Ivrinel: Amdiron, henair egor nethil vi nost gîn?
Amdiron: Muinthel, i eneth în Elil. Sâf chent luin a finnel nimp.
Ivrinel: A sevig 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.

Sindarin	English
Caran	Red
Coll	Scarlet, golden-red, orange
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
Hithren	Grey
Rustui	Coppery
Celebren	Silvery
Mallen	Golden (the colour of actual gold)
Melingarn	Orange, tawny
Glóriel	Golden, the bright yellow of flowers

Three different words for white?
The Elves were very fond of words for white, but there are subtle differences between them analogous to the albus/candida distinction in Latin (albus 'dull white', candida 'bright white').
Faen = Radiant, white
Glân = Bright, shining 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 notice 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
Hithren	Chithren
Rustui	Rustui (R does not change)
Celebren	Gelebren
Mallen	Vallen
Melingarn	Velingarn
Glóriel	'lóriel

Examples

i iaul vorn = the black cat
i loth goll = the golden-red flower
i higil luin = the blue necklace
sigil luin = a blue necklace
sigil garan = a red necklace
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

Testing your knowledge

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