Notianjow Kernuak rag Dallathorian
Cornish Notes for Beginners
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8.1  This thing, that thing, these things, those things..........back

this: To say things like: this house, this child, this road etc., just put an (the) before the thing you are talking about and ma  after it.

e.g. an vor'ma : this road   an wedhan'ma : this tree   an park'ma : this field

that: To talk about that, just substitute na for ma.

e.g. an venen'na : that woman   an scudel'na : that plate   an jyn'na : that engine

these & those: To say these & those, just use ma/na with a plural noun:

e.g. an skitchow'ma : these shoes   an dîz'na : those people

Note: the apostrophe is optional.  It helps avoid confusion with the verb ma and negatives starting with na.

When you want to use an adjective, remember that it comes before the 'ma / 'na.

an venen hîr'na : that tall woman   an maw gucky'na : that silly boy

an eglos coath'ma : this old church   an cota du'ma : this black coat

Listen to Neil's lesson about "that black and white dog" (this requires "realplayer")

9.1  What would you like to have? : Pandra venja whei cowaz?.........back

Question: Pandra venja whei cowaz?

Answer: Me venja cowaz... = I'd like to have...

Me venja cowaz bolla tay: I’d like to have a cup of tea.

Me venja kenz... = I'd prefer...
Me venja kezs cowaz....=I'd rather have…
Me venja eva... = I'd like to drink...
Me venja debry... =I'd like to eat...

Another way to indicate preference is:  gwel ew genam...

e.g. gwel ew genam tettes : I prefer potatoes.

A few drinks:

coffy: coffee      tay: tea      chocklat tubm: hot chocolate      leath: milk

dowr: water        sugan: juice

cor: beer       cydyr: cider      

dowr tubm Alban: whisky     dowr tubm Frenk: brandy     dowr tubm mollaz: rum
(for these last three it is common to just say whisky, brandy and whisky !)

gwîn: wine       gwîn rooz: red wine      gwîn gwidn: white wine

gwedran a wîn: a glass of  wine

You  can also put badna: a drop of or bolla: a cup of before the name of your prefered drink:

Me venja cowaz bolla tay! Me venja cowaz badna gwîn!

9.2  Asking for things..........back

One of the simplest ways to ask for something is to say:

pedgy rei dhem...  : Please give me...

pedgy rei dhem badna cor: Please give me a drop of beer

pedgy rei dhem an morthol'na: Please give me that hammer

pedgy rei dhem pemp penz: Please give me five pounds

pedgy rei dhem moy leath: Please give me more milk

Note 1: pedgy means pray or please and does all of the donkey work in the above examples, enabling us to use a following verb in its unchanged/infinitive form.

Note 2: dhem means to me all in one word. Alternatively you can say dha ve or da ve which places more emphasis on the me.

pedgy rei hedna dha ve: Please give that to me.

Alternatively you can use the command form of the verb rei: to give. This is ro.

Ro dhem goz cota: Give me your coat

Ro dhem aval: Give me an apple

Ro an hesken dhem: Give the saw to me

Ro dhem dha abm: Give me a kiss

Ro tabm tezan dhem: Give me a piece of cake

9.3  To: dha, da.........back

In the above section you will have seen dhem and dha ve / da ve. Now look at this lot:

dhem or dha ve:     to me

dhez or dha che:    to thee

dhodha or dha ev :  to him

dhodhy or dha hei:   to her

dhen(e) or dha nei :          to us

dhewh or dha whei:           to you

dhodhanz or dha angei / dhongy:  to them

Note: You will also see variations of the above forms starting with d.

e.g. dem, dez, dodha, dewh, dodhanz

9.4  What have you got?>: Pandra ez dha whei?.........back

Pandr'ez dha whei? > Ma quillan dhem.
What have you got? > I’ve got a pen.

Start with  ma: there is,  name the thing which you have got and end with dhem / dha ve (see section 9.3)

Ma car noweth dhem: I've got a new car

Ma scâth dhem: I've got a boat

Ma bike dha ve: I've got a bike

Ma looar broaz dhem: I've got a big garden

Ma moy vel dîg penz dhem: I've got more than ten pounds

Similarly you can ask:

Pandra ez dha ev? : What has he got?

Pandr'ez dha hei? : What has she got?

Pandr'ez dha'n flehaz? : What have the children got?

Pandr'ez dha nei? : What have we got?

Pandr'ez dha whei? : What have you got?

Pandr'ez dha angei? : What have they got?

You answer in the same way too:

Ma ...dha ev / dhodha
Ma ...dha hei / dhodhy
Ma ...dha nei / dhen(e)
Ma ...dha whei / dhewh
Ma ...dha angei / dhodhanz

9.5  Illness..........back

You can ask: Fatla gena whei? : How are you?,    Fatel era whei a kîl? : How are you doing?
Pandra whear dha whei? / Pandra whear dhewh? : What's the matter with you?

You can talk about illnesses in the same way as you talk about physical possessions, i.e. by using the same kind of ma + dha constructions used in section 9.4. e.g. ma annes dha ve, literally there is a cold to me.

Fatla gana whei? > Ma pedn droag dhem.

danz clav: a bad tooth    pauz: a cough    poan: a pain        annes: a cold

clevaz an moar: sea sickness         galar: pain (especially a stomach ache)

clevaz: an illness    girr: stomach ache

9.6  Having things at your disposal -  gen (with).........back

Gen means with.

If you don't really want to say that you own something but just want to say you've got it with you or that it's at your disposal,  use genam or gena ve (with me) instead of dhem (to me):

Ma leath genam: I've got some milk

gen (with) has got personal forms, just like dha:

Ma ...gena ve / genam      with me
Ma ...gena che / genez     with you (informal)
Ma ...genz ev / gonja     with him
Ma ...genz hei / goshy       with her
Ma ...gena nei / genen      with us
Ma ...gena whei / geno     with you
Ma ...genz angei / gonjanz with them

e.g. Ma cota stanch genam: I've got a water-proof coat with me

genam and gena ve both mean with me.  You can use either but gena ve places more emphasis on me.   Similarly, in the table above, the forms in the first column puts more stress on the subject (he, she, you etc.)

Questions:

Pandr'ez gena whei? : What have you got with you?

Ez gena whei? : Have you got with you?

You can use these forms to talk about certain abstact ideas, such as surprise, shame, enthusiasm and sorrow:

Ma marth genam or Marth ew genam: I'm surpised
Ma edrak genam or Drôg ew genam: I'm sorry 

Mall ew genam cowz Kernuak: I'm keen to speak Cornish!

9.7  Possession: my, his, her, our, your, their..........back

The simplest way to indicate possession is to put one of the following after the possession in question:

ve : my      che: thy       ev : his        hei: her

nei : our              whei: your             angei : their

pedn ve: my head    tavaz angei : their language    gwedran hei: her glass

lavrak whei: your trousers    hevez ev : his shirt    bleaw whei: your hair

bargen-tîr nei : our farm    gravar-rose côth nei : our old wheel barrow

You can start with an (the):  an esgis ve: my shoe    an daama angei : their mother an skitchow whei: your shoes     an sah ev : his bag    an rowm nei : our room

Alternatively you can put one of the following in front of the possesssion in question:

a : my       dha : thy      e: his       e: her

gon: our      goz: your       go: their

Note: Be aware that a (my), e (his), e (her) and go (their) cause changes to some following letters. Be aware but don't worry about the details at this stage!

goz cader: your chair,  e bord: her table,  gon fose: our wall,  goz cor: your beer

You can, for emphasis, use both of the above ways of indicating possession at the same time:

gon tereath nei : our area   goz darraz whei: your door   e vejeth ev : his face

9.8  Dha beaw ew hemma?  or  Pew a beaw hemma? : Who owns this?.........back

There is more than one way to answer:
1.
Peath ve ew :  Something like  It's my thing.  Similarly, you can say:  Peath whei ew : It's yours,Peath nei ew: It's ours         etc.

Peath translates thing, matter/subject, affair, concern, stuff and lots of other English words.

2.
A more forceful way to say it is:

Thew peath ve: It's mine    Thew peath hei/ev: It's hers/his
Thew peath nei/whei/angei : It's ours/yours/theirs.
In Late Cornish this is a common way of putting things.

3.
A similarly forceful way of putting things is:

Me a beaw... : I own...
Similarly, you can say:
che/ev/hei/nei/whei/angei a beaw:    I/He/She/We/You/They own(s)
This is a bit over the top for talking about routine possession.  Save it for when you want to make a point of saying who owns something.

4.
The commonest way of talking about possession is to use the the verb boaz with dha or the variation da.

Dha ve ew :  It's to me

We've already seen constructions like:  Ma hedna dha ve:  That's to me.

Remember:
dhem, dem or dha ve:      to me
dhez, dez or dha che:       to thee
dhodha, or dha ev:           to him
dhodhy, dodha or dha hei:  to her
dhen(e), or dha nei :                   to us
dhewh, dewh or dha whei: to you
dhodhanz, dodhanz, dha angei or dhongy:         to them

Remember that we use gen instead of dha when we simply have something with us but it isn't necessarily ours.   Ma quillan genam:  There's a pen with me.

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