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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 18 - Verbs (Past tense)

A-stem past tense

These are the 'normal' past tense endings for A-stem verbs. Some verbs in Sindarin can take both transitive (they need an object) and intransitive (they don't need an object) forms like Banga- 'to trade'. We can say both 'I traded' (this is intransitive) and 'I traded it' (this is transitive). These past tense endings are used for:
  1. The transitive forms of verbs like Banga- that can be used in two ways; when we want to say 'I traded it' we use these endings. When we want to use forms like 'I traded' you need the endings found in Lesson 19.
  2. Transitive verbs like Gwathra- (you can say 'It overshadowed us' but not 'It overshadowed').

Active participles for A-stem verbs require you to apply i-affection. Remember to remove the final -a of the verb too.
e.g. Fara- 'to hunt'.
Singular: Fariel 'having been hunted'; remove the final -a and add -iel.
Plural: Feriel 'having been hunted'; remove the final -a, add -iel and apply i-affection to the initial A.

Passive participle plurals just require you to pluralise the word as normal.
e.g. Banga- 'to trade'.
Singular: Bangannen 'traded' (as in 'the traded good')
Plural: Bengennin 'traded' (as in 'the traded goods')

Pronominal suffixes

1st person  'I...'
-nnen
Plural  'We...'
-nnem
2nd person formal 'You...'
-nnol
Plural 'You (all)...'
-nnodh
2nd person informal 'You...'
-nnog
Plural 'You (all)...'
-nnogir
3rd person 'He/she/it...'
-nt
Plural 'They...'
-nner
Active participle 'having been...'
-iel
Plural
-iel
Passive participle (adjective)
-nnen
Plural
-nnin

Example: Lasta- 'to listen'

1st person  'I listened'
Lastannen
Plural  'We listened'
Lastannem
2nd person formal 'You listened'
Lastannol
Plural 'You (all) listened'
Lastannodh
2nd person informal 'You listened'
Lastannog
Plural 'You (all) listened'
Lastannogir
3rd person 'He/she/it listened'
Lastant
Plural 'They listened'
Lastanner
Active participle 'having been listened to'
Lastiel
Plural
Lestiel
Passive participle 'listened'
Lastannen
Plural
Lestennin


I-stem past tense

Remember to use i-affection when dealing with i-stem verbs

There are two paradigms for forming the past tense of I-stem verbs in Sindarin. The one below is the Noldorin past tense of the Etymologies. This paradigm treats the Weak past tense as the regular way of conjugating the past tense and treats the conjugations of verbs like Bal-, Men- and Car- as irregulars. The second paradigm found further down the page is to treat the Strong past tense conjugations of verbs like Bal-, Men- and Car- as the regular conjugations applied to all I-stem verbs.
These verbs are attested to use the strong past tense and should always be formed thusly. Regardless of which version of the past tense you prefer, always use Version 2 with these verbs and never Version 1.
Bal- 'to rule'
Car- 'to do, make'
Caw- 'to taste'
Dag- 'to slay'
Dew- 'to fail, miss'
Men- 'to go'
Nidh- 'to intend'
Nor- 'to run'


I-stem past tense Version 1: the Weak past tense

This version of the past tense is based on the idea that as in English there are a small number of 'irregular' verbs that take a strong past tense using internal vowel changes (the English examples would be 'I drank' or 'I swam') and the majority of verbs take a weak past tense (in English these end in an 'ed', e.g. 'I braked', 'I jumped').

Step One

Find the final consonant and change it according to the table below.
Final consonant
(from the stem)

Becomes in 1st person, 2nd person and the passive participle
Becomes in 3rd person singular
(nothing further is added)

B
-MM-
-MP
D
-NN-
-NT
DH
-NN-
-NT
G
-NG-
-NC
L
-LL-
-LL
M
-MM-
-MP
P/PH
-MM-
-MP
R
-RN-
-RN
V/F
-MM-
-MP
W
-WN-
-WN

Step Two

Now we apply i-affection to the vowels in the stem UNLESS we want the 3rd person singular ‘he did, she fashioned, it threw’ or the singular passive participle (the released arrow, the caught ball). The former doesn't need anything else added to it e.g. Hemp = He kept, Gant = She threw and the latter's suffix doesn't contain an 'i' so it doesn't trigger i-affection.
Vowels
Change to
a
e
e
e
i
i
o
e

Step Three: Pronominal suffixes

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 came'
See table in Step One
Plural 'They...'
-ir
Active participle 'having xyz'
See table below in Step Four for stem vowel change
-iel

Plural
-ir
Passive participle (adjective)
-en
Plural
-in

Step Four: Active participle vowel changes

Stem vowel
Changes to
Example
A
ó
Dag- = Dógiel
E
í
Heb- = Hímmiel
I
í
Cil- = Cílliel
O
ú
Tog- = Túgiel

Example: Tol- 'to come'

1st person  'I came'
Tellin
Plural  'We came'
Tellim
2nd person formal 'You came'
Tellil
Plural 'You (all) came'
Tellidh
2nd person informal 'You came'
Tellig
Plural 'You (all) came'
Telligir
3rd person 'He/she/it came'
Toll
Plural 'They came'
Tellir
Active participle 'having come'
Túliel
Plural
Túlil
Passive participle 'come'
Tollen
Plural
Tellin

I-stem verbs with two vowels

If the I-stem verb has two internal vowels, such as Echad- = to fashion, make or Adleg- = to release, i-affection is usually applied to both where appropriate, e.g.
Edlengin = I released, Adlenc = He released (there is no 'i' added as a suffix to cause the first A to change), Edlengir = They released
Echennin = I fashioned, Echant = He fashioned, Echennir = They fashioned

There are five attested verbs (and some reconstructed ones) that this does not apply to:
Orthel-, Orthor-, Osgar-, Palandir- and Trenar-.
Because the first part of these verbs is a prefix, i-affection does not apply to the first vowel, e.g.
Orthellin = I roofed, Orthell = He roofed, Orthellir = They roofed
Orthernin = I conquered, Orthorn = He conquered, Orthernir = They conquered
Oscernin = I amputated, Oscarn = He amputated, Oscernir = They amputated
Palandirnin = I watched from afar, Palandirn = He watched from afar, Palandirnir = They watched from afar
Trenernin = I recounted, Trenarn = He recounted, Trenernir = They recounted


There is one verb, Gwedh- 'to bind' that is only irregular in the 3rd person form; Gwedhant = He/she/it bound.

I-stem past tense Version 2: The strong past tense

 This is the method most commonly used by Sindarin scholars to form the past tense of all single vowel i-stem verbs.
Verbs like Echad- and Adleg- cannot form their past tense in this manner; use the I-stem version 1 method above.

Step One

Find the stem vowel.
Place a copy of this vowel at the beginning of the stem, e.g.
Ped- take another E and place it at the beginning, EPED
Car- take another A and place it at the beginning, ACAR
Tog- take another O and place it at the beginning, OTOG
Mab- take another A and place it at the beginning, AMAB

Step Two

Apply soft mutation to the first consonant in your new stem
 
EPED - we apply soft mutation to P giving us EBED
ACAR - we apply soft mutation to C giving us AGAR
OTOG – we apply soft mutation to T giving us ODOG
AMAB – we apply soft mutation to M giving us AVAB
 
If the first consonant had been a G, e.g. from Gir- ‘to shudder’ or Gal- 'to shine'
IGIR – we apply soft mutation to G which disappears leaving us with I’IR
We then collapse the identical vowels leaving us with a new stem of IR
AGAL - we apply soft mutation to G which disappears leaving us with A'AL
We then collapse the identical vowels leaving us with a stem of AL

Step Three

Now we need to look at the final consonant. If it ends in B, D, DH or G skip to Step Four.
All other stems now need to go through a slight change.
Find your original stem vowel, e.g.
AGAR – the original stem vowel is the final A (left to right)
 
We now lengthen this vowel according to the table below.

Original vowel
Lengthens to (in 3rd person forms of one syllable)
Lengthens to (when pronominal suffixes are attached)
A
AU
O
E
I
Î
I
I
Î
O
U
Û
The 3rd person forms of one syllable are uncommon and generally arise from verbs like Gir- or Gal- that have collapsed, e.g.
AL from Gal- (AGAL, soft mutation removes the G, A’AL collapses to AL). This stem is a single syllable so for the 3rd person singular past tense form we need to lengthen A to AU, giving us AUL = he shines, it shines.
 
It is the final column that you will mostly use, as the ‘pronominal suffixes’ are all the endings indicating ‘I, we, you’ etc.
 
AGAR – we’ve already found the original stem vowel, which is an A. We now lengthen this to O, giving us AGOR. This stem is now ready for us to attach whatever ending we like to it.

Step Four

Now we make the changes to those stems that end in B, D, DH or G. These verbs do not go through Step Three.
 
EBED – because the stem ends in a D we change the D to either NN or NTH (personal preference) giving us EBENN or EBENTH
ODOG – because the stem ends in a G we change the G to either NG or NCH giving us ODONG or ODONCH
AVAB – because the stem ends in a B we change the B to MM or MP(H) giving us AVAMM or AVAMP(H). The H isn’t needed for 3rd person forms but it is needed when we put endings onto this root.
 
Now all our roots are ready for us to attach pronominal endings to them.


*The attested example 'Echanthel = You fashioned' from a 1969 document indicates that instead of changing to MM/NN/NG, the verbs would inflect somewhat differently and change to MPH/NTH/NCH. As not everyone uses this approach I leave it up to you as to which version you would prefer to use.

Step Five - Pronominal suffixes

1st person  'I...'
-en
Plural  'We...'
-em
2nd person formal 'You...'
-el
Plural 'You (all)...'
-edh
2nd person informal 'You...'
-eg
Plural 'You (all)...'
-egir
3rd person 'He/she/it...'
Lengthened stem
Plural 'They...'
-er
Active participle 'having been...'
-iel
Plural
-iel
Passive participle (adjective)
-en
Plural
-in

Passive participles

Refer to the table above directly under the heading 'I-stem past tense Version 1' to alter the final consonant in your stem. Then add -en. For plurals treat it as any other word and use the rules in Lesson 6.
1. Find the final consonant (e.g. in Ped 'to say, speak' it is D)
2. Alter it as per the table (D -> NN)
3. Add -en. (Pennen).

Example: Car- 'to do, make'

1st person  'I...'
Agoren
Plural  'We...'
Agorem
2nd person formal 'You...'
Agorel
Plural 'You (all)...'
Agoredh
2nd person informal 'You...'
Agoreg
Plural 'You (all)...'
Agoregir
3rd person 'He/she/it...'
Agor
Plural 'They...'
Agorer
Active participle 'having been...'
Agoriel
Plural
Egeriel
Passive participle (adjective)
Carnen
Plural
Cernin

Irregular example: Saf- 'to have, own, possess'

I possessed/had
Awen
We had
Awem
You possessed (formal)
Awel
You all had (formal)
Awedh
You possessed (informal)
Aweg
You all had (informal)
Ewigir
He/she/it possessed
Aw
They had
Ewir
Passive participle
Awen
Plural
Ewin
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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