"Pam wyt ti am ei dihuno nawr?"

Mod

The hints have now been changed. As a reminder, though:

ei dihuno (hi) - waking her up
ei ddihuno (e) - waking him up (soft mutation after ei 'his': d -> dd)

June 16, 2016

seanlikeskites

Where does the 'wanting' come from in this sentence? There is no eisiau.

July 20, 2016

Mod

This use of am is another way of expressing want. Probably best to stick with eisiau yourself, but be aware that some people may sometimes use am in this way.

Ah OK.

I'd like to know more about that as well, if there is anything more than "some people just talk that way" (as is so often the case in languages!) "Am" is typically about or for as I know it, are there other usages that could point to a linguistic evolution to "wanting"?

April 30, 2017

Mod

I don't know how or when am came to have this particular meaning, I'm afraid. Many Welsh prepositions have uses and meanings beyond their basic ones, especially in combination with various verbs, and this is just one example.

You have probably already met gwrando ar, mynd i, edrych ar, dweud wrth and perhaps a couple of others.

Thanks

Is this translatable as 'Why do you want her to wake up now?'

Mod

Dw i eisiau ei dihuno - I want to wake her up

Dw i eisiau iddi hi dihuno - I want her to wake up

There are several other ways to say both these things, too.

Jimbo314

Thanks - if I could ask you to elaborate slightly on that? Does 'dihuno' imply the action of somebody waking somebody up or can you 'dihuno' without anyone's assistance? And does 'iddi' have an approximate equivalent in English? :)

Mod

dihuno/deffro means both to wake up and to wake somebody else. This happens with several Welsh verbs - dysgu means both 'teaching' and 'learning', and benthyg means both ' borrowing' and 'lending', for example.

iddi hi = to/for her, and some other meanings depending on context.

Jimbo314

I see, thank you very much! :)