Welsh to Rundi: noun-class prefixes and the limits of ni
An initial change can express number rather than Welsh mutation
Welsh readers routinely recognize a noun after a changed initial consonant. The Academy grammar illustrates tad in dy dad and fy nhad, where the possessive environment changes the beginning without replacing the father meaning. Rundi, also called Kirundi, gives word beginnings a different grammatical role through noun-class prefixes.
Cox’s course contrasts umuhungu with abahungu, boy or son and boys or sons. The initial material helps distinguish number within that noun-class pair. A Welsh target check should therefore not treat every different beginning as a familiar possessive mutation, nor restore the singular prefix simply because it resembles the dictionary headword.
The Welsh source’s surrounding words still determine the intended count. Welsh y ddau gae and y ddwy law use different numeral forms and mutation patterns for two fields and two hands. Those distinctions help parse the source phrase, but they do not predict a Rundi class prefix. The target noun’s own class determines its corresponding pattern.
Agreement can identify a person without a separate pronoun
Cox gives arakora for he or she works and barakora for they work. In the documented class-one human pattern, the verb prefix distinguishes singular from plural, and the course notes that the verb can stand without a separate noun or pronoun when the reference is understood.
Welsh also has person information in verbal forms, as the Foundation guide’s bod tables show. The useful comparison is that a separate translated subject word need not appear everywhere. The actual reference must remain clear, but counting independent pronouns is a poor way to judge whether the target has preserved the Welsh participants.
A Welsh form of bod does not always become ni
Cox introduces ni for relevant identity or state statements and si for their negative, then warns that these forms are not used before a place expression in the pattern being taught. A Welsh sentence identifying somebody and one locating that person should therefore not acquire the same automatic target replacement for is.
The Welsh Foundation guide itself uses bod for several jobs, including constructions with yn or wedi and a verb-noun. Its grammatical function must be interpreted before a Rundi predicate is chosen. A Welsh auxiliary in an event construction is not simply an identity label attached to the following word.
The source’s changed shape and the target’s changed shape need separate explanations
Welsh has grammatical mutations following specific prepositions as well as possessives. Rundi class marking and the restricted ni construction do not duplicate that system. When a translation differs visibly from a source-shaped word sequence, ask which relationship each target component expresses: the noun’s class, the number of participants or the kind of predicate. These documented contrasts provide a more precise explanation than treating every altered beginning as the same phenomenon.
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