At Home With Cornish 23

So far you can say what you like (or hate doing) and what you would like to do. 

But how will you answer if someone asks you what you ARE doing? 

Pandr'esta ow kil?         What are you doing? 

 

This question uses "pandra (what) again, but for this question we have a different way of saying is or are. 


And when we are talking about an activity (or position) we also have a different way of saying "I am". 

Thera vy ...  I am ... 

 

We have looked at some of the activities you like doing,  

e.g. redya (reading) 

Da ew genam redya.     I like reading. 

 

Now we have to use a special linking word “ow” 

to join “I am” to the activity. 


Thera vy ow càna.          I am singing.

Thera vy ow kerdhes.    I am walking.

Thera vy ow lebmel.      I am jumping.           

Thera vy ow liwya.         I am painting.

Thera vy ow marhoga.   I am riding. 

Thera vy ow neyja.         I am swimming.

Thera vy ow pònya.        I am running.

Thera vy ow redya.         I am reading. 

Thera vy ow scrifa.         I am writing.

Thera vy ow slynkya.      I am sliding.

Thera vy ow tedna.         I am drawing.

 

This is where you discover that some Cornish words are magical shape-shifters, 

and the spell causing that shift is that little linking word "ow", e.g. d goes to t, g goes to k, gw goes to qw.

(This is called "mutation".)

Some of these will be more use to you than others.

 

debry becomes ow tebry

diwrosa becomes ow tiwrosa

donsya becomes ow tonsya

 

Thera vy ow tebry.             I am eating.

Thera vy ow tebry tesen.   I am eating (a) cake.

Thera vy ow tiwrosa.         I am cycling.

Thera vy ow tonsya.          I am dancing.

Thera vy ow tos.                I am coming.

 

We will learn other shape-shifts as we go along.

 

Here's a useful verb: gwary to play, playing

 

Da ew genam gwary pel droos.  I like playing football.

My venja gwary pel droos.          I'd like to play football.

But

Thera vy ow qwary pel droos.     I am playing football.

 

And some games need more than one person.

Pandr'ero whei ow kil?         What are you doing? (plural)

Answered by:

Thera nei ow qwary …           We are playing …

 

Thera nei ow qwary tennis.

Thera nei ow qwary pel roos.

Thera nei ow qwary gwydhbol.

Thera nei ow qwary pel droos.

 

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