Breton/Level 2/Lesson 3

The Present Tense, Continuous Tense & Situation Tense

Irregular verb - "To be" / "Bezañ"

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 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

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

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

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

**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"

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 ran ul levr (I write a letter) will be used to insist upon the verb skrivañ (to write).

Table

**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 (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

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

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?