# 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 formPresent Tense Impersonal formContinuous Tense Personal formContinuous Tense Impersonal formSituation TenseEnglish 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 formPresent Tense Impersonal formWith auxiliary Personal formEnglish 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?
Exercises/Ober
Self training
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
Go to the Quiz :