medru

Welsh

Etymology

From medr (“ability, skill”) +‎ -u.

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛdrɨ̞/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛdri/
• Rhymes: -ɛdrɨ̞

Verb

medru (first-person singular present medraf) (North Wales)

1. to be able to, can

   Synonym: gallu

   Antonyms: ffaelu, methu

2. to know how to, know, be familiar with
   • King, Gareth (1993) Modern Welsh: A Comprehensive Grammar (Routledge Grammars), London and New York: Routledge, →ISBN, page 202:

     Mae’r ddynes ’na’n medru Cymraeg yn iawn.

     That woman knows Welsh well.

Usage notes

• In the colloquial language, the preterite of this verb is almost never used; the past tense is rendered by means of the periphrastic imperfect, e.g. oedd o’n medru (“he could, he was able to”).
• In the colloquial language, the future tense of this verb has a present-tense meaning as well, so medra i means both ‘I can’ and ‘I will be able to’.

Conjugation

Conjugation (literary)

	singular			plural			impersonal
	first	second	third	first	second	third
present indicative/future	medraf	medri	medr	medrwn	medrwch	medrant	medrir
imperfect (indicative/subjunctive)/ conditional	medrwn	medrit	medrai	medrem	medrech	medrent	medrid
preterite	medrais	medraist	medrodd	medrasom	medrasoch	medrasant	medrwyd
pluperfect	medraswn	medrasit	medrasai	medrasem	medrasech	medrasent	medrasid, medresid
present subjunctive	medrwyf	medrych	medro	medrom	medroch	medront	medrer
imperative	—	medr	medred	medrwn	medrwch	medrent	medrer
verbal noun	medru
verbal adjectives	medredig

Conjugation (colloquial)

Inflected colloquial forms	singular			plural
	first	second	third	first	second	third
future	medra i, medraf i	medri di	medr o/e/hi	medrwn ni	medrwch chi	medran nhw
conditional	medrwn i, medswn i	medret ti, medset ti	medrai fo/fe/hi, medsai fo/fe/hi	medren ni, medsen ni	medrech chi, medsech chi	medren nhw, medsen nhw
preterite	medrais i, medres i	medraist ti, medrest ti	medrodd o/e/hi	medron ni	medroch chi	medron nhw
imperative	—	medra	—	—	medrwch	—
Note: All other forms are periphrastic, as usual in colloquial Welsh.

Synonyms

• (be able to): gallu
• (know): nabod

Antonyms

• ffili (“fail, be unable, cannot”)
• methu (“fail, be unable, cannot”)

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
medru	fedru	unchanged	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.