Worksheet 12 for use with Skeul an Tavas Lesson 14
© Ray Chubb and Ian Jackson
2nd edition July 2020
This exercise appears on page 64 of the coursebook Skeul an Tavas © 2010 Ray Chubb. Here the language has been adapted. Translate into Cornish in your exercise book, writing on every other line.
Friend
Hello John, how are you?
John
I’m fine. We took a summer holiday in Brittany.
Friend
Did you fly?
(= Did you go in a plane?)
John
No, we went by sea.
(= No, we went over the sea.)
Friend
What was the food like?
John
Oh, very good. We drank good wine and ate good food.
Friend
What did you eat?
John
Oh, we ate French bread and mussels and French cheese and beef.
Friend
Did Morwena enjoy the holiday?
(= Was the summer good with Morwena?)
John
Yes, she danced every night, that was Breton dancing.
Friend
I have never done Breton dancing. Is it difficult?
John
No, it’s not difficult but each dance is long.
Friend
I don’t dance well.
John
I didn’t dance well before, but I dance well after Brittany!
New vocabulary
jyn neyja masculine plane
boos masculine food
gwin masculine wine
bara masculine bread
Frynkek French
meskel collective mussels
kig bowyn beef (we don’t say ‘kig buwgh’)
Bretonek Breton adjective
bythqweth ever (referring to the past: use it with a negative verb to mean ‘never’)
dauns masculine dance
hir long
KEY TO WORKSHEET 12
Cothman
Dëdh dâ Jowan, fatla genes?
Jowan
Dâ lowr ov. Ny a wrug kemeres degolyow hâv in Breten Vian.
Cothman
A wrussowgh mos in jyn neyja?
Jowan
Na wrussyn, ny a wrug mos dres an mor.
Cothman
Fatell o an boos?
Jowan
Ogh, pòr dhâ. Ny a wrug eva gwin dâ ha debry boos dâ.
Cothman
Pëth a wrussowgh debry?
Jowan
Ogh, ny a wrug debry bara Frynkek ha meskel ha keus Frynkek ha kig bowyn.
Cothman
O an hâv dâ gans Morwena?
Jowan
O, hy a wrug dauncya pùb nos, hèn o dauncya Bretonek.
Cothman
Ny wrug vy dauncya Bretonek bythqweth. Yw cales?
Jowan
Nag yw, nyns yw cales mès pùb dauns yw hir.
Cothman
Nyns esof vy ow tauncya yn tâ.
Jowan
Ny wrug vy dauncya yn tâ kyns, mès yth esof ow tauncya yn tâ wosa Breten Vian!
You can say Ô meaning ‘oh’. But it is much more common to say ‘Ogh’, especially when it is meant expressively, because Ô is easily confused with O meaning ‘yes’. This exercise provides a good illustratration of this point.