Breton/Level 2/Lesson 3

The Present Tense, Continuous Tense & Situation Tense Irregular verb - "To be" / "Bezañ" Personal form & impersonal form The Present Tense and the Continuous Tense have two forms : the personal form and the impersonal form. These two forms allow to insist upon either the subject (impersonal form) or the complement, the attribute, the object (personal form). For example : The english sentence "I am wise" may be translated in two ways : Me a zo fur (impersonal form) to insist upon the subject (Me). Since the subject already gives the notion of person, it is useless to give a personal form to the verb. Therefore the verb is invariant (here : a zo) and this form is called the impersonal form. Fur ez on (personal form) to insist upon the attribute (Fur). Here the verb varies according to the person since the notion of person is not present otherwise. Continuous Tense The Continuous Tense is used for repetitive or continued actions. If we take the same example : Fur ez vezan means "I am usually wise". When translating from Breton to English allow your native language instinct to sort out in which case the simple present (I speak Breton) or the present continuous (I am speaking Breton) is more appropriate and idiomatic. Situation Tense The Situation Tense is used to indicate the place (in space or time) where the subject is or, in a wider meaning, its position (social, etc.). Example : Er skol emaon means "I am at school". Impersonal passive This mode is used when the subject is not known or not precisely defined. In English, this would often be translated by "they". For instance, "e oar" would give "they are". Table + Verb Bezañ (To be) - Present Present TensePersonal form Present TenseImpersonal form Continuous TensePersonal form Continuous TenseImpersonal form Situation Tense English meaning ez onme a zo e vezan me a vez emaonI amez outte a zo e vezez te a vez emaoutYou are (sg.)ez eoeñ a zo e vez eñ a vez emañHe isez eohi a zo e vez hi a vez emañShe isez ompni a zo e vezomp ni a vez emaompWe areez oc'hc'hwi a zo e vezit c'hwi a vez emaoc'hYou are (pl.)ez int int a zo e vezont int a vez emaintThey areoar, eur e vezer emeurImpersonal passive Regular verb - "To write" / "Skrivañ" Personal form & impersonal form The Present Tense and the Continuous Tense have two forms : the personal form and the impersonal form. These two forms allow to insist upon either the subject (impersonal form) or the complement, the attribute, the object (personal form). Auxiliary form A verb can also be used with an auxiliary (most often the verb Ober to do) to insist upon the action itself. For instance, skrivañ a ran ul levr (I write a letter) will be used to insist upon the verb skrivañ (to write). Table + Regular Verb Skrivañ (To write) - Present Present TensePersonal form Present TenseImpersonal form With auxiliaryPersonal form English meaning ul levr a skrivanme a skriv ul levr skrivañ a ran ul levrI write a bookul levr a skrivezte a skriv ul levr skrivañ a rez ul levrYou write a book (sg.)ul levr a skriveñ a skriv ul levr skrivañ a ra ul levrHe writes a bookul levr a skrivhi a skriv ul levr skrivañ a ra ul levrShe writes a bookul levr a skrivompni a skriv ul levr skrivañ a reomp ul levrWe write a bookul levr a skrivitc'hwi a skriv ul levr skrivañ a rit ul levrYou write a book (pl.)ul levr a skrivont int a skriv ul levr skrivañ a reont ul levrThey write a book ul levr a skriver skrivañ a reer ul levrImpersonal passive Image:01 Skriv.ogg Progressive Form To create the progressive form, add the continuous particle o (H!). Careful it causes hard mutation: (H!) Hard Mutation Following letters are affected: B becomes P D becomes T G becomes K Here are some verbal nouns: kaozeal speak/ing komz chat/ting, speak/ing skrivañ write/ing ober work/ing chom dwell/ing gwerzhañ sell/ing mond go/ing kemer take/ing degemer receive/ing deskiñ learn/ing kas;daveiñ send/ing Now all you need to do is put them together following this pattern: {present of bezañ} + {o (H!)} + {verbal noun} ez on o kaozeal Brezhoneg. I speak Breton./I am speaking Breton. ez on o skriva ul lizer. You (sg.) write a letter./You are writing a letter. emañ eñ o teskiñ Kembraeg. He learns Welsh./He is learning Welsh. Caution : The progressive form may not always be translated by the construction "o" + (verbal noun). In some cases, other constructions are more appropriate : 1/ To mark intention : Dre + (verbal noun) Dre lenn kalz a levriou mad e teui eur maout war ar yez.By reading lots of good books, will you become a "champion" in Breton language. Dre soubañ va biz enni am-bije merzet ne oa ket evid beza lonket ken buan ha tra.By dipping my finger in the soup, I would have understood that I had to wait before eating it. 2/ Unexpected result : En eur + (verbal noun) En eur lenn al levr-se am-eus merket e oa an oberour eun den a-zoare.When reading this book, I noticed that the writer was a good man. En eur lonka va soubenn am-eus merket e oa tomm bero.When eating my soup, I noticed that the soup was boiling hot. 3/ Evolution : Mont war + (verbal noun) / To go toward + verbal noun In the following sentences, this yields : war (verbal noun) ez a ... war = toward ez a = goes War gresk ez a ar prizioù.Prices are increasing. War fallaad ez a en amzer.The weather is getting worse. Negations Since you want to be able to make negative statements as well as ask questions, here’s what you need to do: Take the long present tense of bezañ (to be) and replace the particle ez with ne (or ned or n before a vowel) and add ket after the verb in order to make a negative statement:ez on I amned on ket I am not or n'on ket n'out ket you (sg.) are not The 3rd person singular in negative statements has two special verb forms:n'eus ket ... there is not ...n'eo ket ... he (she) is not ...ar c'hi n'eo ket ... the dog is not ...ar vugale n'int ket ... the children are not ...n'omp ket we are notn'oc'h ket “you (pl.) are notn'int ket they are not Now put the sentences together according to the template given above:N'on ket o komz Brezhoneg. I don’t speak Breton./I am not speaking Breton.N'out ket o skrivañ ul lizer. You (sg.) don’t write a letter./You are not writing a letter.N'eo ket o teskiñ Kembraeg. He is not learning Welsh. Questions To formulate a question simply use the affirmation form :ez on? am I?ez out? are you (sg.)?ez eus? is there?ez eo? is he?ez eo? is she?ez eo ar c'hi? is the dog?ez omp? are we?ez oc'h? are you (pl.)?ez int? are they?ez int ar vugale? are the children?Ez on o komz Brezhoneg? Do I speak Breton?/Am I speaking Breton? Sometimes, a question will be preceded by "Ha" (And) or even, when insisting, by "Daoust ha" (equivalent to "Is is true that ..."). Ha is replaced by Hag before a vowel.Hag ez out o skrivañ ul lizer? Do you write a letter?/Are you writing a letter?Daoust hag ez eo o teskiñ Kembraeg? Does he learn Welsh?/ Is he learning Welsh? To ask a negative question use the same principles:Ha n'on ket o komz Brezhoneg? Don’t I speak Breton?/Am I not speaking Breton?Ha n'out ket o skrivañ ul lizer? Don’t you write a letter?/Are you not writing a letter?Ha n'eo ket o teskiñ Kembraeg?''' Doesn’t he learn Welsh?/ Is he not learning Welsh?Exercises/Ober Self training Listen to the following dialogs which shows : Imperative form Auxiliary form Progressive form File:Diviz.ogv Let's continue Now you have seen how its done. Take the verbs from Level 2 and write them down if you haven't already. Now change them into their Present tense. Now underneath, make some sentences up for each verb. EG. Me a zesk kembraeg er skol'' (I learn Welsh in school). Quiz Go to the Quiz deep