The instrumental case is used to express how something happened or was done, in the sense “by what means”, “using what” or “by whom”, i.e. I came *by foot*, I hit the enemy *with a stone*, the tree was felled *by me*. It cannot be used to mean “with” in the sense “together with”.

The ending for instrumental singular is “-nen”.
Example: “rocconen” (by horse).
If the ending is to be added to a word that ends in a consonant other than -n and -r, an “e” is slipped in to avoid impossible consonant combinations.

The plural ending is “-inen”.
Example: “roccoinen” (by horses).
If the ending is to be added to a word ending in -e, this merges with the -i, forming a long í.
Example: lassë (leaf) – **lasseinen (wrong form) – lassínen (instrumental: by/with leaves).

The imperative

The imperative is a verb form used for requests and commands. A few ‘old’ imperative forms ending in “-a” exist (heca! [be gone], ela! [look]), but the normal way of forming imperatives is with the particle “á”.

A-stem verbs use á + the verb stem.
Example: “á móta!” (work!)
Basic verbs use á + add -e to the verb stem.
Example: “á sucë!” (drink!)
Negative requests/commands are made with the particle “áva” (don’t)
Example:“áva móta!” (don’t work!), “áva sucë!” (don’t drink!)
There is also a shorter form that is used without another verb:
Example: “Vá!” (Don’t!)

There is also a verb “ava-“ meaning “to forbid, to prohibit”. (future tense: auva, perfect tense: avávië).

Wishes can be expressed using the word “nai” (be it that) with the future tense of the verb.
Example: “Nai hiruvalyë alassë.” (be it that you will find joy = I hope that you will find joy = may you find joy).

***

Lesson 16 Vocabulary List

as “with” (= together with)
lelya “to go, to travel” pa. t.: lendë
alya “rich, prosperous, blessed”
úmëa “evil”
lunga “heavy”
anna “gift”
nér (ner-) “man” (= adult male)
nís (niss-) “woman”
rocco “horse”
mírë “jewel”
taurë “forest”
pelecco “axe”

***

Tengwar Lesson 16

The only sounds that remain are the diphthongs. In this lesson we’ll study the diphthongs which have an –i as the second sound. We have a special tengwa to denote this second sound:

It can be combined with the four other vowels:

The diphthong ‘ei’ is very rare and only appears in two dative and instrumental plurals: rein “to days” (of ré “day”), peinen “with lips” (of pé “lip”).

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