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- 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 >
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A-stem past tense
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')
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 below suffixes 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 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'
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
Along with remembering i-affection (you can find the table in Lesson 17), this version of the past tense also requires you to alter the final consonant of the stem - e.g. in Ped- 'to speak', the final consonant is D. Make this change before adding on any pronominal suffixes.
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'). The strong past tense is the internal vowel changes found in Bal-, Car- etc. as listed above, and the weak past tense is as listed below.
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'). The strong past tense is the internal vowel changes found in Bal-, Car- etc. as listed above, and the weak past tense is as listed below.
Original 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 |
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 above |
Plural 'They...' |
-ir |
Active participle 'having xyz' |
See table below for stem vowel change -iel |
Plural |
-ir |
Passive participle (adjective) |
-en |
Plural |
-in |
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-, Oscar-, 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.
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-, Oscar-, 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 i-stem verbs.
1. Find the stem vowel (e.g. in Heb- 'to keep' it is E)
2. Place a copy of this vowel before the root (e.g. Heb -> Eheb)
3a. Apply soft mutation to the first consonant (e.g. Eheb -> Echeb)
3b. If the first consonant is a G, soft mutation will remove this as normal. Then collapse the vowels (e.g. Gal- 'to shine'; following the initial steps gives us AGAL -> A'AL -> AL)
4a. If the stem ends in a B, change this to MM/MP(H)* (e.g. Heb- -> Echemm/Echemp)
4b. If the stem ends in a D/DH, change this to NN/NTH* (e.g. Ped- -> Ebenn/Ebenth)
4c. If the stem ends in a G, change this to NG/NCH* (e.g. Rag- -> Arang/Aranch)
4d. If the stem ends in any other consonant do not double it
5. Lengthen the original stem vowel according to the table below unless the stem ends with B, D, DH or G (e.g. Cen- -> Egin)
6. Finally, apply any pronominal suffixes (e.g. Echemmen = I kept)
The active participle conjugation remains the same as in the first method above.
*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.
1. Find the stem vowel (e.g. in Heb- 'to keep' it is E)
2. Place a copy of this vowel before the root (e.g. Heb -> Eheb)
3a. Apply soft mutation to the first consonant (e.g. Eheb -> Echeb)
3b. If the first consonant is a G, soft mutation will remove this as normal. Then collapse the vowels (e.g. Gal- 'to shine'; following the initial steps gives us AGAL -> A'AL -> AL)
4a. If the stem ends in a B, change this to MM/MP(H)* (e.g. Heb- -> Echemm/Echemp)
4b. If the stem ends in a D/DH, change this to NN/NTH* (e.g. Ped- -> Ebenn/Ebenth)
4c. If the stem ends in a G, change this to NG/NCH* (e.g. Rag- -> Arang/Aranch)
4d. If the stem ends in any other consonant do not double it
5. Lengthen the original stem vowel according to the table below unless the stem ends with B, D, DH or G (e.g. Cen- -> Egin)
6. Finally, apply any pronominal suffixes (e.g. Echemmen = I kept)
The active participle conjugation remains the same as in the first method above.
*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.
Table of stem vowel changes
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 |
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.
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).
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 |
