Ivrinel: Amdiron, gerig muindyr egor muinthil?
Amdiron: Gerin muinthel, i eneth dîn Elil. Sâf hent luin a finnel nimp.
Ivrinel: A hevig finnel vorn a chent varan!

Ivrinel: Amdiron, do you have brothers or sisters?
Amdiron: I have a sister, her name is Elil. She has blue eyes and white hair.
Ivrinel: And you have black hair and brown eyes!

The most important thing to understand about Sindarin is that the letters at the beginning of words change depending on where they come in a sentence or what comes before them. This is used in both spoken and written Sindarin, and must be applied - it is an intrinsic part of the language.

The Sindarin word for soft mutation is prestanneth. Other sites and lessons may call it 'Vocalic mutation' or 'Lenition'.

Translating Sindarin invariably involves descriptions, and the Elves loved to have many words for their colours to describe things, from the colours of snow to falling leaves. First of all, here is a list of the colours, in both Sindarin and English. The last three are my own reconstructions, but they are useful for more modern translations.

Sindarin	English
Caran	Red
Coll	Scarlet, golden-red
Luin	Blue
Elu	Pale blue
Malen	Yellow
Calen	Green
Morn	Black
Baran	Golden brown
Rhosc	Brown, russet
Faen, Fain, Nimp	White
Gloss	White as snow
Glân	Bright shining white
Mith	Pale grey
Thinn	Grey
Rustui	Coppery
Celebren	Silvery
Mallen	Golden
Cull	Orange
Ling	Purple
Crinth	Pink

Three different words for white?
The Elves were very fond of words for white, but there are subtle differences between them.
Faen = Radiant, white
Fain = White, also the noun 'cloud'
Nimp = Pale, white

Here is the list of colours again, but this time with their mutated forms next to them, so you can start to see which letters change, and which don't (you will be very pleased to know that not every letter changes). This lesson does not cover every change that occurs with soft mutation, this will be covered in Lesson 11.

Original Sindarin	With soft mutation
Caran	Garan
Coll	Goll
Luin	Luin (L does not change)
Elu	Elu (vowels do not change)
Malen	Valen
Calen	Galen
Morn	Vorn
Baran	Varan
Rhosc	Rosc
Faen, Fain, Nimp	Faen, Fain, Nimp (F and N do not change)
Gloss	'loss (G disappears)
Glân	'lân
Mith	Vith
Thinn	Thinn (TH does not change)
Rustui	Rustui (R does not change)
Celebren	Gelebren
Mallen	Vallen
Cull	Gull
Ling	Ling (L does not change)
Crinth	Grinth

Examples:
i iaul vorn = the black cat
i loth grinth = the pink flower
i higil luin = the blue necklace
sigil luin = blue necklace  (without the i you do not need to mutate the word for necklace)
sigil garan = red necklace  (but you still need to mutate the adjective)
i chû fain = the white dog
hû varan = a brown dog
i annabon vallen a gelebren = the golden and silvery elephant
i annabon vallen a i annabon gelebren = the golden elephant and the silvery elephant

Vocabulary
a/ah/adh = and
If the word following 'and' begins with a consonant, you use a
If the word following 'and' begins with a vowel, you can use a, ah or adh - Lesson 11 will explain why
i = the (singular)
annabon = elephant
iaul = cat
loth = flower   
sigil = necklace
hû = dog

Testing your knowledge

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