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Lessons 31-40
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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 >
- Resources
Na- 'to be'
You may be familiar with the verb Na- 'to be'.
The only attested forms of this verb are the imperative No = Be! and the gerund Nad = Something, a thing.
All other parts of Na- were reconstructed by David Salo (the linguist who wrote the Elvish dialogue for the films). As it is nearly entirely reconstructed, you will find that most people do not use this verb and thus I am no longer including it on this website. If you are interested, you may find it in his book A Gateway to Sindarin.
The imperative 'No!' means either 'Be!' or 'May it be that, be it that'. Here are some examples:
No dhínen = Be silent!
No vilui = Be kind!
No aer i eneth lîn = May your name be holy 'be holy your name'
No hîdh tolatha annin = May peace come to you 'Be it that peace will come to you'
The only attested forms of this verb are the imperative No = Be! and the gerund Nad = Something, a thing.
All other parts of Na- were reconstructed by David Salo (the linguist who wrote the Elvish dialogue for the films). As it is nearly entirely reconstructed, you will find that most people do not use this verb and thus I am no longer including it on this website. If you are interested, you may find it in his book A Gateway to Sindarin.
The imperative 'No!' means either 'Be!' or 'May it be that, be it that'. Here are some examples:
No dhínen = Be silent!
No vilui = Be kind!
No aer i eneth lîn = May your name be holy 'be holy your name'
No hîdh tolatha annin = May peace come to you 'Be it that peace will come to you'
Present tense 'is, are' & past tense 'was, were'
One of the most difficult concepts to understand in Sindarin is how the language deals with the verb 'to be'. In English we use the verb 'to be' (highlighted in red in these examples) whenever we say I am a woman, You are beautiful, He was happy. In Sindarin we don't need to use a verb in these sentences as it is part of nominative and emphatic pronouns. Because they can mean either the present or the past tense, these examples can be translated as either and context will fill in the gaps.
Ni bess = I am a woman/I was a woman
Ci bain = You are beautiful/You were beautiful
E gelir = He is happy/He was happy
Ti cuiw = They are awake/They were awake
Sai lais = Those are leaves/Those were leaves
Ni bess = I am a woman/I was a woman
Ci bain = You are beautiful/You were beautiful
E gelir = He is happy/He was happy
Ti cuiw = They are awake/They were awake
Sai lais = Those are leaves/Those were leaves
Noun [is] adjective
This is for if you want to be able to say something like 'the dog is brown' or 'the men are angry', where a pronoun cannot be used. Compare the following sentences:
i vŷg vîw = the small cat, but i vŷg mîw = the cat is small
i lim valen = the yellow fish, but i lim malen = the fish is yellow
By choosing not to use soft mutation we change the meaning from an adjectival 'small cat' to one where the cat 'is small'.
Alternatively you could change the order of the words in the sentence:
mîw i vŷg = small is the cat
malen i lim = yellow is the fish
i vŷg vîw = the small cat, but i vŷg mîw = the cat is small
i lim valen = the yellow fish, but i lim malen = the fish is yellow
By choosing not to use soft mutation we change the meaning from an adjectival 'small cat' to one where the cat 'is small'.
Alternatively you could change the order of the words in the sentence:
mîw i vŷg = small is the cat
malen i lim = yellow is the fish
