When do use dw i vs. dw i'n
1735
I don't really see a pattern here. Can someone help me out?
11 Comments
Ibisc wrote a really good post about that, here. Very simply, you put yn before a verb in Welsh, but I highly recommend reading Ibisc's post.
And remember that eisiau/isio is not really verb and thus does not take yn.
Do you know why moyn takes an yn, out of curiosity? I always thought moyn was basically eisiau except in southern form.
Moyn/mofyn/ymofyn is a true verb-noun (like bwyta, darllen, etc). So - dw i'n moyn rhywbeth.
eisiau, angen are nouns, not verb-nouns at all. Their use in the pattern dw i eisiau/angen rhywbeth is an exception to the norm.
moyn is worn down from ymofyn, which is a verb, while eisiau is from a noun - I believe that is the reason behind the different grammar.
As others have mentioned 'dw i'n' is used with every verb (and adjective). Dw i is used with 'eisiau' and 'wedi' and also in emphatic sentences like 'athro dw i' (I'm a teacher), and 'Megan dw i' (I'm Megan). With hindsight we should have left the 'dw i' sentences until later to avoid the confusion. It'll probably be one of the changes in Tree 2.
- 1735
I see the challenge given it would be hard to leave something as important as 'I am a X (for work)' too late in the course, but yes, maybe a pinch later. Polish suffers from the same challenge that to teach 'I am a X', you need to teach the bloody instrumental right away. I think I get it though. I hadn't realized eisiau wasn't really a verb or that the 'Megan dw i 'was emphatic, but now that i do, I get when to use dw i'n and dw i a great deal more :)
At any rate, I am really enjoying the course and getting a lot from it. I'd wanted to learn Welsh for about 15 years and this has made it much more manageable. :) Diolch.
I am a total newbie, so I apologize for my ignorance. The comments given so far don't seem to answer the question.
The question is asking when to use "Dw i" or when to use "Dw i'n", it seems all the explanations below refer to the use of "yn".
While the explanations for "yn" are very useful and interesting reading, it would be helpful to have an answer to the original question.
Apologies if I have totally missed the point.
The yn referred to appears as 'n in Dw i'n.
Thus Dw i'n is a contraction of Dw i yn -- and it's nearly always found in the contract form, except if you want to emphasise the verb, perhaps after someone has doubted you:
- Dw i'n mynd i Fangor "I'm going to Bangor"
- Dw i yn mynd i Fangor "I am going to Bangor"
