i and aethoch, daethoch, caethoch, gwnaethoch chi, etc.

[ElinorJone1]

I got this wrong by using the word reception instead of office, despite the reception being referred to as "y swyddfa" when I was in school...

[shwmae]

Yeah, sometimes you may call something one thing in English but another thing in Welsh, rather than just a translation. "The reception" would be y dderbynfa.

[sam.eckmann]

Is this also the way you would say it in Northern Welsh?

[ibisc]

The simple past conjugation of mynd as given in the course is used and understood all over Wales. There are several dialect variations used in various regions as well, too many for a course like this to cover. Really, it is best to avoid those for now unless you know that you will be bumping into them in the wild.

('Northern Welsh' is a fiction - the dialects of Welsh are much more complex and interesting than the mythical north/south divide. Start with the idea that there are 4-5 main dialects, not two.)

[shwmae]

Yes, you'll hear this in north Wales. You might hear the form Wnaethoch chi fynd i'r swyddfa? too. The construction [past tense of gwneud + person + verbnoun] is more common in the north than the south.

[BasslineJo]

Why was my Did you go into the office marked wrong? 14/7/'17

[ibisc]

'into' is not the same as 'to':

• Es i i'r swyddfa - I went to the office
• Es i i mewn i'r swyddfa - I went into the office