Wednesday 25 February 2015

Learn Late Cornish Bit by Bit 52 (A Bit About Wanting Things)

A Bit About Wanting Things

To say you want something or would like something you can use a modal or auxiliary (helper) verb.

mednes[1]                                           will, to wish, to want

When used with a verbal particle the initial m mutates to v, even though the particle may not be written or spoken in Late Cornish. To show that a particle has been missed out you can write an apostrophe.
In the present tense the following forms are used:

me a vedn}                                       I will, I wish, I want
me vedn}
  
   In RMC, when the personal pronoun is written after the verb[2] it causes changes to the ending in the first and second persons. The RLC spelling is simplified[3].

[4]vydna’ vy?                                  will I?
na vydnavy                                      I will not, I do not wish, I do not want

In RLC the affirmative just uses a monoform (actually the third person singular) with all the pronouns, nouns and names.
You can choose whether to use the verbal particle or the apostrophe when you write it[5] – whatever you think sounds better when you say it, e.g.:

me a vedn, me vedn                      I will, I wish, I want
che a vedn, che vedn                    you will, you wish, you want (familiar)
ev a vedn, e’ vedn                          he will, he wishes, he wants
hei a vedn, hei vedn                      she will, she wishes, she wants
nei a vedn, nei vedn                      we will, we wish, we want
whei a vedn, whei vedn                you will, you wish,
                                                         you want (formal and plural)
anjei a vedn, anjei vedn                they will, they wish, they want
an flogh vedn                                  the child will, the child wishes,
                                                        the child wants
 flehes vedn                                     children will, children wish, children want
Jowan vedn                                     John will, John wishes, John wants

And this modal verb can be used with an object or with an action (verb), e.g.:

Me a vedn tabm moy.                    I want a bit more. (object)
Ev a vedn kens caretys.               He prefers carrots. (object) lit.
                                                         He wants first carrots.
Hei vedn mos tre.                           She wants to go home. (verb)
Nei a vedn dos gena whei.            We will come with you. (verb)
termyn a vedn dos                         a time that will come (verb) i.e. the future

As you can see vedn can be used to indicate the future or volition or both (there is not universal agreement on which is more correct!). In terms of wanting, a milder version of mednes can be used (the conditional). Again we use the monoform (third person singular)
a venja or venja.

This can also be used as the past tense for mednes.

me a venja                                        I would like, I wanted
che a venja                                       you would like, you wanted (familiar)
ev a venja                                         he would like, he wanted
hei a venja                                        she would like, she wanted
nei a venja                                        we would like, we wanted
whei a venja                                    you would like, you wanted (formal or plural)
anjei a venja                                     they would like, they wanted
Me a venja bolla’de.                        I’d like a cup of tea.  
Hei a venja kens gwin.                  She would prefer wine.
                                                         She would like first wine.
Jowan na venja servya na fella[6].John didn’t want to serve any further.       






[1] RMC mynnes
[2] called the “personal” form
[3] This will be covered more fully in a later lesson
[4] RMC a vynnav vy?  In RLC this can also be written vadna vy
[5] For the moment I shall continue to use the particle in these lessons, but the alternative is not wrong. 
[6] spirant mutation of pella further to fella after na – but pronounced [velha] in RLC

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