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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 17 - Verbs (Present tense)

Siron: Nauthog i linnad bain?
Ivrinel: Nauthon i linnad dîn rovain! A gin, Amdiron?
Siron: Ieston linnathar aen oh i daur a 
û i 'aear! Nae, thî aníron ledhed ennas.

Siron: Do you think the singing is beautiful?
Ivrinel: I think their singing is most beautiful. And you, Amdiron?
Amdiron: I wish they would sing about the forest and not the sea! Alas, now I want to travel there.
Sindarin has two main types of verbs which are generally known as I-stem verbs and A-stem verbs.
You can tell which is which simply by looking at a verb in a dictionary. If it ends with an A, it's an A-stem verb. If it doesn't, it's an I-stem verb.

Verbs in Sindarin are very unlike those in English. In English we have separate pronouns and verbs (I write, You think, They do). In Sindarin the pronouns attach to the verb and are known as pronominal suffixes (a suffix that serves as a pronoun).

I-stem verb suffixes and changes

Stem vowels
I-stem verbs all contain a single vowel. This is the 'stem vowel'. The Elvish (Quenya) term for this is
sundóma.

E.g. in Cen- 'to see', the stem vowel is E; in Badh- 'to judge', the stem vowel is A.

Before you can add on these suffixes, you need to be aware of i-affection. This is a change caused by adding suffixes with an 'i' in them. If the suffix doesn't contain an i you don't need to apply i-affection.

Table of I-affection and vowel lengthening changes

Stem vowel
Changes to
Lengthens to
a
e
â
e
e
ê
i
i
î
o
e
ô

Pronominal suffixes

Infinitive  'to x'
-ed
Imperative 'X!'-
-o-
Gerund '...ing' (noun)
-ed
Present participle '...ing' (adjective)
-ol-
1st person 'I...'
-in
Plural 'We...'
-im
2nd person formal 'You...'
-il
Plural 'You (all)...'
-idh
2nd person informal 'You...'
-ig
Plural 'You (all)...'
-igir
3rd person 'He/she/it...'
Lengthened stem vowel
Plural 'They...'
-ir

Example: Tol- 'to come'

The stem vowel of Tol- is 'o'. From the table given above we can see that O changes to E if a suffix is added that contains an 'i'. When lengthened, o changes to ô. This gives us the following completed table for the present tense of Tol-.
Infinitive  'to come'
Toled
Imperative 'Come!'
Tolo-
Gerund 'coming' (noun)
Toled
Present participle 'coming' (adjective)
Tolol-
1st person 'I come, I am coming'
Telin
Plural  'We come, we are coming'
Telim
2nd person formal 'You come, you are coming'
Telil
Plural 'You (all) come, you are all coming'
Telidh
2nd person informal 'You come, you are coming'
Telig
Plural 'You (all) come, you are all coming'
Teligir
3rd person 'He/she/it comes, he/she/it is coming'
Tôl
Plural 'They come, they are coming'
Telir

A-stem verb suffixes

A-stem verbs are not subject to i-affection or vowel lengthening.
Infinitive 'to x'
-ad
Imperative 'X!'
-o
Gerund '...ing' (noun)
-ad
Present participle '...ing' (adjective)
-ol
1st person 'I...'
-on
Plural 'We...'
-am
2nd person formal 'You...'
-ol
Plural 'You (all)...'
-odh
2nd person informal 'You...'
-og
Plural 'You (all)...'
-ogir
3rd person 'He/she/it...'
-a
Plural 'They...'
-ar

Example: Ista- 'to know'

Infinitive 'to know'
Istad
Imperative 'Know!'
Isto
Gerund 'knowing' (noun)
Istad
Present participle 'knowing' (adjective)
Istol
1st person 'I know'
Iston
Plural 'We know'
Istam
2nd person formal 'You know'
Istol
Plural 'You (all) know'
Istodh
2nd person informal 'You know'
Istog
Plural 'You (all) know'
Istogir
3rd person 'He/she/it knows'
Ista
Plural 'They know'
Istar

What is the difference between the gerund and the present participle?

The only example of an I-stem verb gerund is in the place name Cabed en-Aras = Leap of the deer. Note that this is not translated 'Leaping of the deer', but is translated as being a noun, 'Leap'.
In English, both the gerund and the present participle are formed with -ing (for example 'walking', 'running', 'talking') and look identical however if it is the gerund it acts as a noun, and if it is the present participle it acts as an adjective.

Notes on the present tense

One of the first mistakes new learners of Sindarin often make is to write sentences like Im iston or Nin iston to try and say 'I know'. Because of the way Sindarin verbs are constructed, as we have learnt above, you do not need an extra pronoun as the verb already contains one. Simply say Iston. Im iston actually means 'I know myself'. If you place a pronoun before the verb, ensure it is acting as an object.

Sindarin has only one present aspect. In English you could say 'I am eating' or 'I eat'. In Sindarin these are both covered by Medin. Similarly 'They are coming' and 'They come' are both Telir. This is an important distinction to make when dealing with Sindarin, as otherwise you are likely to try and make sentences like this:
Ni maded = I am eating
De toled = He is coming

Why is this wrong? Well although written down, 'Ni maded = I am eating' looks exactly the same as 'Medin = I am eating', they have different meanings. Ni maded implies that you, personally, are something called 'to eat, eating'.

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