Breton -- quick questions for Zviezda

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ceid donn
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Breton -- quick questions for Zviezda

Postby ceid donn » 2015-10-28, 1:45

Hi, Zviezda, if you're around, I have some quick questions (please be patient with me, I haven't written any Breton for several months :oops: ):

1) Regarding adverbs, can you make any adjective into an adverb using e as a prefix? Like end-onest for "honestly/honnêtement"?

2) And I hope these sentences make sense:

N'em eus ket dispignet arc'hant nʼeus forzh hiziv.
I didn't spend any money at all today.

(Also, is there difference between n'em eus, ne'm eus and ne m'eus?)

Gwiskañ a vez lunedoù met n'emañ ket o wiskañ int bremañ.
He wears glasses but he is not wearing them right now.

Am I using the habitual tense correctly here?

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Zviezda
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Re: Breton -- quick questions for Zviezda

Postby Zviezda » 2015-10-28, 13:56

Salud deoc'h! :)

1) Regarding adverbs, can you make any adjective into an adverb using e as a prefix? Like end-onest for "honestly/honnêtement"?


No, actually I can't think of any adverb that would be formed like that in natural Breton. I think there were a few examples in Medieval Breton, and learners now use that prefix very often, to translate easily the French adverbs. Normally, in native Breton you use the adjective as an adverb, or you say "ba ur feson" (in a way...) + your adjective...

2) And I hope these sentences make sense:

N'em eus ket dispignet arc'hant nʼeus forzh hiziv.
I didn't spend any money at all today.


n'eus forzh means "it doesn't matter".
Your sentence would be "Ne'm eus ket dispignet tamm arc'hant ebet hiziv".

(Also, is there difference between n'em eus, ne'm eus and ne m'eus?)


ne m'eus is wrong. In written Breton, some write "n'em eus" but historically, the right spelling is "ne'm eus", since "em" is composed of the particle "e" + 'm eus. When you say "ne'm eus", the first "e" is a part of the negative particle "ne", it isn't the particle "e", since you don't use the particles "ne" and "e" at the same time :)

Gwiskañ a vez lunedoù met n'emañ ket o wiskañ int bremañ.
He wears glasses but he is not wearing them right now.


I wouldn't use "gwiskañ" to talk about glasses, you rather use it to say "to put...on". "To wear" is rather the verb "to be" plus "gant" ("a shirt is with me").
So I would say: Lunedoù en deus met n'emaint ket gantañ bremañ" (he has glasses but they aren't with him now).

ceid donn
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Re: Breton -- quick questions for Zviezda

Postby ceid donn » 2015-10-28, 17:22

No, actually I can't think of any adverb that would be formed like that in natural Breton. I think there were a few examples in Medieval Breton, and learners now use that prefix very often, to translate easily the French adverbs. Normally, in native Breton you use the adjective as an adverb, or you say "ba ur feson" (in a way...) + your adjective...


OK, that is very helpful. None of my books really appear to address this, and the stuff about the prefix I found in an older text on Google doc. :?

n'eus forzh means "it doesn't matter".
Your sentence would be "Ne'm eus ket dispignet tamm arc'hant ebet hiziv".


OK. Yeah, I was pretty sure that "n'eus forzh" wan't correct there, but the Glosbe online dictionary gave "at all" for its English translation. Then again Glosbe is not terribly reliable.

I wouldn't use "gwiskañ" to talk about glasses, you rather use it to say "to put...on". "To wear" is rather the verb "to be" plus "gant" ("a shirt is with me").
So I would say: Lunedoù en deus met n'emaint ket gantañ bremañ" (he has glasses but they aren't with him now).


OK, that makes sense.

Thank you! :)


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