Learn Late Cornish Bit by Bit 35 (More about This and That)

More about This and That  

For this … or these … we use an + noun + ma.

For that … or those … we use an + noun + na. The noun may be singular or plural, e.g.:

an kei ma                          this dog

an gath na                        that cat

an düs ma                        these men, these people

an flehes na                     those children

Optionally, the ma and na may be hyphenated to a noun, but that is not essential.

an chei-ma                        this house

an for’-na[1]                      that road

an meyn-ma                      these stones

an benenes-na                  those women

If we use any of these with ew, the descriptive form of boas to be, the rest of the sentence may be an adjective, occupation, etc. You have a choice of how you start your sentence; put the most important thing first. It can also depend on what question was asked. e.g.:

Piw ew coth?                    Who is old?

An den na ew coth.          That man is old.

Fatel ew an venyn ma?  How is this woman? What is this woman like?

Yonk ew an venyn ma.   This woman is young.

An kei na ew drog, bes an kei ma ew da.

                                     That dog is bad, but this dog is good.

Teg ew an flehes ma, saw hager ew an benenes na.

                                     These children are beautiful but those women are ugly.

An den na ew tiek.          That man is a farmer.

An venyn ma ew coges. This woman is a cook.

An maw ma ew o mab.   This boy is my son.

If we use them with any other verb we have less choice of word order, e.g.:

An den coth ma a waras rugby.  This old man played rugby.

An venyn yonk na a gerdhas[2] war an treth.    

                                                        That young woman walked on the beach.

Ma’n kei bian na o ponya gen flogh.   

                                                       That little dog is running with a child.

Ma’n meyn ma o codha.               These stones are falling.

Ma’n den na o toas.                      That man is coming.

Ma’n venyn ma o tebry keus.      This woman is eating cheese.

For this (one) or these (ones) used as pronouns you still have the ending ma. For that (one) or those (ones) used as pronouns (not combined with nouns) you still have the ending na. In the singular, but not in the plural, there is a difference between masculine and feminine:

hedna                                       that (m)

hodna                                       that (f)

an re na                                    those

hebma                                      this (m)

hobma                                      this (f)

an re ma                                   these

Hedna ew den coth.                That is an old man.

Hodna ew benyn yonk.           That is a young woman.

An re na ew y flehes.              Those are his children.

Hebma ew kei.                         This is a dog.

Hobma ew cath du[3].            This is a black cat.

An re ma ew tüs da.                These are good men.

Matthew 3:17

... “O mab Meurgerys ew hebma…”

                                            …"This is my Beloved Son…”

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[1] for’ is pronounced [vor], may also be spelt <vorr> in Late Cornish. SWFM< fordh>

[2]  In RLC this is pronounced [gerraz] with silent dh. Double rr  means e in the first syllable is short.

[3] Usually adjectives soften after female nouns, except when the noun finishes with th, ss or s.