Welsh Language Made Easy, a method - Mae

Welsh is an Indo-European Language, and so it follows certain rules which are common in languages like Hindi, English, Greek, Ukrainian, Spanish. In this video you will see a simple method, what I call the Mae Formula, to be able to learn Welsh quickly.
Past, Present and Future of the verb 'to be' are so important in Indo-European Language that all you need to do to get a solid beginner's grasp in any of them is to master the ways in which this verb works - Welsh included.
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[@edwardthomas6956]

Excellent vivid piece just as I was getting bored with Duolingo. Good thoughtful pace of delivery, instilling respect for the senior language of our island

[@BenLlywelyn]

Thank you.

[@larrydykes7643]

(Disclaimer: not an expert on Welsh, but as a person recently having started... ) I find it useful to think of MAE as meaning "it is the case that" or "it's true that" or like a programming construct ASSERT - meaning that we are simply asserting that what follows is information. Thus BYDD is "it will be that" and ROEDD is "it was that" (something is true). I also find it useful to think of YN as meaning "in" but in the sense of being involved in an action or in being something, not in the sense of being inside something. "Mae o yn canu" is thus "it is the case that he is involved in singing" -- long but it works for "he sings / is singing". Don't know if this helps anybody.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Diolch iti am rannu. Thank you for sharing.

[@Knappa22]

That’s a nifty way of thinking about it :)

[@fhreire]

This is very good, it makes so much sense to me.

[@synkkamaan1331]

Does Welsh have a word to indicate the subjunctive mood?

[@BenLlywelyn]

We have a tense which conjugates into it, which is rarely used. Bwyf i / That I may be. Pan fo ddau (When two may be).

[@amay3959]

Using Duolingo is helpful and I am enjoying it but sometimes I just get puzzled wondering why there is a rule and then there isn't with certain questions. 'r i' r and why is Mae sometimes used and other times there is a substitute. This video was very good and clear and put together well. Nobody needs disturbing graphics when you want to learn you need to focus. Thanks very much. Diolch yn Fawr

[@BenLlywelyn]

Diolch am yr adborth. Thanks for the feedback.

[@michaelhalsall5684]

This video takes some of the fear out of learning a Celtic language. Welsh appears to be the easier Celtic language to learn if your first language is English. Welsh appears to have a three tense "past, present, future" verb structure like English. Welsh appears to have a very phonetic spelling system, although quite different from English, once understood makes it easy to guess the pronunciation of words too. I pity people trying to learn Scots Gaelic for this reason! A lot of nouns in Welsh have an ultimately Latin origin and that helps too (Senadd (senate) etc.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Quite true.

[@cameronclare5084]

This channel is helpful. Duolingo doesn't explain anything about how the grammar actually works.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Diolch / Thanks.

[@user-vo1ir7rp5f]

Thank you Ben.

[@Danny-vk4zj]

Great Video; I am literally learning Mae at the moment, so this Vid has come out, just at the right time for me. I kind of see, wrongly or rightly Mae as a statement as opposed to Ydy for a question and Dydy as a negative.. (hope I got that right 😭) .. very useful and informative like all ur Vids.. and great to see some local landscapes too.. (I live nr Caernarfon). Im on day 422 on Duolingo, give me another 10 years and I may be confident enough to have a proper conversation in public 🤣🤣🤣

[@BenLlywelyn]

Dal ati / Keep at it.

[@FrozenMermaid666]

I just started learning Welsh, yesterday - am learning about 7 / 8 languages at the moment, including Dutch / Norwegian / Swedish / French / Italian / German and also trying to improve my Portuguese etc! I learned the numbers and some nouns and verbs yesterday, plus a lot of pronunciation rules! The W is considered a vowel in Welsh and is pronounced like the English W (so W sounds like an U) and LL is pronounced like a soft S with an airy sound and the CH is pronounced sort of like an H, from what I could hear, so it kinda reminds of Dutch when certain words are pronounced, and AU is pronounced AI / AY and, the U at the end of the words is pronounced like an I / Y, from what I can hear - and I also learned how to pronounce the name of the longest city in Welsh! Also, I couldn’t understand what mae meant yesterday, but I think I get it know, though! I’m trying to learn as much new vocab and grammar as possible!

[@martinkullberg6718]

Leuk dat je Nederlands leert! 😁

[@tedi1932]

A very interesting simplification

[@mikeowen9440]

Most useful intro to Welsh I’ve seen .. thanks

[@BenLlywelyn]

Why diolch / thank you, Mike.

[@richardglaves9873]

Hi Ben Wenglish is a dialect I grew up in the valleys of south Wales where predominately Wenglish was used. It is seen as a dialect of English but can be seen as a separate language . John Edward’s book talk tidy. Welsh English (Welsh: Saesneg Gymreig) comprises the dialects of English spoken by Welsh people. The dialects are significantly influenced by Welsh grammar and often include words derived from Welsh. This was the dialect I grew up with and it took a while to realise when I spoke to my English cousins that what I was speaking was not standard English . I can see that more English words are creeping in to the welsh language this can probably be see as a new form of Wenglish where welsh is the dominant language with English words thrown in like Jojo , Licio( this has been used for a long time) learners may throw in an English word if unsure to continue the conversation. Mutations are beginning to be dropped in some places but I am unsure how wide spread it is.

[@BenLlywelyn]

I think a lot of the English being used in Welsh is down to lack of education over centuries in Welsh, and now lack of teaching Welsh properly. But, with English being as big as it is, there is no getting away from its influence. Welsh is changing under English influence into a new phase of the language in my opinion, which will be unintelligible to speakers of Welsh in past centuries, and make reading older Welsh very difficult for modern speakers.

[@fhreire]

This was a great explanation, thank you for that.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Croeso mawr - very welcome!

[@localpm]

Thanks for the explanation very helpful indeed.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Cheers fellow.

[@wooddragon55]

Very helpful, Diolch!

[@BenLlywelyn]

Croeso

[@freyaforestmusic]

So valuable thank you , diolch

[@TheInternationalPrayerSociety]

excellently explained...such a great help... you're a good teacher Ben..

[@BenLlywelyn]

A wonderful thing of you to say. Diolch.

[@thenightraven60]

This channel is a little mine of useful info. Glad I found it.

[@BenLlywelyn]

A pleasure. Diolch yn fawr.

[@shelleyhcq]

Thankyou for this, it was very helpful. I'm thoroughly enjoying learning Welsh!

[@BenLlywelyn]

It is a fun journey. Make sure you enjoy the process of growing in the language rather than focusing so much on a specific point in the future. You can do it.

[@meljen8592]

Top marks Ben,thanks.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Very kind, diolch.

[@deewesthill1213]

I read Spanish fluently. Spanish was so easy to learn, at least for reading.i know the Celtic language family has more similarities to Latin/Romance than to English and other German, etc. I'm interested in learning Welsh words that have cognates in Spanish.

[@BenLlywelyn]

¡Adivina el brazo! Dyfala'r braich! (guess the arm)

[@TerencePetersenAjbro]

Lladron/ladron springs to mind. Canu/cantar, credu/crear. The word "nofio" (swim in Welsh) trips me up sometimes as the Spanish "novio" (boyfriend) is very similar. You get a lot of Latin loanwords in Welsh relating to the church and theological concepts too. Reading the Bible in Welsh is pretty hard-going though. Formal literary Welsh and the spoken language are alas very different.

[@deewesthill1213]

@@TerencePetersenAjbro Interesting!

[@noir66146]

really nice observation about languages and the verb "to do" / what and when.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Diolch / Thank you.

[@lisareed5669]

I needed this!

[@BenLlywelyn]

Da iawn!

[@gandolfthorstefn1780]

Some advice for language learner's.Don't over translate back into your native tongue.If someone wants a document translated from Welsh to English then by all means attempt to be accurate with the English translation.But your not learning English,your learning Welsh so don't get hung up on what exactly it means in English.Try and use transliteration and keep the flavour and mentality of your target language alive.Your native tongue is only a tool to learn your target language.English is like a row boat you use to board the Welsh ship.Hoist the English anchor and don't let it stop you sailing the Welsh Ship or it's going to be a longer journey than need be.Try to grasp the mentality of Welsh,it's intention,and think of Verb,subject and compliment(object).VSO,VSO...even when it isn't VSO you'll still get a rough idea of sentences.Think in terms of 2 and 3 or even 4 word phrases and not word for word or you'll never understand this wonderful language.Hwyl nawr!

[@BenLlywelyn]

Nice ship analogy.

[@johnnydoe9874]

This was great. I was confused when to use mae, dw I roedd and rydych. Now I have something to start with.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Gwych a diolch!

[@edmundoferreira-rocha7400]

Excellent!

[@BenLlywelyn]

Cheers.

[@jamburga321]

That's nice

[@rocktapperrobin9372]

That’s the clearest introduction I’ve seen the Welsh verb system. Diolch.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Glad it was straightforward for you. Excellent.

[@leegodsar]

Thanks

[@BenLlywelyn]

Many thanks.

[@barbaracross7426]

The info is useful and the text clear The background images flit around and are getting in the way. Can you please just settle on one static image

[@BenLlywelyn]

Thank you. It is a difficult balance between being settled enough for those of your temperment to relax and concentrate on one hand, and keeping imagery moving enough to keep viewer retention up for people who flip between videos if it gets to slow on the other.

[@mikeowen9440]

I found this really helpful in understanding how Welsh ‘works ‘ … is there any kind of follow up dealing with other areas .. questions for example or verb conjugation etc ?

[@BenLlywelyn]

See my video on Cael (to have). That may help. Looking at making more in the future. Diolch.

[@aldozilli1293]

​@@BenLlywelynReally useful for us learners, please do more you're a good teacher

[@caveman__ogof]

S'mae 😊 Nice channel. I've comitted to learning welsh this year. I would love to one day film my KZbin caving videos in welsh. Hwyl

[@BenLlywelyn]

Oh please do. We need more cynnwys (content) of all kinds in Cymraeg.

[@ENGLISHTAINMENT]

YN always means IN. It's just that sometimes it conveys the meaning IN THE ACT OF (OF actually is part of the next word). YN MYND (in the act of going) / YN GLANHAU'R TY (in the act of the cleaning of the house)

[@BenLlywelyn]

I happen to disagree with you there. Yn is not In, in most cases. And only for half of IN (definite as opposed to indefiniye) is Yn In.

[@ENGLISHTAINMENT]

@@BenLlywelyn actually it does in fact mean IN - it does not mean 'particle' - it is a particle, but it doesn't mean 'particle', it means IN. The equivalents of Welsh WRTH (gwrth) to YN are used in the following languages: Scottish Gaelic RI (ri cluich / playing), Breton O (ouzh) (O TONT / coming), Cornish OW / OWTH / ORTH ( O TOS / coming). In addition, The Gaelic languages use A' / AG (at). ag dul (going). This latter A' is now also used in English. (a-going, a-swimming etc) WRTH is also used in Welsh: "wrthi'n lawrlwytho" (using WRTH & YN together)

[@Jenjenilou]

Diolch yn fawr Ben!

[@BenLlywelyn]

Croeso!

[@martinkullberg6718]

Dim parcio dros nos! 🚫🚘🌌 😁 I saw this sentence while I went to wales for vacation a few years back.

[@BenLlywelyn]

It is funny the way random phrases stick with us.

[@shadowdragon569]

Thank you! I started welsh on duolingo and it just started throwing mae in but not a reason for it and I was so confused

[@BenLlywelyn]

Glad I was able to help you. Diolch.

[@LuxDeLune]

Very good advice thanks for sharing. You sound like Joaquin Phoenix and resemble him a little too!

[@BenLlywelyn]

Funny enough, not the 1st comparison to Mr. Phoenix!

[@treespeak2848]

Great video! I am learning Welsh via Duolingo. The program introduces Mae/Ydy/Dydy at the same time and I am struggling to determine when to use one or the other. Could you clarify, please?

[@BenLlywelyn]

If it is introducing a thing's name it is Ydy. If it is a question it is Ydy. But in some cases Mae / Ydy are near the same, almost a nuance, but they are different in presentation. Ydy is more pointing at something. Mae is more what something is or is doing. But Ydy is the answer & question form also. Mae is a statement.

[@treespeak2848]

@@BenLlywelyn Thank you! Is Dydy sort of a negation? Like doesn't/isn't? It seems to be being used like: Dydy Megan ddim yn hoffi... (Megan doesn't like...) but there isn't anything explicit by way of explanation. Welsh is such a wonderful language!

[@phyllisbiram5163]

@@treespeak2848 Dydy is the negative form of ydy. The D at the beginning is a shortening of Nid (=not). In Spoken Welsh one would never say Nid ydy o ddim yn gwenu (=He is not smiling.) You take the d from Nid and just say Dydy o ddim yn gwenu. This is the North Wales way of speaking. In the south Dyw e ddim yn gwenu is heard. Ydy is short for ydyw and in NW this is shortened to ydy and in SW to yw. Ydy or yw in the affirmative and dydy or dyw in the negative. Sometimes you get Tydy o ddim = He is not in the North. Ydy and Dydy can be spelt Ydi and Dydi. Similarly with Tydi. It's dialectal.

[@fredericosampaio6457]

It's interesting , when using" bod", the contrast between 'yn'(inconclusive, continuous, imperfect) and 'wedi'(conclusive, finished aka perfect).I wonder whether a Cymro/Cymraes thinks for 'gwneud' the perfect is implicit and for 'dod', 'mynd' , being both movement verbnouns, the imperfect is implicit, as all of 3 don't require yn/wedi. For habitual/every day activities, english doesn't require a continuous tense. I only learnt that for past tense in welsh people can use 'arfer' to express 'used to' as in english. Is it possible in welsh to say 'dw i'n arfer bwyta bara bob dydd" as i eat bread everyday, Ben?

[@BenLlywelyn]

You could say 'dw i'n arfer... ...pob dydd.' but it sounds a bit wobbly to me. The ' pob dydd' suggests arfer so you only need 1 of them.

[@fredericosampaio6457]

@@BenLlywelyn Gwych! Diolch o galon!

[@phyllisbiram5163]

@@BenLlywelyn Another way of saying what you habitually do is to use the future. For example, Bydda i'n bwyta bara amser te = I eat bread at tea time.

[@astonishing157]

whats crazy is I always think of the word "my" when i hear the word "mae" and and then i think of the word "yn" as the word "to be" so if some one were to say "Mae x yn y" i would think to my self "my x is y"

[@BenLlywelyn]

Once you lock in your head how 'to be' works in Welsh everything makes sense for word order.

[@jackthomas4748]

do colloquial welsh speakers always use the Mae or do they drop it sometimes?

[@BenLlywelyn]

It is highly contextual and not a straight yes or now. Stress would 'often' but not always be on the connecting YN later in the sentence. That form is also used in short bursts of sarcasm suggest - Well why didn't you know what we were talking about?

[@zulkiflijamil4033]

Bore da, Ben. Maen hir ; is this lenition or mutation aspect. Diolch yn fawr. Yes Ben this lesson is very useful even for a fresh beginner like myself.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Maen is not mae'n / mae yn. A word of its own there. You will occasionally see Maenan for a small stone.

[@zulkiflijamil4033]

@@BenLlywelyn Thank you for the clarification..Diolch yn fawr.

[@zulkiflijamil4033]

@@BenLlywelyn Yes, i had just got it using Google Translate, it says maen hir means a long stone.

[@lysfrommarple]

@@BenLlywelyn It is menhir in the Asterix books if that helps, I can remember it because Obelix makes menhirs and obelisk and menhir are the same thing (my European history knowledge basically comes from those comic books)

[@BenLlywelyn]

@@lysfrommarple Just about so.

[@AMOGLES99]

I struggle with the yn preceding some verbs but not others, for example Mae Megan yn hoffi coffi but Mae Megan eisiau coffi, rather than Mae Megan yn eisiau coffi

[@BenLlywelyn]

Eisiau (want) in Welsh is not a verb. It means lack of. So no 'yn' is needed.

[@AMOGLES99]

@@BenLlywelyn thanks, that makes sense. Thank you for clearing this up.

[@Bernaren60]

Mae Ben yn athro da.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Diolch Ceiliog.

[@kernowforester811]

Nearest I can think mae means is 'it be that'. I see a lot of sentences begin with 'mae'. I don't see an equivalent in Cornish.. Bydd in Cornish is bys, as in Kernow bys vyken. From Cornwall.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Yma is used in Cornish as a rough equivilent.

[@kernowforester811]

@@BenLlywelyn Cheers, yes I know the word 'yma', e .g. it is, there is etc, as in yma marth dhymm (I am surprised), should have known that! Use of mae makes sense now.

[@gandolfthorstefn1780]

Mae is a variation of 'bod', to be. Bod is the cornerstone of the Welsh language.Diolch👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@beverleysmith8704]

Diolch un fawr. 👍

[@BenLlywelyn]

Croeso.

[@Knappa22]

Of course when talking about yourself rather than a 3rd person or thing, you need all the variables of Dw i / rydw i / wi / rwyf i / yr ydwyf fi :D

[@sarahthomas9920]

Im confused according to Duolingo women is merch?

[@BenLlywelyn]

Merch is daughter / girl. You will here used for a woman now and then, usually in the plural : merched.

[@frankjoseph4273]

I lost you when I changed computers

[@BenLlywelyn]

Croeso 'nôl. Welcome back.

[@jamestrumpet1]

Mae defnyddiol y video. Or should I say Roedd defnyddiol y video. Diolch yn fawn iawn.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Croeso mawr, diolch James!

[@jamestrumpet1]

@@BenLlywelyn which one was correct? Diolch

[@barnbersonol]

Ces I ddadl gyda rhywun a FYNNAI fod " ma fe ddim" yn gywir. Ond gadawes I iddo fe "ennill" achos ar ddiwedd y dydd ma fe wedi gwneud yr ymdrech I fagu ei blant yn Gymraeg er bod ei wraig yn ddi-Gymraeg.

[@Jamestele1]

Funny how this mimics mathematical thinking. Diolch yn fawr

[@BenLlywelyn]

Funny indeed.

[@sovereignjoe5730]

Llawer o werthfawrogiad

[@BenLlywelyn]

Diolch yn fawr iawn.

[@ENGLISHTAINMENT]

cool. never heard grwndi on its own before, only canu grwndi. learn something new every day. (careful with the vowels - WY in hwyl. roughly HOO-eel - two different vowels. W is a vowel, not a consonant.)