IMPORTANT LINK YOU WILL NEED FOR THIS PLURAL LESSON:

Sindarin Mutations Chart

Most Sindarin plurals are formed by vowel changes. These changes are called “umlaut” in English …. “prestanneth” (‘affection’ of vowels) in Sindarin. Some examples of this in English would be: goose > geese, mouse > mice.

Below is a smaller version of the Mutations Chart showing the plural changes in yellow for NON-FINAL and FINAL (or monosyllabic words) syllables. Keeping the larger form of this chart at your computer will put the information quickly at your fingertips for this plural lesson and all the mutation lessons combined.

NOTE that not all of the vowels and diphthongs in a word change.
The exceptions for NON-final vowels are: E, I, Y, EI, UI, AI, AE.
The exceptions for FINAL vowels are: I, Y, Ý, AE, AI, EI, UI.
With your chart at the computer, there is no pressure to memorize these …. they will become habit with time.

Below are some examples of NON-FINAL syllable vowel changes, shown with capital letters. The final (and monosyllabic) changes are also shown, but not capitalized. They are highlighted in the next set of examples.
a > e … AdAnAdar > EdEnEdair
e > e … Edhel > Edhil
i > i … Ithron > Ithryn
o > e … Onod > Enyd
ó > ó … gÓdhel > gÓdhil
u > y … tUlus > tYlys
y > y … Ylfdan > Ylfdain
au > oe … tAUron > tOEryn
ae > ae … hAEred > hAErid
ai > ai … ————
ei > ei … EIthel > EIthil
ui > ui … cUInar > cUInair

Below are some examples of FINAL vowel or MONOSYLLABIC (word only has one syllable) changes:
a (with 1 consonant following it) > ai … dAm > dAIm
~~ REMEMBER that dh, th, ch are single consonants when considering which “A” rule to apply ~~
a (with 2 or more consonants following it) > e … nArn > nErn
e > i … edhEl > edhIl
é/ê > í/ î … tÊw > tÎw
ie > i … minIEl > mínIl
i > i … sigIl > sigIl
o > y … Orch > Yrch
ó/ô > ý … bÔr > bÝr
io > y … thalIOn > thelYn
u > y … tulUs > tylYs
ú/û > ui … lhÛg > lhUIg
y > y … Ylf > Ylf
ý > ý … mÝl > mÝl
au > oe … nAUg > nOEg
ae > ae … AEw > AEw
ai > ai … andAIth > endAIth
ei > ei … rEIn > rEIn
ui > ui … lUIn>lUIn

Let’s go back and look at the word aran “king” for a second. Because A becomes E in the initial syllable, and because A becomes AI in the final syllable you end up with erain “kings”.

Let’s look at some more examples:

Aran – non final syllable: Ar (a>e) final syllable: an (a>ai) = Erain
Edhel – non final syllable: Edh (e>e) , el (e>i) = Edhil
Naug – one syllable: Naug (au>oe) = Noeg
Orch – one syllable Orch (o>y) = Yrch
Gwachaedir – non final syllable: Gwa (a>e) non final syllable: chae (ae>ae) Final syllable: dir (i>i) = Gwechaedir

Plurals that look the same as Singulars

Some Sindarin words look the same in the singular and plural. In these cases, context (the way a word is used in a sentence) dictates which form is intended by the author.
Examples:
aew > bird, aew > birds
sigil > dagger, sigil > daggers