mae + Indefinite Noun
There Is and There Are: Mae
Welsh has no separate phrase for "there is". Just use mae + a noun without "the": Mae caffi yn y pentref (There's a café in the village).
How It Works
Pattern: Mae + noun (no article) + the rest.
- Mae caffi yn y pentref. — There's a café in the village.
- Mae plant yn yr ardd. — There are children in the garden.
- Mae llawer o bobl yma. — There are lots of people here. (See llawer o + soft mutation.)
A noun without "the" is called indefinite. Because Welsh has no word for "a", caffi alone already means "a café"; see No Word for A.
Compare with "the": Mae'r caffi yn y pentref = The café is in the village. The words are almost the same, but now you are talking about a café the listener already knows.
With an action: Mae bws yn dod can mean "A bus is coming" or "There's a bus coming".
Questions and negatives use different words: Oes caffi yma? (Is there a café here?) and Does dim caffi yma (There isn't a café here). See Oes and Does dim. In speech, especially in the North, people often add 'na: Mae 'na gaffi yn y pentref. See mae 'na.
Examples (6)
- Mae caffi yn y pentref.
There's a café in the village.
- Mae llawer o bobl yma heddiw.
There are lots of people here today.
Pobl softens to bobl after llawer o.
- Mae ci yn yr ardd.
There's a dog in the garden.
- Mae bws yn dod.
There's a bus coming.
Also: A bus is coming.
- Mae dau gaffi yn y dref.
There are two cafés in town.
Caffi softens to gaffi after dau (two), and the verb is still mae.
- Mae'r caffi yn y pentref.
The café is in the village.
With the article, this is about a particular café, not "there is".
Common Mistakes
Asking "Is there...?" with mae.
Mae caffi yn y pentref?Oes caffi yn y pentref?Mae + an indefinite noun is only for statements. To ask whether something exists, use oes; to say it does not, use does dim.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Mae with an indefinite noun means there is, so it combines mae with noun subjects and bare indefinite nouns.
Related Patterns
- Oes? / Does dimIs There? There Isn't: Oes and Does Dim
Ask and deny that something exists.
Level 1 - mae 'naThere Is in Speech: Mae 'Na
A spoken way to say "there is", especially in the North.
Level 2 - llawer o + Soft MutationQuantity Words + O + Soft Mutation
Say "lots of" after mae.
Level 2 - Present of bodPresent Tense of Bod
Mae is a form of bod.
Level 1
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
Words in This Pattern
Practice mae + Indefinite Noun in Bubblegum
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