The locative case is used to express “location”, in time as well as space, and is most often translated “in”, but also “on”.

The ending for locative singular is “–ssë”.
Example: “i ostossë” (in the town).
If this ending is to be added to a word that ends in a consonant, an “e” is slipped in to avoid impossible consonant combinations.
Example: “i cardessë” (in the house).

The plural ending is “-ssen”.
Examples: “i ostossen” (in the towns), “i cardissen” (in the houses)
Notice that for plurals, the connecting vowel is “i”.

Some nouns end in “-ssë” without being locatives, and for these it is better to use the preposition “mi”(in) / “mí” (in the) than the endings.
Example: mi Víressë (in April), mí lossë (in the snow).

Relative sentences

Quenya has two relative pronouns that can be used in relative sentences. “The flower which (that) you saw is beautiful” can be expressed as “i lóte *ya* cennel ná vanima”, but also as “i lótë *i* cennel ná vanima”. Both “ya” and “i” can refer back to persons as well as things, and the translation who/which/that would depend on the context.

The relative pronoun “i” cannot receive any endings, so where a case ending is needed, “ya” must be used instead.

Word order: The verb is usually placed directly after the relative pronoun.
Example: “i osto *yassë* turë i aran” (the town *in which* the king rules”) .

Nominative: ya (sing.), yar (plur.) – which
Genitive: yo (sing.), yaron (plur.) – of which, whose
Possessive: yava (sing.), yaiva (plur.) – of which, whose
Dative: yan (sing.), yain (plur.) – for/to which, for/to whom
Allative: yanna (sing.), yannar (plur.) – to which, whither
Ablative: yallo (sing.), yallon (plur.) – from which, whence
Locative: yassë (sing.), yassen (plur.) – in which, wherein

The relative pronoun “i” can also be put in front of a verb to express “the one/s who”.
Example: “i marir ostossë” (those who live in a town), “i mótëa ná halla” ([the one] who is working is tall).

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Lesson 15 Vocabulary List

mar- “to dwell, to abide”
mi “in”
mí “in the”
ya “that, which, who”
nossë “family, clan, kin”
melmë “love”
caima “bed”
caimassëa “sick, bedridden”
lairë “summer”
hrívë “winter”
nauva “will be”
Rómen “(the) East”
Númen “(the) West”

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Tengwar Lesson 15

Now let’s have a look at the long vowels. They are never placed on a consonant but always on a special symbol we call the long carrier. This symbol looks like a dotless ‘j’, so the long vowels are denoted as follows:

Remarks:
An ‘r’ is denoted with rómen if it is followed by a long vowel.
Silmë and essë are not upside down (nuquerna) when followed by a long vowel.