We
learnt how to say what we did at Christmas using the simple past tense
(preterite). Now we are going to look at another past tense called the compound
preterite. This uses the preterite of the verb to do/make as an auxiliary verb together with the infinitive/verbal
noun of the verb you wish to use.
It
sounds complicated but it is easy to do. (The reason why we do this is so that
we can ask questions and make negative statements.)
The
verb to do/make is gwil
or gül
(they have the same vowel sound though the SWF spelling is different).
I did is me a
wrüg (pronounced [reeg] or [rig])
So,
instead of
Rag Pask
me a dhabras oyow. For Easter I ate eggs.
We
can say
Rag Pask
me a wrüg debry oyow. For Easter I did eat eggs.
Similarly:
Rag Pask
me a evas (I
drank)…
can
be
Rag Pask
me a wrüg eva…
Rag Pask
me a gemeras (I
got)…
can
be
Rag Pask
me a wrüg kemeres…
Rag Pask
me a recevas (I
received)…
can
be
Rag Pask
me a wrüg receva…
Rag Pask
me a dhegemeras (I
received)…
can
be
Rag Pask
me a wrüg degemeres…
Rag Pask
me a fanjas (I
received)…
can
be
Rag Pask
me a wrüg fanja…
Òja Pask (after Easter) me a bernas (I bought) oyow
moy (more eggs).
can
be
Òja Pask
me a wrüg perna oyow moy.
Me a
spendyas (I
spent)…
can
be
Me a wrüg spendya…
The
beauty of using <wrüg> is that you don’t have to worry about mutations or
irregular verbs! (Though it should be used sparingly.)
Here
are some alternatives:
|
I went
|
me
eth
|
me
a wrüg moas
|
|
I came
|
me
a wrüg doas
|
|
|
I stayed
|
me
a wòrtas
|
me
a wrüg gòrtos
|
|
I gave
|
me
a ros
|
me
a wrüg rei
|
|
I brought
|
me
a dhros
|
me
a wrüg drei
|
|
I played
|
me
a warias
|
me
a wrüg gwary
|
|
I saw
|
me
a welas
|
me
a wrüg gweles
|
[1] In Late Cornish, dheuth
has the same vowel sound as eth, even though the SWF spelling
is different.
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