cael

• caffael, caffel

A complex, suppletive merger of two separate Celtic verbs into one paradigm.

• The forms outside of the present first-person singular that contain an -f- or -ff-, and also cas, come from Middle Welsh caffael, from Old Welsh cephitor (pres. impersonal) and cepi (pres. 2sg.), from Proto-Celtic *gabyeti (“to take”). Compare Cornish kavos and Breton kavout.
• The other forms without an -f- or -ff- (and pres. 1sg. caf) are from Middle Welsh cael, from Old Welsh ci (pres. 2sg.), from Proto-Celtic *kageti (“to get”), a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *kagʰ- (“to hold”).

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): (standard) /kaːɨ̯l/, (colloquial) /kaːl/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): (standard) /kai̯l/, (colloquial) /kaːl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːɨ̯l, -aːl

cael (first-person singular present caf)

1. to get, receive; to have (experience)

   cael anrheg ― to get a present

   cael brecwast ― to have breakfast, to get breakfast

   cael gair ― to have a word

2. (chiefly future or conditional tense) to get to, be allowed to, may (with a verbal noun)

   Gawn ni weld y ffilm hwyr heno?

   Will we get to see/May we see the late film tonight?

   Cewch.

   Yes (you may).

   Gaen ni fynd allan pe tasen ni'n gorffen ein gwaith cartre?

   Might we go out/Would we be allowed to go out if we finished our homework?

   1. to be allowed to have, may have (with a noun)

      Cei di ddiod.

      You may have a drink.

      Ga i docyn i Gaerdydd?

      May I have a ticket to Cardiff?

3. (chiefly informal, colloquial) used with a possessive determiner (agreeing with the subject) and a verbal noun to form a construction with passive meaning

   Mae’r tŷ’n cael ei godi.

   The house is being built.

   (literally, “The house is having its building.”)

   Gaeth Terry ei tharo gan bêl eira.

   Terry was hit (got hit) by a snowball.

In more formal Welsh, the passive voice is formed using the impersonal verb forms:

Codir y tŷ. ― The house is being built. (literally, “[One] builds the house.”)

• cael i
• cael allan, cael mas (“to find out”)

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “cael”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies