We recently learnt that ers means since or for. This week we hear the terms:

"Ers meitin"/"ers talwm", which both mean "for a while" or "for ages"

But note the differences between them.

"Ers meitin" means for ages when you're referring to the same day.

"Ers talwm" means for ages when you're referring to any time in the past which is longer than a day ago.

Here are 2 scenarios to help you:

At 9am Sioned tells Mair that she's going shopping but won't be long. By 2pm Sioned is still not back from the shops and Mair hasn't seen her since. So Mair could say:

Dw i ddim wedi gweld Sioned ers meitin
I haven't seen Sioned for ages

Gruffydd goes travelling round the world for a year. He leaves in January. So by June, his best friends could say:

Dydyn ni ddim wedi gweld Gruffydd ers talwm.
We haven't seen Gruffydd for ages.

You might also hear the form ers sbel - for a spell of time. And you could use this for the meaning of ers meitin as well as ers talwm.

You might have noticed already, but we just love mutating in Welsh! In fact we love it so much that we even bother with loan words which begin with 'ch', like checio (to check) which we would mutate to jecio.

We hear Chris saying:

Chi moyn i mi jecio ble mae fe?
Do you want me to check where he is?

He's felt the need to mutate after the preposition 'i' of course, even though he needn't really have bothered!!

Another example might be chargo (to charge)

Ga'i jargio fy ffon yma?
Can I charge my phone here?

If you find yourselves mutating the sound 'ch' naturally, you'll know you've cracked mutations at last!!

You've probably heard the English expressions 'funny peculiar' and 'funny ha-ha' when people try to clarify what funny means. Well, in Welsh we have different words to clarify which funny we mean:

"Rhyfedd" means funny peculiar
and
"Doniol" means funny ha-ha.

Dyna ryfedd!
That's funny! Or That's odd!

but

Mae jôcs Elwyn mor ddoniol
Elwyn's jokes are so funny.

Look out for the word 'digri' - it also means funny ha-ha.

Gender is very important in Welsh as it can change the meaning of a word. Remember that gwaith when it means work is a masculine noun:

Es i i'r gwaith bore 'ma

But gwaith when it means time is feminine:

Es i i'r gwaith ddwy waith wythnos diwethaf.