Breton/Level 2/Lesson 3




The Present Tense, Continuous Tense & Situation Tense

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Irregular verb - "To be" / "Bezañ"

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Personal form & impersonal form

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 - "To write" / "Skrivañ"

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Personal form & impersonal form

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 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 not
  • n'oc'h ket “you (pl.) are not
  • n'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

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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

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Self training

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



  • 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

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Go to the Quiz