Blair Collection > Kelt or Gael

The Kelt or Gael. 43
sometimes two or three corresponding tenses,
formed by a great number of auxiliaries, which
makes the conjugation of a Welsh verb a very
severe exercise for the student.
Like Irish, the Welsh contains no true verb to
have ; its effect is obtained by the use of other
auxiliaries, principally tenses of the verb to be ;
as in the French reflective verbs, its sense soon
becomes familiar to a student.
The infinitive form of the verb to be in Welsh
is bod, corresponding with the Irish bi or bidh.
At present it has all the tenses named above, but
the principal forms — the present, past, and future —
are only dialectical varieties of the Irish, as will
be seen by comparing the following forms with
those set out in another page.
Welsh present indicative of bod, to be. — Byddaf
i, I am ; Byddl dl, thou art ; Bydd efe, he is ;
Byddwn ni, we are ; Byddwch chwl, you are ;
Byddant hwy, they are.
Past. — Byddwn I, I was ; Byddit tl, thou wast ;
Byddai effe, he was ; Byddem ni, we were ;
Byddech chwl, you were ; Byddent hwy, they
were.
Future. — Byddaf fi, I shall be ; Byddi di, thou
wilt be ; Bydd efe, he will be ; Byddwn ni, we
shall be ; Byddwch chwl, you will be ; Byddant
hwy, they will be.
The same resemblance continues in all the
other moods. It will be seen that each person of
the Welsh verb, in both numbers and in all the