Week 78 - Main grammatical points

It's no surprise that Jac's feeling low and depressed - or in Welsh, 'digalon'. The word "digalon" is a compound word made up of 2 elements. The first element is the prefix "di-" which often has a negative meaning when used in front of words much like the English prefixes "un-" or "in-".
The second element is the word "calon" which means heart. So you could translate "digalon" as meaning "no heart". There are lots of words whose meanings change once the prefix "di-" is placed in front of them - but note that in compound words the second element usually takes a soft mutation. Here are some similar examples:

Di + priod (married) becomes - dibriod (unmarried)
Di + profiad (experience) become - dibrofiad (inexperienced)
Di + tâl (pay) becomes - di-dâl (unpaid)

Of course, if the second element starts with a vowel, there is nothing to mutate, so:

Di + euog remains as di-euog which means innocent or not guilty
Di + enw remains as di-enw which means anonymous, nameless

You might have noticed that the words 'nôl' or 'yn ôl' seem to crop up a lot. That's because they have a variety of meanings:

Firstly yn ôl can mean "back" or "backwards"
So to say "come back" in SW is:
Dere nôl
And in North Wales
Tyrd nôl

Brian says that he wants Agnes "yn ôl" - he wants Agnes back. He says:

Dw i isho Agnes yn ôl

"Nôl" can also be used as a verb, meaning to fetch

Rhaid i mi nôl Rhodri o'r ysgol
I have to fetch Rhodri from school

"Yn ôl" can also mean "ago"

Blwyddyn yn ôl
A year ago

Oriau yn ôl
Hours ago

And finally, "yn ôl" can also mean "according to"

Yn ôl Brian
According to Brian

Yes - a lot of meanings for such a short word!

In English you go "on holiday" - gwyliau. But in Welsh you can't translate to go "on holiday" literally as "mynd ar wyliau" - you must remember to go on your holiday or our holiday, or my holiday... Listen to how to how to say that you're going "on holiday" in Welsh:

Dw i'n mynd ar fy ngwyliau
I'm going on holiday

Rwyt ti'n mynd ar dy wyliau
You're going on holiday

Mae'n mynd ar ei wyliau
He's going on holiday

And so on....