This lesson covers possessive pronouns, one of the most commonly used pronoun types in English; e.g. my book, your small pen, his black cat etc.

The possessive pronoun construction in Sindarin differs depending on whether you are referring to a person or an object. Person words include those like Mellon = Friend and Hîr = Lord as these are referring directly to someone.

If you are referring to a person, you do not need to include the definite article, i. This also means that you do not need to apply soft mutation to the first noun, e.g.
Mellon nîn = My friend
Híril dîn = Their lady

If you are referring to an object, you always include the definite article, i (the, singular). As always when i is used it causes soft mutation in the following word, e.g.
i degil lîn = Your pen
i golch han = That box

Possessive pronouns

Singular	-	Plural	-
My...	(i) ... nîn	Our (not your)...	(i) ... vîn
-	-	Our (and your)...	(i) ... 'wîn
Your...(formal)	(i) ... lîn	Your...(formal)	(i) ... dhîn
Your...(informal)	(i)... gîn	Your...(informal)	(i) ... gîn
His/Hers/Its... (1st person referred to)	(i) ... în	Their...	(i) ... în
His/Hers/Its... (2nd person referred to)	(i) ... dîn	Their...	(i)... dîn
This...	(i) ... hen	These...	(i) ... hin
That...	(i) ... han	Those...	(i) ... hain

From reading the earlier lessons you may have realised that all of these pronouns have undergone soft mutation. For example the original form of 'This' is 'sen', but because it is acting as a modifier, it has changed to 'hen'. You will never see the possessive pronouns in their 'original' forms, you will always use those in the table above.

First/Second person referred to

I have until now taught that the possessive pronoun în is reflexive (meaning it could be used for 'my own book', 'his own tower', 'their own flowers' etc.)

Having re-examined the King's Letter from which it comes, I now think this is wrong. Here are the salient lines:

ar e aníra ennas suilannad mhellyn în phain = and he desires there to greet all his friends
ar Elanor, Meril, Glorfinniel, ar Eirien sellath dîn = and Elanor, Rose, Goldilocks and Daisy his daughters
ar Iorhael, Gelir, Cordof, ar Baravorn, ionnath dîn = and Frodo, Merry, Pippin and Hamfast, his sons

In the first line the pronoun 'his' refers to Aragorn, the letter's author. In the second and third lines the 'his' refers to Sam. Although Sindarin may not differentiate for gender, it would appear to differentiate for self and others so that it is clear to whom you are referring. For example: the sentence "I saw his picture and her picture beside it" would have previously read as "Egenin i em dîn a nef den i em dîn," with no way of differentiating which picture was which between two individuals.

Examples:
Sa i gor în a ha i higil dîn = That is his ring and that is her necklace
i mar în vi i ost dîn = His home is in his city (the first 'his' referred to = a man of Minas Tirith, the second = Aragorn)

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Possessive pronouns with adjectives

How do we say "My red book" or "His black cat"? From Ae Adar Nîn we have an example of this:
i mbas ilaurui vîn = our daily bread
As you can see, the adjective ilaurui = daily goes inside the possessive pronoun structure.

Examples:
i barf garan nîn = My red book
i vŷg vorn în = His black cat
i 'annel thent dîn = Their small harp
i aew vallen hen = This golden bird
i varad dond han = That tall tower

Possessive pronouns with plurals

When the noun is plural (My green books, these brown dogs), i takes nasal mutation just as it would in any other situation. This is attested from the Moria gate inscription:
Celebrimbor o Eregion teithant i thiw hin = Celebrimbor of Eregion drew these signs

Examples:
i pherf gerain nîn = My red books
i mŷg vyrn în = His black cats
i ngennil thent dîn = Their small harps
in aew vellin hin = These golden birds
i meraid dynd hain = Those tall towers

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Testing your knowledge