In this article, we’ll be taking a closer look at one of the most common Welsh words: mae. You probably know by now that mae can mean is as in Mae cinio’n barod! (Dinner is ready!) or are as in Mae Elen a Gwilym yn gadael (Elen and Gwilym are leaving). But did you know that mae can also mean there is or there are? The grammatical term for this version of mae is the existential verb, because it tells us what exists and what doesn’t.
To help us get a grasp on this concept, let’s take a look at the first pennill (verse) of the famous Welsh song Ar lan y môr (By the sea).
Ar lan y môr mae rhosys cochion,
Ar lan y môr mae lilis gwynion,
Ar lan y môr mae ‘nghariad inne
Yn cysgu’r nos a chodi’r bore.
By the sea there are red roses,
By the sea there are white lilies,
By the sea my darling
Sleeps in the night and gets up in the morning.
Because the lyrics to this song were written quite a long time ago, they have some old-fashioned Welsh grammar that doesn’t appear often in modern speech or writing. For instance, adjectives are made plural to match the plural objects they describe e.g. rhosys cochion rather than the more modern-sounding rhosys coch. So don’t worry too much if some of the grammar or vocabulary is unfamiliar to you – our main focus will be on the word mae.
In the first two lines, mae translates to there are (the existential verb), but then in the third line it changes to mean is. In other words, the first two lines are existential sentences, whereas the last part is a descriptive sentence. The first two maes tell us what is there, what exists. The third mae describes what happens.
All the sentences in this song are affirmative (cadarnhaol); they are telling us what is true, rather than denying something or asking a question. Here is what Ar lan y môr would look like if we turned all the sentences into negative ones:
Ar lan y môr does dim rhosys cochion,
Ar lan y môr does dim lilis gwynion,
Ar lan y môr dydy ‘nghariad inne
Ddim yn cysgu’r nos na chodi’r bore.
By the sea there are no red roses,
By the sea there are no white lilies,
By the sea my darling doesn’t
Sleep in the night nor get up in the morning.
To say there aren’t or there isn’t in Welsh, we use does. So does dim translates to there aren’t no. This is because in Welsh, like in certain dialects of English, double negatives don’t make a positive – language doesn’t always work like maths!
So how do we ask are there? or is there? in Welsh? Let’s take a look at another alternative version of the song.
Ar lan y môr oes rhosys cochion?
Ar lan y môr oes lilis gwynion?
Ar lan y môr ydy ‘nghariad inne
Yn cysgu’r nos a chodi’r bore?
By the sea, are there red roses?
By the sea, are there white lilies?
By the sea, does my darling
Sleep in the night and get up in the morning?
In the negative and question versions of the song, the difference between the existential sentences and the descriptive sentences is much easier to see. It’s only in affirmative sentences that the same word (mae) is used.
| Existential | Descriptive | |
| Affirmative | Mae tystysgrif ar y wal. There’s a certificate on the wall. | Mae e ar y wal. It’s on the wall. |
| Negative | Does dim tystysgrif ar y wal. There isn’t a certificate on the wall. | Dydy / Dyw e ddim ar y wal. It’s not on the wall. |
| Question | Oes tystysgrif ar y wal? Is there a certificate on the wall? | Ydy e ar y wal? Is it on the wall? |
Another important point: it’s common, especially when speaking, to add ‘na (short for yna, meaning there) after mae, does and oes. This doesn’t change the meaning of the sentence at all, but this extra word ‘na does cause the word after it to undergo the soft mutation.
| Existential (‘na) | |
| Affirmative | Mae ‘na dystysgrif ar y wal. There’s a certificate on the wall. |
| Negative | Does ‘na ddim tystysgrif ar y wal. There’s no certificate on the wall. |
| Question | Oes ‘na dystysgrif y wal? Is there a certificate on the wall? |
Pay special attention to the negative sentence. Here, the word after ‘na is dim (no), which mutates to ddim. Because of this, the negative sentence is the only one where tystysgrif doesn’t mutate to dystysgrif. Think of it as dim getting in the way and taking a mutation bullet for its friend tystysgrif!
The ambiguity of the word mae may cause some confusion for learners, but in Welsh barddoniaeth (poetry) it offers some lovely opportunities for wordplay. For example, Mererid Hopwood wrote a poem called Mae during the COVID-19 lockdown expressing her hope for better times ahead. She plays with the existential mae and the descriptive mae to make some unusual sentences reminding us that the outside world still exists. You can listen to an audio version here, or read the poem here.
There’s even an example of this technique in our old friend, Ar lan y môr. The last line of the third verse is the same as one of the lines in the first verse: Ar lan y môr mae ‘nghariad inne. This time, however, the sentence ends after inne (me). Rather than describing what his lover is doing, the writer is just telling us that she’s there. I suppose that’s the most important thing, after all.
