In most cases, pronouns in Quenya are endings added to verbs, but there are also independent forms:

ni (I/me)
lye (you, polite singular)
tye (you, familiar sg.)
se (he/she, him/her). Also hye (him/her).
sa (it)
ve (we, inclusive)
me (we, exclusive)
le (you, plural)
te (they/them)

The independent pronouns are used:
– when the verb has an object but no pronominal ending for the subject
– when case endings are needed [note: the plural pronouns form their cases with the singular case endings, e.g. men “for us”]
– when the copula is left out
– in imperative phrases
– after gerunds in the dative case expressing “in order to”

Examples:
I aran varyanë ni (The king protected me)
Á hlarë me! (Hear us!)
Mahtanente mapien ni. (They fought to seize me.)
Á anta nin masta! (Give me bread! “nin” is dative of “ni”)
Le vanima. (You [are] beautiful.)

Impersonal verbs

“Óla-” (to dream) and a few other verbs are impersonal, meaning that the person affected by them is not the grammatical subject of the phrase, but is mentioned in the dative case.

Example: Óla i cánon malto. (The commander dreams about gold)
A literal translation would be “[It] dreams *for the commander* about gold”.

U-stem verbs

A small number of verbs have stems in “-u”: palu- (to open wide, spread, expand, extend), hlapu- (to fly or stream in the wind), fifíru- (to slowly fade away), nurru- (to murmur, grumble), miqu- (to kiss; past tense: minquë), siqu- (to sigh; past tense: síquë).

An example of the active participle of these verbs is “hlápula”.

A little more is known about the verb nicu- (to be chill, cold (of weather); to snow, it is cold, it freezes). Aorist 3rd person singular niquë (it snows, it freezes), present níqua (it is freezing), past tense nicunë (it snowed, it froze).

Lá

The particle “lá” can mean two things:

– “beyond” (used for comparison)
– “not” (used to negate sentences)

When used as a negation, lá is placed in front of the verb that is to be negated. It is interchangeable with the negative verb (“ua-“).

Examples:
I neri merner apsa. (The men wanted food.)
I neri lá merner apsa (The men didn’t want food)
Fauta. (It snows.)
Lá fauta. (It doesn’t snow.)

Notice that the Quenya construction is simpler than the English one – “lá” is just inserted, nothing else is changed.

Lá can also be used as a negative verb when another verb is not expressed or repeated (aorist: gets short “a” as in the conjugated forms of ná, present: laia, past: lánë, perfect: alaië, future: lauva).
Example: Matin apsa mal lan yávë. (I eat meat but I don’t [eat] fruit),

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Vocabulary List

1. ni “I” / “me”
2. lye “you” (polite singular)
3. tye “you” (familiar singular)
4. se “he / she” / ”him / her” Also hye (“him / her”)
5. sa “it”
6. ve “we” / “us” (inclusive)
7. me “we” / “us” (exclusive)
8. le “you” (plural)
9. te “they / them”
10. óla- (impersonal verb) “to dream”
11. or- (impersonal verb)”to urge, impel”, can be used for “feel moved to, would like to”
12. mauya- (impersonal verb) “to compel”, can be used for “have to, must”
13. lá 1. “beyond” (comparison) 2. “not” (negation)
14. saila “wise”
15. alta “large”

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Tengwar

From this lesson onwards, there will only be exercises, each consisting of two lines of the poem Namárië. The exception is Lesson 23 – Numerals, where you will also find a part on writing numbers with Tengwar.