Monday 12 January 2015

Learn Late Cornish Bit by Bit 30 (Possessive Adjectives 4)

Possessive adjectives 4

The proper possessive adjectives for your and their are dha and aga, and they go before the noun, e.g.:

dha aval                               your apple
dha lever                              your book
aga chei                               their house
aga broder                           their brother

However, dha your behaves like y his and causes a soft mutation[1] of the initial letters of some nouns, e.g.

cath                                      a cat
dha gath                               your cat

cota                                      a coat
dha gota                               your coat

pocket                                   a pocket
dha bocket                            your pocket

dama                                    a mother
dha dhama                           your mother

And, aga their behaves like o my and hy her and causes a spirant (breathed) mutation of the initial letters of some nouns, e.g.:

cathes                                   cats
aga hathes                            their cats

cotys                                     coats
aga hotys                              their coats

puskes                                  fish
aga fuskes                            their fish

tesednow                             cakes
aga thesednow                    their cakes

qweth                                    cloth
aga  wheth                            their cloth

Putting some of these into sentences:

Ma mona luck en dha bocket.        There is enough money in your pocket.
Dha gath a dhabras aga fuskes.    Your cat ate their fish.
Plos ew aga hotys.                         Their coats are dirty.
Coth ew aga thesednow.               Their cakes are old.

You can even add personal pronouns for extra emphasis.:

Ma mona luck en dha bocket che.      There is enough money in your pocket.
Dha gath che a dhabras aga fuskes Your cat ate their fish.
Plos ew aga hotys anjei.                      Their coats are dirty.
Coth ew aga thesednow anjei.            Their cakes are old.



[1] See Table E for a full list of letters that mutate. 

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