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.
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.
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:
kaozealspeak/ing komzchat/ting, speak/ing skrivañwrite/ing oberwork/ing chomdwell/ing gwerzhañsell/ing mondgo/ing kemertake/ing degemerreceive/ing deskiñlearn/ing kas;daveiñsend/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.
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 onI am
ned on ketI am not
or n'on ket
n'out ketyou (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 ketwe are not
n'oc'h ket“you (pl.) are not
n'int ketthey 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.
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?