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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 25 - Negation

Ivrinel: Avon meno od i had hen...
Amdiron: Avo no dem. Dadwenathogir na Imladris, a ledhathon na Eryn Lasgalen ned lû thent
Siron: I 'wend vîn breniatha anuir

Ivrinel: I don't want to go from this place...
Amdiron: Don't be sad. You will all return to Rivendell, and I will travel to the Wood of Greenleaves in a short time
Siron: Our friendship will endure forever

û/ú- = no, not, impossible to do

Important note: ú- causes soft mutation on whatever follows it or is attached to it. . Whether you use soft mutation on the word following the standalone word û is entirely down to your preference as we have no evidence suggesting it should be one way or the other.

The word û means both 'no' or 'not' by itself.
Lilthathol? û = Do you want to dance? No.
Te û nórui sír = It is not sunny today.

The prefix form of û is ú-. When ú- is attached to a noun adjective or adverb it gives the opposite meaning of a word:
Nad = Something, but únad = Nothing
Beren = Bold, brave, úveren = Cowardly
Land = Wide, but úland = Not wide, narrow

Please note the difference between û + word, e.g. Te û vrui = It is not noisy, and attaching it to a word which gives you the negated form; Te ú-vrui = It is quiet

Attached to a verb, ú- gives the meaning of ‘impossible to do’, i.e. 'cannot, could not', or 'will not' depending on the tense, for example:
Han ú-chedin = I cannot throw that
Den ú-vreniannen = I couldn’t endure it
Gin ú-genathon = I will not see you, I cannot see you (in the future)

Ava- = to refuse, don't

In imperative sentences only, the verb that follows Ava- is mutated with soft mutation.

The verb Ava- which means 'to refuse to do something' is usually followed by a second verb, much like auxiliary verbs in English.
When issuing a command it can be used as either the separate word Avo or as the prefix Av- that attaches to the following verb.
As it says in the box above, for commands the second verb takes soft mutation. In all other cases the second verb takes the infinitive/gerund form and doesn't require mutation.


Attested example:
Avgaro! or Avo garo! Don’t do it! (Car- = to do)


Further imperative examples:
Avdolo! or Avo dolo! = Don't come! (Tol- = to come)
Avdhadweno! or Avo dhadweno! = Don't return! (Dadwen- = to return)
Avdhefo! or Avo dhefo! = Don't try!
(Def- = to try)

Avo or Av-? Please click here for further information.

The only surviving forms of the verb Ava- are listed below.

Present tense

Singular
Meaning
Plural
Meaning
Avon
I won't, I refuse
Avam
We won't, we refuse
Avad
Refusal (noun)
.
.
Follow Avon or Avam with the infinitive/gerund form of a second verb, for example:
Avon maded i aes han! = I refuse to eat that meat, I won't eat that meat!
Avon den cared = I refuse to do it, I won't do it. (remember your object pronoun needs to go before the second verb)
Avon teithad angin = I won't write to you
Avam padrad ennas = We won't walk there
Avam linnad hír = We won't sing today
Avam toled na Imladris = We won't come to Rivendell

Pen- = to lack

Important note: Pen- (as both a prefix and a verb) causes soft mutation on the word that follows

As a prefix, Pen- means 'less, without', for example Pen-adar = Fatherless, or Pen-'ell = Joyless. When attached to a noun like this it refers to a complete impossibility.

As a verb, Pen- means 'to lack', and is used in Sindarin to say 'have not'.
From the attested example Penim vast = We have no bread (we lack bread), we know that the object follows the verb and mutates with soft mutation.

Examples:

Penin vann = I have no food, I lack food
Pên vellyn = He has no friends, He lacks friends
Penir nen = They have no water, They lack water
Pennin chervess = I had no wife, I lacked a wife
Penn degil = She had no pen, She lacked a pen
Pennir vegyl = They had no swords, They lacked swords


Do not/Did not?

With the changes to ú- and the restrictive usage of Ava- how do we translate sentences like 'You don't want to go', 'He doesn't like it', 'She doesn't eat meat' or 'They didn't kill the orcs'?

Questions: Change the verb (or just use û)
Onureg na Vree? Did you run/ride to Bree? û, padrannen = No, I walked

Den gant? Did he catch it? û, dannant = No, it fell

Wanting to do something: Use Pen- and the infinitive of Aníra-
 I don't want to go = Penin anírad mened (I lack desire to go)
He doesn't want fish =
Pên anírad an lim (He lacks desire for fish)
They don't want to fight = Penir anírad maethad (They lack desire to fight)
We didn't want to see it = Pennim anírad den cened (We lacked desire to see it)
She didn't want to trade to him = Penn anírad bangad anden (She lacked desire to trade to him)

X don't/doesn't/didn't Y: 'X is not a doer of Y'
I don't eat meat = Ni û vador aes (I am not an eater of meat) [vador would be mador if you don't want to use soft mutation]
They didn't kill the orcs = Ti û negnir yrch (They are not slayers of orcs)
[negnir would be degnir]
You don't like roses = Le û velor meril (You are not a lover of roses) [please note that this doesn't have the same double meaning as 'lover' in English as Sindarin has separate words for those such as Melethor]
The agental or 'doer' suffix is -or. You can add this to the end of any verb stem, just remember to take off the final A of A-stem verbs. For example:
Teitha- 'to write', Teithor = Writer
Mib- 'to kiss'
, Mibor = Kisser
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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