cael

See also: cáel

Welsh

Alternative forms

• caffael, caffel

Etymology

Syncopated form of caffel, from Middle Welsh caffael, verbal noun from Proto-Celtic *kab- (compare Cornish kavos, Breton kavout), alteration of Proto-Indo-European *kh₂pi- (compare Latin capiō, English have, heave, Albanian kap).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaːɨ̯l/
  • IPA^(key): /kaːl/
• IPA^(key): /kai̯l/
  • IPA^(key): /kaːl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

cael (first-person singular present caf)

1. to get, receive, have

   Mi gaf i Sbaeneg nesaf.

   I have Spanish next.

   cael brecwast ― to have breakfast

2. to get to, be allowed to, may (with a verbal noun)

   Gawn ni weld y ffilm hwyr heno?

   Do we get to see the late film tonight?

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

   Gaeth Terry ei tharo gan bêl eira.

   Terry got hit by a snowball (literally, Terry got her hitting by a snowball).

   Mae’r tŷ yn cael ei godi.

   The house is being built (literally, The house is getting its building).

Conjugation

Conjugation

Literary forms	singular			plural			impersonal
	first	second	third	first	second	third
present indicative/future	caf	cei	caiff	cawn	cewch	cânt	ceir
imperfect indicative/conditional	cawn	cait, caet	câi	caem	caech	caent	ceid
preterite	cefais, ces	cefaist, cest	cafodd, cas, cafas (obsolete), cadd (poetic)	cawsom	cawsoch	cawsant	cafwyd, caed, cad
pluperfect	cawswn	cawsit	cawsai	cawsem	cawsech	cawsent	cawsid
present subjunctive	caffwyf	ceffych	caffo	caffom	caffoch	caffont	caffer
imperfect subjunctive	caffwn, cawn	caffit, cait	caffai, câi	caffem, caem	caffech, caech	caffent, caent	ceffid
imperative	—	—	caffed, caed	—	—	caffent, caent	caffer, caer
verbal noun	cael, caffael, caffel
verbal adjectives	caffaeledig caffaeladwy

Inflected colloquial forms	singular			plural
	first	second	third	first	second	third
preterite	ces i, cetho i	cest ti	caeth o/e/hi cafodd o/e/hi cas e/hi	caethon ni cafon ni cawson ni ceson ni	caethoch chi cafoch chi cawsoch chi cesoch chi	caethon nhw cafon nhw cawson nhw ceson nhw
future	caf i, ca i	cei di	ceith o/e/hi caiff e/hi	cawn ni cewn ni	cewch chi	cân nhw, cewn nhw
conditional	cawn i celwn i celen i	caet ti celet ti	câi fo/fe/hi celai fe/hi	caen ni celen ni	caech chi celech chi	caen nhw celen nhw
imperative	—	—	—	—	—	—
Note: All other forms are periphrastic, as usual in colloquial Welsh.

Derived terms

• cael i

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
cael	gael	nghael	chael
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

• 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