"Dw i wedi ymolchi."

Translation: I have washed myself.

[gorrasta]

I know it's a bit of a stupid question but... If I've understood this right, "ymolchi" can function both as a reflexive and as a normal transitive? I mean, can I say "Dw i wedi ymolchi cot"? ....Thanks for bearing with me ><

[Julianbark6]

No. If you are washing a coat, dog, dishes, or anything else, then it's "golchi".

[Mary315981]

Thanks everyone. That's very helpful

[rcpractice]

'I washed myself' wasn't accepted but 'have' is often missed out in everyday English

[ibisc]

Different tenses in both languages:

• Dw i wedi ymolchi. - I have washed myself. (present perfect tense)
• Ymolchais i; Gwnes i ymolchi. - I washed myself. (simple past tense)

[rcpractice]

Duolingo translation swings between 'everyday'/colloquial usage and the formal grammatical structures - I've noticed this in the other languages too!

[DaibhidhR]

There is indeed some inconsistency between sentences and between the Welsh and English, but very little compared with other Duolingo courses.

However there is another issue that affects this particular question, that you may not be aware of. Leaving out the have isn't just colloquial but dialectal as well. It does not happen in standard British English or standard American English, however colloquial you are being. This means that standard colloquial English uses the perfect tense in almost exactly the same situations as Welsh uses wedi (not that amazing as Welsh speakers and English speakers have been neighbours since what we know as English started in 1066), meaning that the writers would assume that there is nothing difficult in this sentence and just expect you to translate with matching tenses.

Now in some American dialects (and rarely also in England, but not Wales or Scotand as far as I know), you can leave out the have just as you would normally in Scots Gaelic (which may have affected these American dialects). This means that some people will naturally leave it out in the translation. Because Welsh works the same way as standard English, the easiest way to avoid the risk of leaving out the wedi (which would be wrong) is to try and process these sentences into standard English (whether US or UK) as it will then match the Welsh.

[rcpractice]

Thank you for this - it's really useful.

[RuthAnders56748]

If I said Dw I ymolchi, would that translate as, I wash myself?

[DaibhidhR]

No, that is incorrectly spelt Welsh and unusual English except in certain situations such as relative clauses and in habitual constructions (which would not match the Welsh).

Dw i'n ymolchi = I am washing (myself)

Thanks to ibisc for correction.