Welsh to Marathi: three noun genders and an owner’s attached ending
Marathi agreement introduces a third gender category
Welsh distinguishes masculine and feminine grammatical gender, with mutation providing some visible evidence in the noun phrase. Marathi distinguishes masculine, feminine and neuter. A Welsh feminine or masculine classification therefore cannot by itself determine the agreement of the Marathi equivalent; the target noun belongs to its own grammatical system.
Marathi in Context illustrates a child introduction with आमचा मुलगा, our son, आमची मुलगी, our daughter, and आमचं बाळ, our baby. The changing possessive form accompanies different possessed nouns while the owners remain the same family group. A Welsh reader should not interpret those different forms as three different versions of who owns the relationship.
The neuter example is particularly useful for this direction. Welsh has no corresponding third grammatical-gender category to copy into Marathi. The target’s agreement must follow the selected Marathi noun rather than being forced into the two-way classification available in the source.
An ending attached to the owner agrees with the possession
The Marathi treebank documentation identifies चा, ची, चे and च्या as possessive material attached in writing to its host. It explicitly states that the agreement concerns the possessed entity, independently of the host identifying the possessor. The visible attachment point and the agreement controller are therefore different.
Welsh approaches possession through different constructions. Fy and dy precede the noun and can trigger nasal or soft mutation; the same father noun appears in fy nhad and dy dad. Those source changes tell the translator about ownership grammar, but they do not predict which Marathi possessive ending belongs to the target noun.
When a Welsh phrase names one person’s several possessions, Marathi can change the possessive ending as the possessed noun changes even though the owner’s name remains constant. This is why checking only the name immediately beside the ending can lead to a mistaken correction. Identify the thing possessed before assessing its agreement.
A Marathi name question also establishes the address relationship
The Chicago course contrasts तुमचं नाव काय? as respectful address with तुझं नाव काय? as familiar address. Both ask for the person’s name. A Welsh introduction should retain the intended relationship with the addressee, rather than assuming that every friendly exchange calls for the familiar Marathi form.
The course also distinguishes तू and तुम्ही in its introductory dialogues. A respectful plural-looking form can address one person. The translator must therefore preserve both the actual participant count and the social relationship; neither is settled by judging how many letters or endings appear in the target.
A prohibition needs its own negative predicate
The Marathi documentation identifies नको as an auxiliary used for negative imperatives. Welsh negative constructions have their own initial changes and particles, so an instruction not to act should not be assembled by translating a general negative statement and hoping it also functions as a command. The target construction must retain the Welsh sentence’s prohibitive purpose, not merely its negative polarity.
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