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- "Es i."
"Es i."
Translation:I went.
6 Comments
I thought I went was "dw I wedi mynd" es doesn't sound anything like 'mynd' :s
"Dw i wedi mynd" is more "I have gone" though they are pretty much interchangeable. And "Went" sounds nothing like "To go".
Es i, Est ti and so on is explained in the notes for this section, 'PastTens2'.
It is the simple past tense of mynd - 'I went'. Dw i wedi mynd is the perfect tense - 'I have gone'. As in English, the two meanings are similar and sometimes, but not always, interchangeable.
I guess I'm a little thrown off as it sounds nothing like the main verb, I mean I can learn this example if I practice enough but where does it stop? "I went, I ran, I visited, I threw, I observed" do they all have individual simple past tense forms which are phonetically very different from the main verb? Oh and sorry to be a pain but how do I access notes for pasttense2?
The main irregular verbs are:
- bod (to be) which is introduced bit by bit throughout the course.
- mynd - to go
- dod - to come
- gwneud - to do, to make
- cael - to get, to be allowed to
Most verbs have stems which are very similar to the basic verb-noun form. There are a few others where the stem of the verb looks quite different from the basic verb-noun, and about 40-50, perhaps, where there is a bit of a difference. Some of those are quite common, others are quite uncommon. Pick them up as you go along.
The on-line dictionary www.gweiadur.com has tables for almost all verbs showing how the short-form tenses work. Look for the columns which they mark as 'informal', as those are the ones used in the colloquial language as taught on this course and most others. They do not show the various dialect forms, but either those will not really matter to you or you will pick them up locally anyway. Other web sites such as the BBC Learn Welsh one or www.ybont.org will also show tables of the basic verb tenses if you dig around a bit.
