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    • Lessons 1-10 >
      • 1 - Pronunciation >
        • Sindarin IPA
      • 2 - Greetings
      • 3 - Origins >
        • Sindarin place names
      • 4 - Questions
      • 5 - Eating & drinking
      • 6 - Plurals (1)
      • 7 - Plurals (2)
      • 8 - Pronouns (nominative)
      • 9 - Pronouns (object & dative)
      • 10 - Colours & Soft mutation introduction
    • Lessons 11-20 >
      • 11 - Soft mutation
      • 12 - Using adjectives & adverbs
      • 13 - Prepositions (1)
      • 14 - Prepositions (2)
      • 15 - 'in' & Nasal mutation
      • 16 - Pronouns (possessive)
      • 17 - Verbs (Present Tense)
      • 18 - Verbs (Past Tense)
      • 19 - Verbs (Intransitive endings and irregulars)
      • 20 - Verbs (Future Tense)
    • Lessons 21-30 >
      • 21 - Verbs (Conditional)
      • 22 - Irregular verbs
      • 23 - Verbs (Dual)
      • 24 - Sentence structure
      • 25 - Negation
      • 26 - 'To be'
      • 27 - Relative pronouns and uncertainty
      • 28 - Timekeeping
      • 29 - Numbers & Mathematics
      • 30 - Mixed mutation and 'En'
    • Lessons 31-40 >
      • 31 - Plurals (3): Class plurals
      • 32 - Possessive, singular and diminutive suffixes
      • 33 - Comparatives & Superlatives
      • 34 - Abstract Suffix
      • 35 - Further suffixes
      • 36 - How to make names (1)
      • 37 - How to make names (2)
      • 38 - Gondorian & Mirkwood Sindarin
      • 39 - Doriathrin Sindarin
      • 40 - Liquid and Stop mutations
    • Lessons 41 onwards >
      • 41 - Elision
  • Resources
    • Mutation chart
    • Pronoun chart
    • (m)b words
    • (n)d words
    • (n)g words
    • -ath
    • Jigsaws
    • Grammatical terms
    • Language of the hands

Lesson 16 - Pronouns (possessive)

This lesson covers possessive pronouns, one of the most commonly used pronoun types in English.
Examples: my book, your pen etc.

The possessive pronoun in Sindarin always includes the definite article, i (the, singular). This cannot be omitted unless you are using the pronoun to start the sentence, and as always when i is used it causes mutation in the following word.
Please note that demonstratives are treated identically to possessives, hence their inclusion.

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)

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
A
s you can see, the adjective ilaurui = daily goes inside the possessive pronoun structure.

Examples:
i barf garan nîn = My red book
i v
ŷg 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

What you don't need to do is follow the table marked 'In or I?' in Lesson 10. In possessive pronouns, i is always i, never in or idh etc. Just remember to use nasal mutation.

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


Testing your knowledge

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  • Home
    • Donations
    • Contact/About me
  • Words
  • Verbs
  • Phrases
  • Lessons
    • Lessons 1-10 >
      • 1 - Pronunciation >
        • Sindarin IPA
      • 2 - Greetings
      • 3 - Origins >
        • Sindarin place names
      • 4 - Questions
      • 5 - Eating & drinking
      • 6 - Plurals (1)
      • 7 - Plurals (2)
      • 8 - Pronouns (nominative)
      • 9 - Pronouns (object & dative)
      • 10 - Colours & Soft mutation introduction
    • Lessons 11-20 >
      • 11 - Soft mutation
      • 12 - Using adjectives & adverbs
      • 13 - Prepositions (1)
      • 14 - Prepositions (2)
      • 15 - 'in' & Nasal mutation
      • 16 - Pronouns (possessive)
      • 17 - Verbs (Present Tense)
      • 18 - Verbs (Past Tense)
      • 19 - Verbs (Intransitive endings and irregulars)
      • 20 - Verbs (Future Tense)
    • Lessons 21-30 >
      • 21 - Verbs (Conditional)
      • 22 - Irregular verbs
      • 23 - Verbs (Dual)
      • 24 - Sentence structure
      • 25 - Negation
      • 26 - 'To be'
      • 27 - Relative pronouns and uncertainty
      • 28 - Timekeeping
      • 29 - Numbers & Mathematics
      • 30 - Mixed mutation and 'En'
    • Lessons 31-40 >
      • 31 - Plurals (3): Class plurals
      • 32 - Possessive, singular and diminutive suffixes
      • 33 - Comparatives & Superlatives
      • 34 - Abstract Suffix
      • 35 - Further suffixes
      • 36 - How to make names (1)
      • 37 - How to make names (2)
      • 38 - Gondorian & Mirkwood Sindarin
      • 39 - Doriathrin Sindarin
      • 40 - Liquid and Stop mutations
    • Lessons 41 onwards >
      • 41 - Elision
  • Resources
    • Mutation chart
    • Pronoun chart
    • (m)b words
    • (n)d words
    • (n)g words
    • -ath
    • Jigsaws
    • Grammatical terms
    • Language of the hands