At Home With Cornish 35

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
gwedhen	a tree	an wedhen	the tree
kegin	a kitchen	an gegin	the kitchen

Here are some other feminine words from earlier lessons, that with the same sounding letters:

cador vrehek armchair

cath cat

cowas shower

gwedren drinking glass

gwreg wife

kewer weather

kibel bath tub

They behave in the same way.

before mutation		after mutation
cador	a chair	an gador	the chair
cath	a cat	an gath	the cat
cowas	a shower	an gowas	the shower
gwedren	a glass	an wedren	the glass
gwreg	a wife	an wreg	the wife
kewer	weather	an gewer	the weather
kibel	bath tub	an gibel	the bath tub

Here are some other feminine words from previous lessons. The first set do NOT change after "an":

an henvam the granny

an hôr the sister

an logojen the mouse

an rosen the rose

an stevel the room

But here are the extra ones that DO mutate:

before mutation		after mutation
davas	a sheep	an dhavas	the sheep
mabm	a mother	an vabm	the mother
mergh	a daughter	an vergh	the daughter
metêrnes	a queen	an vetêrnes	the queen
modrep	an aunt	an vodrep	the aunt
mos	a girl	an vos	the girl
tesen	a cake	an desen	the cake

We could say:

Pe le ma'n desen? Where is the cake? Ma'n desen e'n vorn. The cake is in the oven.	Pe le ma'n gath? Where is the cat? Ma'n gath e'n gador vrehek.  The cat is in the armchair.
Pe le ma'n wedren a leth? Where is the glass of milk? Ma'n wedren war an bord. The glass is on the table.	Pe le ma'n dhavas? Where is the sheep? Ma'n dhavas en pras glas.  The sheep is in a green field.
Pe le ma'n vabm? Where is the mother? Ma'n vabm war an loven. The mother is on the sofa.	Pe le ma'n vos? Where is the girl? Ma'n vos reb margh. The girl is by a horse.
Pe le ma'n flehes? Where are the children? Ma'n flehes e'n gibel. The children are in the bath tub.	Pe le ma'n Vetêrnes Rüdh? Where is the Red Queen? Ma'n Vetêrnes Rüdh reb Alys. The Red Queen is by Alice.

I will explain more about mutations next time.