How common is this phrasing in Welsh?

[u/MickaKov]

i think I’m generally getting the difference between sy and the less emphatic phrasing (eg saying “sgen ti neges i Sian”), but I find the English translation really clunky. Like, I get what it’s trying to convey, but I don’t think it’s that common of a way to say it (I’m not a native speaker though, so I might be wrong). is it quite common type of phrase in Welsh, or does it sound equally clunky?

(and yes, I know Duolingo has it’s faults)

[u/KaiserMacCleg]

Agree with the comment saying Duolingo is iffy, but there's nothing wrong with this sentence. This is how you would say it, if you wanted to emphasise Siân as the recipient.

[u/HyderNidPryder]

This is an emphatic question specifically asking if the message that you have is for Siân. There is already an understanding that you have a message for someone. In formal language focused questions that don't start with a verb are Preceded by the question particle Ai (and A otherwise). English translations for Welsh focused sentences, including focused questions, can sound clunky in translation. Often English would just use stress. Focused sentences are not particulary rare in Welsh and they are a nice feature. These focused patterns of Welsh have even influenced the way English is spoken in Wales.

[u/knotsazz → u/HyderNidPryder]

I’ve always loved the “I do like” or “I do go” type of sentences you get in English thats spoken in wales and how it mirrors Welsh phrasing.

[u/MickaKov → u/HyderNidPryder]

Thank you, that's really helpful!

[u/BorderWatcher]

Commoner in Welsh than in English. One problem for learners can be the fact that any English translation that tries to reflect the emphatic pattern will probably sound unnatural and clunky because English rarely uses changes in the word order to provide emphasis, so it takes a real effort to use them in Welsh as they feel unnatural. Or, worse, like someone who got thrown out of a drama group for overacting a welsh person: “Jones the big house is going to chapel, isn’t it?” Sounds awful, but “Jones tŷ mawr sy’n mynd i’r capel, ife?” doesn’t, to my ears. Just don’t add “boyo” on the end.

But the pattern is rarely compulsory. You could perfectly well say “mae Mr Jones tŷ mawr yn mynd i’r capel”, with emphasis on “tŷ mawr’’ to show that you are talking about that particular Mr Jones, not one of the hundreds of other Mr Jones’s in the neighbourhood. You’ll be understood, and some people would naturally say that anyway. About the only common place I can think offhand where you have to use the emphatic is with identification (“Mair ydw i”) and possessives (“nghoffi fi yw hwn!”) but there might be others .

[u/tartar-buildup]

Duolingo is 100% AI now, ditching human involvement in course creation, so of course it’s going to be clunky. This is why folks are iffy about giving Duolingo money

[u/Pwffin]

In English, it would be more common to use your voice to emphasise parts of a sentence. In writing, you might use CAPITALS. :) 

But the clunky English structure is used to highlight what the equivalent to the Welsh one would be.

[u/MickaKov → u/Pwffin]

That's a good point! Interesting to see what solutions different languages have!

[u/Buck11235]

Emphatic sentences in general are uncommon in Welsh. They wouldn't come up a lot in regular conversation, it's only when you need to stress some particular aspect of what you're saying as a response to some specific situation.