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Brithenig has cases of i-mutation in its history, which cause a to become e, and u to become y. These cases are distinct from the normal letters e and i because they do not cause c and g to become the soft affricate sounds of 'tch' and 'j'. Technically the diminutive suffixes cause these vowels to change, but it is not strictly adhered to in spoken Brithenig. | Brithenig has cases of i-mutation in its history, which cause a to become e, and u to become y. These cases are distinct from the normal letters e and i because they do not cause c and g to become the soft affricate sounds of 'tch' and 'j'. Technically the diminutive suffixes cause these vowels to change, but it is not strictly adhered to in spoken Brithenig. | ||
=== Pronouns === | |||
Pronouns have separate subject and object forms: | |||
{| | |||
|- | |||
| '''eo''', ||''I''; ||'''mi''', ||''me'' | |||
|- | |||
|'''ty''', ||''you''; ||'''ti''', ||''you'' | |||
|- | |||
|'''ys''', ||''he''; ||'''llo''', ||''him'' | |||
|- | |||
|'''sa''', ||''she''; ||'''lla''', ||''her'' | |||
|- | |||
|'''nu''', ||''we''; ||'''nu''', ||''us'' | |||
|- | |||
|'''gw''', ||''you''; ||'''gw''', ||''you'' | |||
|- | |||
|'''ys''', ||''they''; ||'''llo''', ||''them'' | |||
|- | |||
|'''sa''', ||''they''; ||'''lla''', ||''them'' | |||
|} | |||
Brithenig has two ways of saying you: '''ty''', '''thou'<nowiki/>'', and '''gw''', '''you'''. '''Ty''' is singular and used for addressing people that the speaker is familiar with, such as an immediate family member, a close friend, a child, an animal, or god. '''Gw''' is used as a singular when speaking to a stranger or a less familiar or more formal acquaintance. It is also used to address more than one person no matter the familiarity. Pronouns are subject to consonant mutation in the same way other words are. If '''ty''' or '''ti''' is mutated it is always written as '''dy''' to avoid confusion with the preposition '''di''', which has a different pronounciation. '''Fi''', the mutated form of '''mi''', becomes '''<nowiki/>'i''' in the spoken language, especially after consonants. | |||
'''Sa''' is used to mean 'they' when 'they' is exclusively feminine. For 'it' use the form appropriate to the gender of the noun. The impersonal pronoun 'it' is always '''sa''': '''Sa es fel eidd''', ''It is nice today''. | |||
There is a third person reflexive pronoun '''si''', '''himself, themselves (etc.)'<nowiki/>''; it is used as the object case with the indefinite subject, '''yno''', '''one', 'people', 'they''', derived from '''yn of''', ''a man''. | |||
The direct object form of the pronoun have the option of coming before or after a simple verb, but with a compound tense or an infinitive used in the sentence, it can only come after the past participle or the infinitive, to which it may be hyphenated. | |||
'''Mi''', '''ti''' and '''si''' also have special disjunctive forms '''mui''' or '''fui''', '''tui''' or '''dui''' or '''thui''', and '''sui'''. These are used after prepositions, after the conjunction '''ca''', ''than'', or when a sentence uses two pronouns as objects: | |||
:'''Eo widdef tui e llo in ill castr''', ''I saw you and him in town'' | |||
The disjunctive pronouns can also be emphatic, repeating the object pronoun: | |||
:'''Eo dy af tui''', ''I love you!'' | |||
Unlike English, subject pronouns and nouns always go in the order of first person (I, we), second person, (you), and third person (he, she, it, they). The verbusually agrees in number with the nearest subject: | |||
:'''Eo e Badrig gwa a'll castr''', ''Patrick and I are going to town''. | |||
Similar is the use of the third person dative pronoun '''lle''' in place of '''llo''' or '''lla''' after a preposition. By itself it means 'to him, her, it, them' and can come before the simple verb or after it like a direct object pronoun, but with a preposition it can only come after the verb. Possessive pronouns precede the noun. Feminine singular nouns take the soft mutation after possessive pronouns, and plural nouns take the spirant mutation, masculine singular nouns do not mutate after possessive pronouns: | |||
{| | |||
|- | |||
| '''mew''', ||''my'' | |||
|- | |||
|'''tew''', ||''your'' | |||
|- | |||
|'''sew''', ||''his, her, its'' | |||
|- | |||
|'''nustr''', ||''our'' | |||
|- | |||
|'''gwstr''', ||''your'' | |||
|- | |||
|'''sew''', ||''their'' | |||
|} | |||
'''Sew''' may refer to 'his, her, its or their'. To avoid ambiguity the phrase can be followed with the preposition '''di''' and '''llo, lla''' to clarify the meaning. With other pronouns this is used to be an emphatic construction: | |||
:'''mew gas''', ''my house'' | |||
:'''mew gas di fui''', ''MY house'' | |||
The forms 'mine, yours, his (etc)' are translated into Brithenig as 'my one' or 'my ones' (etc): | |||
{| | |||
|- | |||
| '''mew yn, mew hyn''', ||''mine'' | |||
|- | |||
|'''nustr yn, nustr hyn''', ||''ours'' | |||
|- | |||
|'''tew yn, tew hyn''', ||''yours'' | |||
|- | |||
|'''gwstr yn, gwstr hyn''', ||''yours'' | |||
|- | |||
|'''sew yn, sew hyn''', ||''his, hers, its, theirs'' | |||
|} | |||
'''llo, lla''' do not mutate, but other pronouns do. The indirect object is often written with a prepostion such as '''a''', ''to'' where the mutated forms are used: '''Ys dun yn llifr a fui''', ''He gives me (to me) a book''. | |||
This is the usual order in Brithenig. | |||
Brithenig has one case of personal prepositions which are derived from '''cun''', ''with''. Sometimes speakers reinforce the prepositions by prefixing ''cun-'', but the first forms are more common: | |||
{| | |||
|- | |||
| '''meg, cunmeg''', ||''with me'' | |||
|- | |||
|'''nusc, cunnusc''', ||''with us'' | |||
|- | |||
|'''teg, cunneg''', ||''with you'' | |||
|- | |||
|'''gwsc, cungwsc''', ||''with you'' | |||
|- | |||
|'''seg, cunseg''', ||''with him, her, them, it'' | |||
|} | |||
==Vocabulary== | ==Vocabulary== | ||