Cornish grammar is the grammar of the Cornish language (Cornish: Kernewek or Cornish: Kernowek[1]), an insular Celtic language closely related to Breton and Welsh and, to a lesser extent, to Irish, Manx and Scottish Gaelic. It was the main medium of communication of the Cornish people for much of their history until the 17th century, when a language shift occurred in favour of English. A revival, however, started in 1904, with the publication of A Handbook of the Cornish Language, by Henry Jenner, and since then there has been a growing interest in the language.
Initial mutation is a feature shared by all the modern Celtic languages, in which the initial consonant of a word may change under some circumstances. In Cornish these changes take place when a word starts with one of the consonants shown in the table below; other initial consonants remain unchanged. The most common mutation occurs after the definite article an, when followed by a feminine singular noun or masculine plural noun.
| p | b | f | |||
| t | d | th | |||
| k | g | h | |||
| b | v | p | f | ||
| d | dh | t | t | ||
| g | disappears | k | h | ||
| g | w | k | hw | ||
| gw | w | kw | hw | ||
| m | v | f | |||
| ch | j |
Cornish nouns, like those of other Celtic languages, possess two grammatical genders, meaning that they belong to one of two groups: masculine or feminine. Sometimes the gender of a noun can be inferred from the class of words it belongs to, for example, nouns referring to males, such as Cornish: gour “man, husband” or Cornish: tarow “bull”, or verbal nouns, such as Cornish: kerdhes “walking” and Cornish: bos “being”, are masculine whereas nouns referring to females, such as Cornish: hwor “sister” and Cornish: yar “hen”, are feminine. Nevertheless, it is often impossible to determine the gender of a noun from its form, although certain nominal suffixes have gender:
There is a very small number of nouns which may be either gender, such as Cornish: nev “heaven” and Cornish: tonn “grassland”, and is similar to its sister language Breton in that the noun Cornish: tra “thing” takes masculine numerals above one and masculine referring pronouns but has the mutations of a feminine noun after Cornish: an “the”, Cornish: unn “one” and on accompanying adjectives.[2]
Most nouns have a singular and plural form, the latter deriving from the former in a number of ways. Plural forms may add an ending to a singular, such as Cornish: treth “beach” to Cornish: trethow, Cornish: pompyon “pumpkin” to Cornish: pompyons and Cornish: lader “thief” to Cornish: ladron. Adding an ending may be accompanied by a vowel change, as in the case of Cornish: gwreg “wife” to Cornish: gwragedh and Cornish: hwor “sister” to Cornish: hwerydh, or may involve a vowel change alone, for example Cornish: korn “horn” to Cornish: kern and Cornish: men “stone” to Cornish: meyn.
A small number of nouns display relics of a dual system. These are formed by prefixing masculine Cornish: dew or feminine Cornish: diw, both “two”, to the respective noun. Dual nouns are often parts of the body and indicate the pair of them taken together, for instance, Cornish: lagas “eye” to Cornish: dewlagas “(pair of) eyes” and Cornish: bregh “arm” to Cornish: diwvregh “(pair of) arm”. These carry a different meaning to the regular plural forms, such as Cornish: lagasow or Cornish: lagajow “eyes” and Cornish: breghow “arms”, which do not indicate a matching pair.[3]
A distinctive and unusual feature of Brythonic languages is that of collective and singulative number. The base form of some Cornish nouns denotes a class or group, often natural objects, such as Cornish: sab “pine trees”, Cornish: kelyon “flies” and Cornish: niwl “fog”. A singulative is formed by adding the feminine ending Cornish: -en to denote a single individual of the group, hence Cornish: saben “a pine tree”, Cornish: kelyonen “a fly” and Cornish: niwlen “a patch of fog”. Singulatives can themselves have plural forms in Cornish: -ow, denoting a number of individuals of the group, so for instance, Cornish: kelyonen gives Cornish: kelyonennow “(a number of) flies (individually)”.
Cornish lacks an indefinite article (although Cornish: unn “one” is sometimes used to mean ”a certain...” e.g. Cornish: unn ki “a certain dog”), but has a definite article, Cornish: an, which precedes the noun, for example Cornish: an Kernow “the Cornishman” and Cornish: an Kernowesow “the Cornishwomen”. The article causes a soft mutation on feminine singular nouns, such as Cornish: Kernowes “Cornishwoman” to Cornish: an Gernowes “the Cornishwoman”, and on masculine plural nouns denoting persons, as Cornish: Kernowyon “Cornishmen” to Cornish: an Gernowyon “the Cornishmen”, although exceptions to the latter include Cornish: an tasow “the fathers” and clear English borrowings such as Cornish: an doktours “the doctors”. Also the masculine plural nouns Cornish: meyn ”stones” and Cornish: mergh ”horses” are exceptions, which are lenited to Cornish: an veyn ”the stones” and Cornish: an vergh ”the horses”, respectively.[4] [5] Cornish: An is shortened to Cornish: 'n after certain function words that end in a vowel, meaning Cornish: a “of”, Cornish: dhe “to” and Cornish: ha “and” become Cornish: a'n “of the”, Cornish: dhe'n “to the” and Cornish: ha'n “and the”, and in addition, Cornish: yn “in” becomes identically pronounced Cornish: y'n “in the”.
The definite article and a noun followed by the clitics Cornish: ma and Cornish: na to produce the demonstratives “this/these” and “that/those” respectively, for example Cornish: an lyver ma “this book” and Cornish: an lyvrow na “those books”.
The possessive determiners are as follows. Notice their similarity to the more reduced forms of the personal pronouns.
| singular | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | Cornish: ow | Cornish: agan | |
| 2nd person | Cornish: dha | Cornish: agas | |
| 3rd person | masculine | Cornish: y | Cornish: aga |
| feminine | Cornish: hy | ||
Personal pronouns in Cornish can be arranged as follows.
| Independent | Reduced | Suffixed | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single | Double | Reduced | |||||
| singular | 1st person | Cornish: my | Cornish: ’m | Cornish: -vy | Cornish: -evy | Cornish: -(m)a | |
| 2nd person | Cornish: ty | Cornish: ’th | Cornish: -jy | Cornish: -tejy | Cornish: -(t)a | ||
| 3rd person | masculine | Cornish: ev | Cornish: ’y | Cornish: -e(v) | Cornish: -eev | Cornish: -(v)a | |
| feminine | Cornish: hi | Cornish: ’s | Cornish: -hi | Cornish: -hyhi | |||
| plural | 1st person | Cornish: ni | Cornish: ’gan, Cornish: ’n | Cornish: -ni | Cornish: -nyni | ||
| 2nd person | Cornish: hwi | Cornish: ’gas, Cornish: ’s | Cornish: -hwi | Cornish: -hwyhwi | |||
| 3rd person | Cornish: i | Cornish: ’s | Cornish: -i | Cornish: -ynsi | |||
Independent personal pronouns are used as the subject of a nominal sentence, for example Cornish: My a grys “I believe”, or can stand before the verb in a verbal sentence to draw attention to the subject implied by the verb, for example Cornish: Ni ny yllyn mos “We cannot go”. Certain other constructions employ independent pronouns, such as those based on verbal nouns, like Cornish: ev dhe dhos omma “(that) he came here”, and those that follow conjunctions, such as Cornish: hag i ow kortos “as they are/were waiting”.
Suffixed pronouns are attached to nouns in possessive constructions, to inflected verbs and to pronouns and are used to reinforce a pronoun previously expressed by a verbal or personal ending, for example Cornish: Ple eth hi? “Where did she go?”.
Reduced pronouns are used between a verbal particle and a verb, such as in Cornish: mar ny’th welav “if I don't see you”.
Demonstrative pronouns display two degrees of proximity as well as gender and number.
| Singular | Plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | feminine | common | ||
| Near the speaker | Cornish: hemma | Cornish: homma | Cornish: an re ma | |
| Near the listener | Cornish: henna | Breton: honna | Cornish: an re na | |
These pronouns lose their final Cornish: a before Cornish: yw “is” and Cornish: o “was”, for example Cornish: Homm yw ow keniterow “This is my (female) cousin”.
Cornish adjectives usually come after the noun they modify although a few may come before or after, such as Cornish: drog “bad” and Cornish: leun “full”, and a small number always precede the noun, such as Cornish: lies “many” and Cornish: hen “old, long-standing”. There are simple and derived adjectives. The former comprise adjectives that are not derived of any other word, whereas the latter are formed by adding suffixes such as Cornish: -ek to the end of a noun (including verbal nouns). Adjectives are lenited when they are preceded by a feminine singular noun, or a masculine plural noun referring to persons, e.g. Cornish: benen goth 'an old woman', Cornish: mebyon vyghan 'small sons'.
Adjectives are inflected with Cornish: -a to give a comparative/superlative form. This suffix causes provection of the adjective stem, for example Cornish: glyb “wet” to Cornish: glyppa and Cornish: krev “stong” to Cornish: kreffa. A number of adjectives are irregular and have separate comparative and superlative forms.
| positive | comparative | superlative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cornish: byghan, “small” Cornish: nebes “little” (quantity) | Cornish: le “smaller, fewer, less” | Cornish: liha “smallest, fewest, least” | |
| Cornish: da, Cornish: mas “good” | Cornish: gwell “better” | Cornish: gwella “best” | |
| Cornish: drog “bad” | Cornish: gweth, Cornish: lakka “worse” | Cornish: gwetha “worst” | |
| Cornish: isel “low” | Cornish: isella, Cornish: is “lower” | Cornish: isella, Cornish: isa “lowest” | |
| Cornish: meur “much, great” | Cornish: moy “more, greater” | Cornish: moyha “most, greatest” | |
| Cornish: ogas “near” | Cornish: nes “nearer” | Cornish: nessa “nearest” |
Adverbials in Cornish may be a single word or a more complex phrases, for example Cornish: ena “then” and Cornish: y’n eur ma “now”, literally “in this hour”. Many are formed from the combination of a preposition and a noun or pronoun, such as Cornish: war-woles “downwards” from Cornish: war “on” and Cornish: goles “bottom” and Cornish: a-ji (or Cornish: a-jei) “within” from Cornish: a “from, at” and Cornish: chi (or Cornish: chei) “house”. Adverbs can be formed from adjectives by means of the particle Cornish: yn “in”, such as in the case of Cornish: krev “strong” to Cornish: yn krev “strongly” and Cornish: da “good” to Cornish: yn ta “well”.
Cornish verbs are highly regular and are conjugated to show distinctions of person, number, mood, tense and aspect in various combinations.
| 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | Impersonal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | ||||
| Indicative | Present / Future | Cornish: pren'''av''' | Cornish: pren'''yn''' | Cornish: pren'''ydh''' | Cornish: pren'''owgh''' | Cornish: pren | Cornish: pren'''ons''' | Cornish: pren'''ir''' | |
| Preterite | Cornish: pren'''is''' | Cornish: pren'''syn''' | Cornish: pren'''sys''' | Cornish: pren'''sowgh''' | Cornish: pren'''as''' | Cornish: pren'''sons''' | Cornish: pren'''as''' | ||
| Imperfect | Cornish: pren'''en''' | Cornish: pren'''en''' | Cornish: pren'''es''' | Cornish: pren'''ewgh''' | Cornish: pren'''a''' | Cornish: pren'''ens''' | Cornish: pren'''ys''' | ||
| Pluperfect | Cornish: pren'''sen''' | Cornish: pren'''sen''' | Cornish: pren'''ses''' | Cornish: pren'''sewgh''' | Cornish: pren'''sa''' | Cornish: pren'''sens''' | Cornish: pren'''sys''' | ||
| Subjunctive | Present / Future | Cornish: prenn'''iv''' | Cornish: prenn'''yn''' | Cornish: prenn'''i''' | Cornish: prenn'''owgh''' | Cornish: prenn'''o''' | Cornish: prenn'''ons''' | Cornish: prenn'''er''' | |
| Imperfect | Cornish: prenn'''en''' | Cornish: prenn'''en''' | Cornish: prenn'''es''' | Cornish: prenn'''ewgh''' | Cornish: prenn'''a''' | Cornish: prenn'''ens''' | Cornish: prenn'''ys''' | ||
| Imperative | Cornish: pren'''yn''' | Cornish: pren | Cornish: pren'''ewgh''' | Cornish: pren'''es''' | Cornish: pren'''ens''' | ||||
It should also be noted that vowel affection occurs in the stem of some verbs before certain endings, especially those with close front vowels, though not exclusively.
| 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | Impersonal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | ||||
| Indicative | Present / Future | Cornish: tavav | Cornish: t'''e'''vyn | Cornish: t'''e'''vydh | Cornish: t'''e'''vowgh | Cornish: tav | Cornish: tavons | Cornish: t'''e'''vir | |
| Preterite | Cornish: t'''e'''vis | Cornish: t'''e'''vsyn | Cornish: t'''e'''vsys | Cornish: t'''e'''vsowgh | Cornish: tavas | Cornish: tavsons | Cornish: tavas | ||
| Imperfect | Cornish: taven | Cornish: taven | Cornish: taves | Cornish: tavewgh | Cornish: tava | Cornish: tavens | Cornish: t'''e'''vys | ||
| Pluperfect | Cornish: tavsen | Cornish: tavsen | Cornish: tavses | Cornish: tavsewgh | Cornish: tavsa | Cornish: tavsens | Cornish: t'''e'''vsys | ||
| Subjunctive | Present / Future | Cornish: t'''y'''ffiv | Cornish: t'''y'''ffyn | Cornish: t'''y'''ffi | Cornish: t'''y'''ffowgh | Cornish: taffo | Cornish: taffons | Cornish: taffer | |
| Imperfect | Cornish: taffen | Cornish: taffen | Cornish: taffes | Cornish: taffewgh | Cornish: taffa | Cornish: taffens | Cornish: t'''y'''ffys | ||
| Imperative | Cornish: t'''e'''vyn | Cornish: tav | Cornish: t'''e'''vyn | Cornish: taves | Cornish: tavens | ||||
The alternative indicative imperfect endings Cornish: -yn, Cornish: -ys and Cornish: -i cause vowel affection.
Amongst the endingless forms, the present/future third person singular and the second person singular imperative, the former may include vowel affection while the latter does not, for example, Cornish: seni “sound” to Cornish: sen “he/she/it sounds” and Cornish: son “sound!” and Cornish: gelwel “call” to Cornish: gelow “he/she/it calls” and Cornish: galw “call!”.
The alternative third person singular and impersonal preterite ending Cornish: -is causes vowel affection.
These endings also cause affection with some verbs.
Certain verbal noun endings cause vowel affection, again especially those with close front vowels.
A handful of irregular verbs exist, the most common of which are detailed here.
The most irregular verb of all is Cornish: bos “be”, which is often used as an auxiliary and can be conjugated to show a number of additional distinctions not present in other verbs.
| 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | Impersonal | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | |||||
| Indicative | Present | short form | Cornish: ov | Cornish: on | Cornish: os | Cornish: owgh | Cornish: yw | Cornish: yns | Cornish: or | |
| long form | Cornish: esov | Cornish: eson | Cornish: esos | Cornish: esowgh | Cornish: yma, usi, eus | Cornish: ymons, esons | Cornish: eder | |||
| Future | Cornish: bydhav | Cornish: bydhons | Cornish: bydhydh | Cornish: bydhowgh | Cornish: bydh | Cornish: bydhons | Cornish: bydher | |||
| Preterite | Cornish: beuv | Cornish: beun | Cornish: beus | Cornish: bewgh | Cornish: beu | Cornish: bons | Cornish: beus | |||
| Imperfect | short form | Cornish: en | Cornish: en | Cornish: es | Cornish: ewgh | Cornish: o | Cornish: ens | Cornish: os | ||
| long form | Cornish: esen | Cornish: esen | Cornish: eses | Cornish: esewgh | Cornish: esa | Cornish: esens | Cornish: eses | |||
| habitual | Cornish: bedhen | Cornish: bedhen | Cornish: bedhes | Cornish: bedhewgh | Cornish: bedha | Cornish: bedhens | Cornish: bedhes | |||
| Pluperfect | Cornish: bien | Cornish: bien | Cornish: bies | Cornish: biewgh | Cornish: bia | Cornish: biens | Cornish: bies | |||
| Subjunctive | Present / Future | Cornish: biv | Cornish: byn | Cornish: bi | Cornish: bowgh | Cornish: bo | Cornish: bons | Cornish: ber | ||
| Imperfect | Cornish: ben | Cornish: ben | Cornish: bes | Cornish: bewgh | Cornish: be | Cornish: bens | Cornish: bes | |||
| Imperative | Cornish: bedhen | Cornish: bydh | Cornish: bedhewgh | Cornish: bedhes | Cornish: bedhens | |||||
The present tense has separate short and long forms. The short forms are used when a subject complement is a noun or adjective whereas the long forms are used with adverbial and participle complements. In addition, the imperfect has a habitual form.
Cornish: Yma and Cornish: ymons are used in affirmitive declarative independent clauses whereas Cornish: usi, Cornish: eus and Cornish: esons are used elsewhere, such as negative, interrogative and dependent clauses. Cornish: Usi is used with definite subjects whereas Cornish: eus is used with indefinite subjects.
The form Cornish: *bedhys is not found independently but rather in its mutated form Cornish: vedhys as part of compound words, such as Cornish: godhvedhys “known” and Cornish: piwvedhys “owned”.
Cornish: Y'm beus is a combination of an reduced pronoun with dative meaning and the third person singular forms of Cornish: bos, meaning literally “there is to [me]”, or more idiomatically “[I] have”. A similar construction is present in Breton. The presence of the pronoun means there are separate masculine and feminine third person singular forms but no impersonal forms, verbal noun or participles.
| 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | ||||
| masculine | feminine | ||||||||
| Indicative | Present | Cornish: y'm beus | Cornish: y'gan beus | Cornish: y'th eus | Cornish: y'gas beus | Cornish: y'n jeves | Cornish: y’s teves | Cornish: y’s teves | |
| Future | Cornish: y'm byth | Cornish: y'gan byth | Cornish: y'fydh | Cornish: y'gas byth | Cornish: y'n jevydh | Cornish: y’s tevydh | Cornish: y’s tevydh | ||
| Preterite | Cornish: y'm beu | Cornish: y'gan beu | Cornish: y'th o | Cornish: y'gas beu | Cornish: y'n jevo | Cornish: y’s tevo | Cornish: y’s tevo | ||
| Imperfect | simple | Cornish: y'm bo | Cornish: y'gan bo | Cornish: y'fedha | Cornish: y'gas bo | Cornish: y'n jevedha | Cornish: y’s tevedha | Cornish: y’s tevedha | |
| habitual | Cornish: y'm bedha | Cornish: y'gan bedha | Cornish: y'feu | Cornish: y'gas bedha | Cornish: y'n jeva | Cornish: y’s teva | Cornish: y’s teva | ||
| Pluperfect | Cornish: y'm beu | Cornish: y'gan beu | Cornish: y'fia | Cornish: y'gas beu | Cornish: y'n jevia | Cornish: y’s tevia | Cornish: y’s tevia | ||
| Subjunctive | Present / Future | Cornish: y'm bo | Cornish: y'gan bo | Cornish: y'fo | Cornish: y'gas bo | Cornish: y'n jeffo | Cornish: y’s teffo | Cornish: y’s teffo | |
| Imperfect | Cornish: y'm be | Cornish: y'gan be | Cornish: y'fe | Cornish: y'gas be | Cornish: y'n jeffa | Cornish: y’s teffa | Cornish: y’s teffa | ||
The irregular verb Cornish: godhvos (or Cornish: goffos) “know, can (know how to)” is based upon Cornish: bos although does not utilise a habitual imperfect.
| 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | Impersonal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | ||||
| Indicative | Present | Cornish: gonn | Cornish: godhon | Cornish: godhes | Cornish: godhowgh | Cornish: gor | Cornish: godhons | Cornish: deer | |
| Future | Cornish: godhvydhav | Cornish: godhvydhyn | Cornish: godhvydhydh | Cornish: godhvydhowgh | Cornish: godhvydh | Cornish: godhvydhons | Cornish: godhvydher | ||
| Preterite | Cornish: godhvev | Cornish: godhven | Cornish: godhves | Cornish: godhvewgh | Cornish: godhva | Cornish: godhvons | Cornish: godhves | ||
| Imperfect | Cornish: godhyen | Cornish: godhyen | Cornish: godhyes | Cornish: godhyewgh | Cornish: godhya | Cornish: godhyens | Cornish: godhves | ||
| Pluperfect | Cornish: godhvien | Cornish: godhvien | Cornish: godhvies | Cornish: godhviewgh | Cornish: godhvia | Cornish: godhviens | Cornish: godhvies | ||
| Subjunctive | Present / Future | Cornish: godhviv | Cornish: godhvyn | Cornish: godhvi | Cornish: godhvyn | Cornish: godhvo | Cornish: godhvons | Cornish: godher | |
| Imperfect | Cornish: godhven | Cornish: godhven | Cornish: godhves | Cornish: godhvewgh | Cornish: godhve | Cornish: godhvens | Cornish: godhves | ||
| Imperative | Cornish: godhvydhyn | Cornish: godhvydh | Cornish: godhvydhewgh | Cornish: godhvydhes | Cornish: godhvydhens | ||||
Another extremely common irregular verb also used as an auxiliary is Cornish: gul “do, make”.
| 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | Impersonal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | ||||
| Indicative | Present / Future | Cornish: gwrav | Cornish: gwren | Cornish: gwredh | Cornish: gwrewgh | Cornish: gwra | Cornish: gwrons | Cornish: gwrer | |
| Preterite | Cornish: gwrug | Cornish: gwrussyn | Cornish: gwrussys | Cornish: gwrussowgh | Cornish: gwrug | Cornish: gwrussons | Cornish: gwrug | ||
| Imperfect | Cornish: gwren | Cornish: gwren | Cornish: gwres | Cornish: gwrewgh | Cornish: gwre | Cornish: gwrens | Cornish: gwres | ||
| Pluperfect | Cornish: gwrussen | Cornish: gwrussen | Cornish: gwrusses | Cornish: gwrussewgh | Cornish: gwrussa | Cornish: gwrussens | Cornish: gwrussys | ||
| Subjunctive | Present / Future | Cornish: gwrylliv | Cornish: gwryllyn | Cornish: gwrylli | Cornish: gwryllowgh | Cornish: gwrello | Cornish: gwrellons | Cornish: gwreller | |
| Imperfect | Cornish: gwrellen | Cornish: gwrellen | Cornish: gwrelles | Cornish: gwrellewgh | Cornish: gwrella | Cornish: gwrellens | Cornish: gwrellys | ||
| Imperative | Cornish: gwrem | Cornish: gwra | Cornish: gwrewgh | Cornish: gwres | Cornish: gwrens | ||||
The verb Cornish: mos “go, become” is irregular and has separate forms for the present perfect.
| 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | Impersonal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | ||||
| Indicative | Present / Future | Cornish: av | Cornish: en | Cornish: edh | Cornish: ewgh | Cornish: a | Cornish: ons | Cornish: er | |
| Preterite | Cornish: yth | Cornish: ethen | Cornish: ythys | Cornish: ethewgh | Cornish: eth | Cornish: ethons | Cornish: es, os | ||
| Imperfect | Cornish: en | Cornish: en | Cornish: es | Cornish: ewgh | Cornish: e | Cornish: ens | Cornish: es | ||
| Present perfect | Cornish: galsov | Cornish: galson | Cornish: galsos | Cornish: galsowgh | Cornish: gallas | Cornish: galsons | |||
| Pluperfect | Cornish: gylsen | Cornish: gylsen | Cornish: gylses | Cornish: gylsewgh | Cornish: galsa | Cornish: gylsens | |||
| Subjunctive | Present / Future | Cornish: ylliv | Cornish: yllyn | Cornish: ylli | Cornish: yllowgh | Cornish: ello | Cornish: ellons | Cornish: eller | |
| Imperfect | Cornish: ellen | Cornish: ellen | Cornish: elles | Cornish: ellewgh | Cornish: ella | Cornish: gellens | Cornish: ellss | ||
| Imperative | Cornish: deun | Cornish: ke, a | Cornish: keugh, eugh | Cornish: es | Cornish: ens | ||||
Similarly, Cornish: dos “come, arrive” is irregular and has present perfect forms.
| 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | Impersonal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | ||||
| Indicative | Present / Future | Cornish: dov | Cornish: deun | Cornish: deudh | Cornish: dewgh | Cornish: deu | Cornish: dons | Cornish: deer | |
| Preterite | Cornish: deuth | Cornish: deuthen | Cornish: deuthys | Cornish: deuthewgh | Cornish: deuth | Cornish: deuthons | Cornish: es, os | ||
| Imperfect | Cornish: den | Cornish: den | Cornish: des | Cornish: dewgh | Cornish: de | Cornish: dens | Cornish: des | ||
| Present perfect | Cornish: deuvev | Cornish: deuven | Cornish: deuves | Cornish: deuvewgh | Cornish: deuva | Cornish: deuvons | Cornish: deuves | ||
| Pluperfect | Cornish: dothyen | Cornish: dothyen | Cornish: dothyes | Cornish: dothyewgh | Cornish: dothya | Cornish: dothyens | Cornish: dothyes | ||
| Subjunctive | Present / Future | Cornish: dyffiv | Cornish: dyffyn | Cornish: dyffi | Cornish: dyffowgh | Cornish: deffo | Cornish: dyffons | Cornish: deffer | |
| Imperfect | Cornish: deffen | Cornish: deffen | Cornish: deffes | Cornish: deffewgh | Cornish: deffa | Cornish: deffens | Cornish: deffes | ||
| Imperative | Cornish: deun | Cornish: deus, des | Cornish: dewgh | Cornish: des | Cornish: dens | ||||
The irregular verbs Cornish: ri “give” and Cornish: dri “bring” (alternatively, Cornish: rei and Cornish: drei) have similar conjugations. This table give the forms of Cornish: ri from which the Cornish: dri forms can be composed by adding an initial Cornish: d, for example Cornish: rov “I give” to Cornish: drov “I bring”. The only exceptions to this are that the second person singular imperatives of Cornish: dri are Cornish: dro, Cornish: doro and Cornish: doroy and that, as usual, the Cornish: ow of the present participle cause provection of the Cornish: d to Cornish: t to give Cornish: ow tri.
| 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | Impersonal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | ||||
| Indicative | Present / Future | Cornish: rov | Cornish: ren | Cornish: redh | Cornish: rowgh | Cornish: re | Cornish: rons | Cornish: rer | |
| Preterite | Cornish: res | Cornish: resen | Cornish: resys | Cornish: resowgh | Cornish: ros | Cornish: rosons | Cornish: ros | ||
| Imperfect | Cornish: ren | Cornish: ren | Cornish: res | Cornish: rewgh | Cornish: ri | Cornish: rens | Cornish: res | ||
| Pluperfect | Cornish: rosen | Cornish: rosen | Cornish: roses | Cornish: rosewgh | Cornish: rosa | Cornish: rosens | Cornish: rosys | ||
| Subjunctive | Present / Future | Cornish: rylliv | Cornish: ryllyn | Cornish: rylli | Cornish: ryllowgh | Cornish: rollo | Cornish: rollons | Cornish: roller | |
| Imperfect | Cornish: rollen | Cornish: rollen | Cornish: rolles | Cornish: rollewgh | Cornish: rolla | Cornish: rollens | Cornish: rollys | ||
| Imperative | Cornish: ren | Cornish: ro, roy | Cornish: rewgh | Cornish: res | Cornish: rens | ||||
Certain conjunctions have an additional form used when followed by a vowel, such as Cornish: ha “and” becoming Cornish: hag and Cornish: na “than” becoming Cornish: nag.
As in other Celtic languages, Cornish prepositions are simple or complex and may inflect to show person, number and gender. Historically, inflected prepositions derive from the contraction between a preposition and a personal pronoun.
Simple prepositions that inflect belong to one of three groups characterised by their use of the vowel Cornish: a, Cornish: o or Cornish: i. Third person prepositional stems are sometimes slightly different from those of the first and second persons and affection sometimes occurs in the third person singular feminine. Cornish: Dhe “to” and Cornish: gans “with” are irregular.
| Cornish: war “on” | Cornish: rag “for” | Cornish: orth “at” | Cornish: dhe “to” | Cornish: gans “with” | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | 1st person | Cornish: warn'''av''' “on me” | Cornish: rag'''ov''' “for me” | Cornish: orth'''iv''' “at me” | Cornish: dhymm “to me” | Cornish: genev “with me” | |
| 2nd person | Cornish: warn'''as''' “on you” | Cornish: rag'''os''' “for you” | Cornish: orth'''is''' “at you” | Cornish: dhys “to you” | Cornish: genes “with you” | ||
| 3rd person | masculine | Cornish: warn'''o''' “on him” | Cornish: ragdh'''o''' “for him” | Cornish: ort'''o''' “at him” | Cornish: dhodho “to him” | Cornish: ganso “with him” | |
| feminine | Cornish: warn'''i''' “on her” | Cornish: rygdh'''i''' “for her” | Cornish: ort'''i''' “at her” | Cornish: dhedhi “to her” | Cornish: gensi “with her” | ||
| plural | 1st person | Cornish: warn'''an''' “on us” | Cornish: rag'''on''' “for us” | Cornish: orth'''yn''' “at us” | Cornish: dhyn “to us” | Cornish: genen “with us” | |
| 2nd person | Cornish: warn'''owgh''' “on you” | Cornish: rag'''owgh''' “for you” | Cornish: orth'''owgh''' “at you” | Cornish: dhywgh “to you” | Cornish: genowgh “with you” | ||
| 3rd person | Cornish: warn'''a''' “on them” | Cornish: ragdh'''a''' “for them” | Cornish: ort'''a''' “at them” | Cornish: dhedha “to them” | Cornish: gansa “with them” | ||
Complex prepositions inflect by means of interfixes, whereby the nominal second element is preceded by a pronominal form. This is similar to how Breton: instead can become Breton: in my stead in archaic English. Mutations may be triggered following the various pronominal forms as seen in the following table.
| Cornish: erbynn “against” | Cornish: yn kever “about” | Cornish: a-govis “for the sake of” | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | 1st person | Cornish: er ow fynn “against me” | Cornish: yn ow kever, Cornish: y’m kever “about me” | Cornish: a’m govis “for my sake” | |
| 2nd person | Cornish: er dha bynn “against you” | Cornish: yn dha gever, Cornish: y’th kever “about you” | Cornish: a’th kovis “for your sake” | ||
| 3rd person | masculine | Cornish: er y bynn “against him” | Cornish: yn y gever “about him” | Cornish: a’y wovis “for his sake” | |
| feminine | Cornish: er hy fynn “against her” | Cornish: yn hy kever “about her” | Cornish: a’y govis “for her sake” | ||
| plural | 1st person | Cornish: er agan pynn “against us” | Cornish: yn agan kever, Cornish: y’gan kever “about us” | Cornish: a’gan govis “for our sake” | |
| 2nd person | Cornish: er agas pynn “against you” | Cornish: yn agas kever, Cornish: y’gas kever “about you” | Cornish: a’gas govis “for your sake” | ||
| 3rd person | Cornish: er aga fynn “against them” | Cornish: yn aga hever, Cornish: y’ga hever “about them” | Cornish: a’ga govis “for their sake” | ||
Similar to other Celtic languages, Cornish has an underlying vigesimal counting system. “Two”, “three” and “four” and derivative numbers have separate masculine (m.) and feminine (f.) forms.
| base numeral | +10 | 10 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| m. | f. | |||||||
| 0 | Cornish: mann | 10 | Cornish: deg | |||||
| 1 | Cornish: onan | 11 | Cornish: unnek | 10 | Cornish: deg | |||
| 2 | Cornish: dew | Cornish: diw | 12 | Cornish: dewdhek | 20 | Cornish: ugens | ||
| 3 | Cornish: tri | Cornish: teyr | 13 | Cornish: tredhek | 30 | Cornish: deg warn ugens | ||
| 4 | Cornish: peswar | Cornish: peder | 14 | Cornish: peswardhek | 40 | Cornish: dew-ugens | ||
| 5 | Cornish: pymp | 15 | Cornish: pymthek | 50 | Cornish: hanterkans | |||
| 6 | Cornish: hwegh | 16 | Cornish: hwetek | 60 | Cornish: tri-ugens | |||
| 7 | Cornish: seyth | 17 | Cornish: seytek | 70 | Cornish: deg ha tri-ugens | |||
| 8 | Cornish: eth | 18 | Cornish: etek | 80 | Cornish: peswar-ugens | |||
| 9 | Cornish: naw | 19 | Cornish: nownsek | 90 | Cornish: dek ha peswar-ugens | |||
The numbers 21 to 39 employ the connective Cornish: warn “on the” to join the smaller number to the larger, for example Cornish: onan warn ugens “21”, Cornish: naw warn ugens “29” and Cornish: unnek warn ugens “31”. From 41 onwards, the connecting word is Cornish: ha “and”, as in Cornish: onan ha dew-ugens “41”, Cornish: pymthek ha dew-ugens “55” and Cornish: nownsek ha peswar-ugens “99”.
Cardinal numbers used to form larger numbers include:
| 100 | Cornish: kans | 1,000 | Cornish: mil | 1,000,000 | Cornish: milvil |
|---|
Beyond 100, it is still possible to use multiples of Cornish: ugens, such as Cornish: hwegh-ugens “120”. Cornish: Kans “100”, Cornish: mil “1,000” and Cornish: milvil “1,000,000” are all masculine numbers, for example Cornish: tri mil “3,000”.
Ordinal numbers and their abbreviations are shown below. The majority of numbers employ the ordinal suffix Cornish: -ves.
| Cornish: 10ves | Cornish: degves | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cornish: 1a | Cornish: kynsa | Cornish: 11ves | Cornish: unnegves | |||
| Cornish: 2a | Cornish: nessa | Cornish: 12ves | Cornish: dewdhegves | Cornish: 20ves | Cornish: ugensves | |
| Cornish: 3a | Cornish: tressa, Cornish: tryja | Cornish: 13ves | Cornish: tredhegves | Cornish: 30ves | Cornish: degves warn ugens | |
| Cornish: 4a | Cornish: peswara | Cornish: 14ves | Cornish: peswardhegves | Cornish: 40ves | Cornish: dew-ugensves | |
| Cornish: 5es | Cornish: pympes | Cornish: 15ves | Cornish: pymtegves | Cornish: 50ves | Cornish: hanterkansves | |
| Cornish: 6ves | Cornish: hweghves | Cornish: 16ves | Cornish: hwetegves | Cornish: 60ves | Cornish: tri-ugensves | |
| Cornish: 7ves | Cornish: seythves | Cornish: 17ves | Cornish: seytegves | Cornish: 70ves | Cornish: degves ha tri-ugens | |
| Cornish: 8ves | Cornish: ethves | Cornish: 18ves | Cornish: etegves | Cornish: 80ves | Cornish: peswar-ugensves | |
| Cornish: 9ves | Cornish: nawves | Cornish: 19ves | Cornish: nownsegves | Cornish: 90ves | Cornish: degves ha peswar-ugens |
Larger numbers also employ the suffix Cornish: -ves.
| Cornish: 100ves | Cornish: kansves | Cornish: 1,000ves | Cornish: milves | Cornish: 1,000,000ves | Cornish: milvilves |
|---|
In multi-word numbers, the initial smaller number joined with the connector takes the ordinal form, for example Cornish: kynsa warn ugens “21st” and Cornish: nownsegves ha peswar-ugens “99th” (not Cornish: *onan warn ugensves or Cornish: *nownsek ha peswar-ugensves). In multiword numbers that are not joined by connecting words, the final number takes the ordinal form, for example Cornish: dew-ugensves “40th”, Cornish: hwegh-ugenves “120th”, Cornish: tri milves “3,000th”.
The default Cornish word order is verb–subject–object, although like most Celtic languages this is somewhat fluid. Cornish has a system of fronting constituents, in which parts of a sentence can be moved to the front for focus, rather than stressing them in situ as English does. This system has influenced the Anglo-Cornish dialect, heard in the distinctive questioning of dialect speakers such as “Goin’ in’ town are’ee?” and “’S bleddy ’tis”.
In description sentences of the verb bos ‘to be’, the complement is typically fronted:
Other existence sentences of bos front the verb:
Since Cornish prefers to use a ‘there is’ existence form of bos with indefinite objects (when not fronted for emphasis, that is), an object being definite or indefinite can result in different parts being fronted:
With other verbs, subject-fronted is the default unmarked word order. This still follows the default verb–subject–object order, since sentences of this kind were in origin relative clauses emphasising the subject:
When the sentence's object is a pronoun, it appears before the verb and after the particle a, although it can also appear after the verb for emphasis: My a’s gwel ‘I see her’, or My a’s gwel hi “I see her”.When auxiliary verbs are used, a possessive pronoun is used with the verbal noun: My a wra hy gweles ‘I see her’ (literally “I do her seeing”), or when stressed, My a wra hy gweles hi “I see her”. In both instances, colloquial spoken Cornish may drop all but the suffixed pronouns, to give My a wel hi and My a wra gweles hi, although this is rarely written.
In questions and negative sentences, an interrogative particle and negative particle are used, respectively. These are generally fronted in neutral situations:
Subject pronouns can be placed before a negative particle for emphasis: My ny vynnav kewsel Sowsnek ’I will not speak English’ or ’As for me, I will not speak English’ (said to be Dolly Pentreath's last words).
Besides the “neutral” structures given above, elements of Cornish sentences can be fronted to give emphasis, or when responding to a question with requested information. Fronting involves moving the element to the beginning of the sentence. English typically achieves this by modifying tone or intonation.
There are two particles involved in fronting. The particle a is actually a relative particle used when the subject or direct object of a sentence is fronted. If anything else is fronted, usually adverbials or information headed by prepositions, the particle used is y (yth before a vowel).
| Question | Response | |
|---|---|---|
Who bought the bread? |
He bought it. (lit. It was him who bought it) | |
Did Mary buy it? |
No, Bob bought it. (lit. It was Bob who bought it) | |
What did you buy? |
I bought cheese. (lit. It was cheese that I bought) | |
Did you buy this one? |
I didn't buy this one; I bought that one. (lit. It was that one that I bought) | |
What did you do? |
I bought the cheese. (lit. It was buying the cheese that I did) | |
When did you buy it? |
I bought it at five o’clock. (lit. It was at five o’clock that I bought it) | |
Where did you buy it? |
I bought it in the supermarket. (lit. It was in the supermarket that I bought it) |
Determiners precede the noun they modify, while adjectives generally follow it. A modifier that precedes its head noun often causes a mutation, and adjectives following a feminine noun are lenited. Thus:
Genitive relationships are expressed by apposition. The genitive in Cornish is formed by putting two noun phrases next to each other, the possessor coming second. So English “The cat's mother”, or “mother of the cat”, corresponds to Cornish Cornish: mamm an gath – literally, “mother the cat”; “the project manager's telephone number” is Cornish: niver pellgowser menystrer an towl – literally, “number telephone manager the project”. Only the last noun in a genitive sequence can take the definite article.