Brezhoneg Daoù/Lesson 3

Language classification: this is a Breton language resource.

Completion status: this resource is ~50% complete.

The Present Tense, Continuous Tense & Situation Tense

Irregular verb: Bezañ / "To be"

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 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 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.

Let's take the same example as before:

Fur e 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 (currently) 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, "ez eur" would give they are, one is.

**Verb Bezañ *(To be)* - Present**
Present Tense Personal form	Present Tense Impersonal form	Continuous Tense Personal form	Continuous Tense Impersonal form	Situation Tense	English meaning
ez on	me a zo	e vezan	me a vez	emaon	I am
ez out	te a zo	e vezez	te a vez	emaout	You are (sg.)
ez eo	eñ a zo	e vez	eñ a vez	emañ	He is
ez eo	hi a zo	e vez	hi a vez	emañ	She is
ez omp	ni a zo	e vezomp	ni a vez	emaomp	We are
ez oc'h	c'hwi a zo	e vezit	c'hwi a vez	emaoc'h	You are (pl.)
ez int	int a zo	e vezont	int a vez	emaint	They are
oar, eur		e vezer		emeur	Impersonal passive

Regular verb: Skrivañ / "To write"

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 rin ul lizher (I will write a letter) will be used to insist upon the verb skrivañ, to write.

**Regular Verb Skrivañ *(To write)* - Present**
Present Tense Personal form	Present Tense Impersonal form	With auxiliary Personal form	English meaning
ul levr a skrivan	me a skriv ul levr	skrivañ a ran ul levr	I write a book
ul levr a skrivez	te a skriv ul levr	skrivañ a rez ul levr	You write a book (sg.)
ul levr a skriv	eñ a skriv ul levr	skrivañ a ra ul levr	He writes a book
ul levr a skriv	hi a skriv ul levr	skrivañ a ra ul levr	She writes a book
ul levr a skrivomp	ni a skriv ul levr	skrivañ a reomp ul levr	We write a book
ul levr a skrivit	c'hwi a skriv ul levr	skrivañ a rit ul levr	You write a book (pl.)
ul levr a skrivont	int a skriv ul levr	skrivañ a reont ul levr	They write a book
ul levr a skriver		skrivañ a reer ul levr	Impersonal passive

Progressive Form

To create the progressive form, add the continuous particle o (M! — Careful! The particle o causes Mixed mutations, as shown below.)

(M!) **Mixed Mutations**
The following letters are affected:
B	becomes	V	bezañ (To be) → o vezañ (being)
D	becomes	T	dont (To come) → o tont (coming)
G	becomes	C'H	gortoz (To wait) → o c'hortoz (waiting)
GW	becomes	W	gwelout (To see) → o welout (seeing)
M	becomes	V	mont (To go) → o vont (going)

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 send/ing

Now all you need to do is put them together following this pattern:

{present of bezañ} + {o (M!)} + {verbal noun}

Emaon o komz brezhoneg (I am speaking Breton)
Emaout o skrivañ ul lizner You (sg.) are writing a letter
Emañ eñ o teskiñ kembraeg (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 a means: dre + (verbal noun)

Dre lenn kalz levrioù mat e teui da vezañ ur mestr war ar yezh (By reading lots of good books you will become a master in Breton language)
Dre soubañ va biz enni em bije merzet ne oa ket ar soubenn evit bezañ lonket ker buan (By dipping my finger in it I would have noticed that the soup was not to be swallowed so fast

2/ To mark simultaneous actions: en ur + (verbal noun)

En ur lenn al levr-se em eus merzet e oa an oberour un den a-zoare (While reading this book I noticed that the writer was a good man)
En ur lonkañ ma soubenn em eus merket e oa tomm-berv (While eating my soup I noticed that it 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..., that is toward + (verbal noun) + goes

War greskiñ ez a ar prizioù (Prices are increasing, literally "On To increase go the prices")
War fallaat ez a an amzer (The weather is getting worse, literally "On To get worse goes the weather")

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 am) → ned on ket/n'on ket (I am not)
n'out ket (you (sg.) are) → ned out ket/n'out ket (you are not)

The 3rd person singular in negative statements has two special verb forms:

n'eus ket... (there is not...) when the subject of the verb is indefinite
n'eo ket... he/she/it is not... when the subject of the verb is definite
→ ar c'hi n'eo ket... (the dog is not...), ar vugale n'int ket... (the children are not...)
n'omp ket (we are not)
n'oc'h ket (you (pl.) are not)
n'int ket (they are not)
n'eur ket (they are/one is not) → N'eur ket boas da gement-se (They are/One is not accustomed to that)

Now put the sentences together according to the template given above:

N'emaon ket o komz Brezhoneg. (I am not speaking Breton)
N'emaout ket o skrivañ ul lizher (You (sg.) are not writing a letter)
N'emañ ket o teskiñ kembraeg (He is not learning Welsh)

Questions

To formulate a question simply use the affirmation form, generally with the conjunction ha (And) before the verb; ha is replaced by hag before a vowel for phonetic reasons:

Hag ez on ? Am I?

Hag ez out ? Are you? (sg.)

Hag ez eus ? Is there? when the subject of the verb is indefinite

Hag ez eo? Is he?

Hag ez eo? Is she?

Hag ez eo? Is it? when the subject of the verb is definite

Hag ez eo ar c'hi...? Is the dog...?

Hag ez omp? Are we?

Hag ez oc'h? Are you? (pl.)

Hag ez int? Are they?

Hag ez int ar vugale? Are they the children?

Hag emaon o skrivañ e brezhoneg? Am I writing in Breton?

Sometimes, a question will be preceded by Daoust ha (equivalent to Is is true that..., literally "To be known whether").

Daoust hag emaout o skrivañ ul lizher ?

Daoust hag emañ o teskiñ kembraeg ?

To ask a negative question, use the same principles:

Ha n'emaon ket o komz brezhoneg ? Am I not speaking Breton?

Ha n'emaout ket o skrivañ ul lizher ? Are you not writing a letter?

Ha n'emañ ket o teskiñ kembraeg ? Is he not learning Welsh?

Please note the difference in meaning between Ha n'emañ ket o teskiñ Kembraeg ? Is he not learning Welsh? and Ha ne zesk ket kembraeg ? Doesn't he learn Welsh?.

Exercises/Poelladennoù

Self training

Listen to the following dialogs which shows:
- Imperative form
- Auxiliary form
- Progressive form

Now, you have seen how its done.

Take the verbs from Brezhoneg Daoù/Lesson 1 and write them down if you haven't already.

Now change them into their Present tense.

Then, make up some sentences for each verb, e.g. Me a zesk brezhoneg e Wikiversity (I learn Breton at Wikiversity—NOT I'm learning Breton at Wikiversity; how would you say that, by the way?).

Quiz

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