At Home With Cornish

In the last lesson we saw that some feminine words show a change of initial letter after " an " (or 'n ) meaning " the ". < k > and < c > change to < g > < gw > changes to < w > Other changes you may have spotted before were < d > changes to < dh > < m > changes to < v > < t > changes to < d > Here are some more examples showing a soft mutation, including some extra new ones:   Ma c asek gen ebol. There is a mare with a foal.   Ma 'n g asek gen ebol. The mare is with a foal.   Ma gw enenen reb cawel. There is a bee by a hive.   Ma 'n w enenen reb cawel. The bee is by a hive. Ma d iwros war resegva. There is a bicycle on a track. Ma 'n dh iwros war an resegva. The bicycle is on the track. Ma m os ow towlel p ellen ergh. A girl is throwing a snowball. Ma 'n ...

You may have noticed a difference between some pairs of sentences in the last lesson, e.g. Ma bord en kegin. There's a table in a kitchen. Ma'n bord e' n gegin. The table is in the kitchen. Ma kei reb gwedhen. There is a dog by a tree. Ma'n kei reb an wedhen . The dog is by the tree. The < k > in kegin has changed to < g > and the < gw > in gwedhen has changed to < w >. These shape shifts are called "mutations" and they happen to some words when we use < an > (the definite article, "the" in English). Cornish (like French) has nouns (naming words) that can be "masculine" or "feminine". The changes you have seen have all been in feminine words. before mutation after mutation gw edhen a tree an w edhen the tree k eg...

We have looked at lots of things and some places.  We have said where some things are, but how do you ASK where things are?  The question to use is Pe le ma …? Where is …? Where are …? (Where is/are there …?) You may need to use the definite article an (English the ) Pe le ma an …? can be shortened to Pe le ma'n …? Pe le ma'n …? Where is the …? Where are the …? e.g. Pe le ma bord? Where is there a table? Pe le ma'n bord? Where is the table? Pe le ma'n oyow? Where are the eggs? We have already used one word that shows a position: en in and e'n in the Ma bord en kegin.    There's a table in a kitchen. Ma bord e'n gegin.    There's a table in the  kitchen. Ma'n bord e'n gegin. The table is in the kitchen. Ma oyow en basket.       There are eggs in a basket. Ma oyow e'n basket.      There are eggs in the   basket.  Ma'n oyow e'n basket.  The eggs are in the basket...

Can you find your way around a room? Let's look at the types of furniture you might find,  and where you might find them. BORD CHAYR CADOR VREHEK SCAVEL SCAVEL CRONEK LOVEN VORN COPART GWILY Here is a list of parts of a house: besfry entrance hall chombour bedroom esedhva sitting room kegin kitchen ( the kitchen is an gegin ) lowarth garden rom gòlhy bathroom stevel dhebry dining room Can you put a bit of furniture in the right room? We use the word " Ma " to mean "There is" and " en " to mean " in" ( e'n means in the ) e.g. Ma scavel cronek e'n lowarth. There's a toadstool in the garden. Ma … e'n gegin. Ma … e'n esedhva. Ma … en besfry. Ma … en rom gòlhy. Ma … e'n stevel dhebry. Ma … en chombou...