Medieval Welsh

A Self-Instruction Course created by Heather Rose Jones

Unit: 4h

Verbs that Require Prepositions

We tend to think of the objects of verbs as being just plain nouns (with their modifiers), while prepositional phrases are "extra" -- not essential to the main structure of a sentence.

"I saw him (in the yard)."

But even in English we can find some examples where a particular verb (e.g., "ask") can use a prepositional phrase as one of the principal actors in the sentence.

"I asked him for lunch."

In Welsh, there are a fair number of verbs that require some sort of prepositional phrase either as an essential companion, or as an optional, but central, component of the meaning. When an English verb has two objects (direct and indirect), we have the option of distinguishing them by word order or with a preposition.

"I give the boy a book."
"I give a book to the boy."

But in Welsh, objects are marked or not depending on the meaning, not the word order.

Y roddaf lyfr i'r mab. "I give a book to the boy."
Y roddaf i'r mab lyfr. "I give to the boy a book."

This type of use most often shows up with verbs that involve the transfer of something: giving, taking, etc. The thing that is being transferred is the direct object, while recipients, givers, etc. are marked with prepositions according to their nature just as we learned in lesson F.

Verbs of speaking usually treat the thing that is said as the direct object (i.e., the one left unmarked) and use some preposition to indicate the hearer, even if the thing said is omitted.

A dywedy di imi pwy wyt? "Will you tell to me who you are?"
Dywedaf iti. "I will tell to you." (answer to the above)
Ac ef a eirch y wled. "And he asks [for] the feast."
... i erchi nawdd iddaw. "... to ask [for] protection from him."

There is a whole group of verbs that begin with "ym-" which have a sense of reciprocal or reflexive action (i.e., people doing things to each other or someone doing things to himself). These virtually always appear with a(c) (same as the conjunction) indicating the other participant.

... ymddiddan a hi "... conversing with her"
... ymgolli a'i gydymdeithon "losing his companions"
Nyd ymddialwyf a thi. "I will not avenge [myself] on you."

But while there are some general areas where you can expect to find prepositions used closely with verbs, as seen above, sometimes you simply have to learn a particular idiom. For example, the verb "edrych" (to see, look) almost always indicates the thing being seen with the preposition "ar" ("on" -- if it helps, think of the English idiom "to look (up)on"). The verb "gwisgaw" (to dress, put something on) always appears with the preposition "am" (around, about) referring back to the "dresser".

ac edrych ar Gernyw ac ar Aberhenvelen "and looking at Cornwall and at Aberhenvelen"
... gwisgaw eurwisg amdanaw "... putting a gold-garment about him[self]"

Here are some verbs that are used closely with prepositions. The verbal stem is given in the second column:

cytsynnyaw (ar)	v	cytsynny-	to agree (on [something])
cyvarchi (i)	v	cyvarch-	to greet [someone]
duunaw (ac)	v	duun-	to agree (with [someone])
dywedud (wrth)	v	dywed-	to say (to [someone])
govynnu (i)	v	govynn-	to ask (of [someone])
gwared (y ar)	v	gwared	to remove (from [someone])
gwisgaw (am)	v	gwisg-	to dress (around [someone])
holi (i)	v	holi-	to demand (of [someone])
ryvelu (ar)	v	ryvel-	to make war (on [someone])
synnyaw (wrth)	v	synny-	to look (after [someone/thing])
ymavael (ac)	v	ymavael-	to seize (onto [something])
ymbilio (ac)	v	ymbil-	to beseech (of [someone])
ymddial (ac)	v	ymddial	to take revenge (on [someone])
ymddiddanu (ac)	v	ymddiddan-	to converse (with [someone])
ymgolli (ac)	v	ymgoll-	to lose [something]
ymovynnu (ac)	v	ymovynn-	to inquire (of [someone])

Exercise

**need to make up exericises with translations for this**

Key to the Exercise

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