Gramadeg/Grammar
How to say: Do you have a….. ?/ Have you got a ……? and I have….


In Welsh, we do not have a one-word verb equivalent to to have. Instead, we say something like: There is a car with me / A car is with me for
I have a car.

Statements - I have
car / Mae gen i gar / I have a car.
plant / Mae gen i blant / I have children.
ty / Mae gen i dy / I have a house.

Here is a rather crude explanation:
gen i = with me, mae gen i = with me is, mae gen i gar = with me is a car

Note that the position in the sentence that is occupied by i (= I) triggers the soft mutation.

If we wish to say You have a car, we say something like: A car is with you.

gynnoch chi = with you. Mae gynnoch chi = with you is
mae gynnoch chi gar = with you is a car = you have a car.

Note the following pattern:
Mae gen i gar. hear it
Mae gynnoch chi gar. hear it

How to ask the question - Do you have……?
Consider: Mae gynnoch chi gar. You have a car.
Now remove mae and replace with oes.
Mae gynnoch chi gar
Oes gynnoch chi gar? Do you have a car? (often shortened to 'Sgynnoch chi..)

Here, in the question, the word oes means something like is there?. Thus we are asking something like: Is there a car with you?

Now, we have to answer this question without explicitly saying yes or no. The only way to do this is by saying the equivalent of: there is/there isn't. For questions beginning with Oes…., the answers are:
Oes - affirmative and Nac oes - negative.


Exercise 1
Ask someone whether they have the following: Check by clicking on 'hear it'.

radio / hear it
teledu (television) / hear it
pensil (pencil) / hear it
gardd (garden) / hear it
llyfr (book) / hear it
ci (dog) / hear it
dyddiadur (diary) / hear it
mab (son) / hear it

Answer the following questions. Click on them and listen. Give an answer according to the prompt:
Check by clicking on 'hear it'.

Cwestiwn : Positive : Hear it

Cwestiwn : Negative : Hear it

Cwestiwn : Positive : Hear it

How to say the negative I don't have / I haven't got
This is a little bit more complicated! Compare it with the positive:

Mae gen i gar. I have a car
Does gen i ddim car. I don't have a car

The phrase Does gen i ddim is usually shortened in speech to: 'Sgen i ddim

In the positive, car is mutated. In the negative, dim is mutated to ddim by the i position. Thus the mutating effect on car is blocked.


Exercise 2:
Listen to each of the following positive statements. Say each negative version out loud and check by clicking as appropriate on the negative statement link.

Positive Statement : Negative Statement

Positive statement : Negative statement

Positive statement : Negative statement

Positive statement : Negative statement

Positive statement : Negative statement

One word of warning before we end this lesson. The above structure can only be used for have in the sense of posession or ownership. It cannot be used for have in the following contexts:

I have (experience) a lot of fun on holiday.
I have (get, obtain) the paper every day.
I have (consume) breakfast at eight o'clock.
I have (a verb tense) read the paper.
I have (must) to go to the office at nine o'clock.


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