This lesson is covered in more detail in the Intermediate Sindarin course

Siron: Man ti? In edhil ennas.
Amdiron: In yn Elrond. i eneth dîn Elladan a Elrohir. i chent dîn laeg!
Siron: Navan Ivrinel?
Amdiron: Ganna aerlinn nef i noer.

Siron: Who are they? The elves there.
Amdiron: The sons of Elrond. Their names are Elladan and Elrohir. Their eyes are keen!
Siron: Where is Ivrinel? ('At what place is Ivrinel?')
Amdiron: She's harping sea-songs beside the fires.

Now let's look at all the diphthongs (two vowels together) and what they change into when you pluralise a word.

Original vowels	Non-final position in word	Final position in word
ai	ai	ai
ae	ae	ae
au	au	oe
ei	ei	i
ie	Doesn't exist	i
io, iô	io, iô	y, ŷ
oe	oe	oe
ui	ui	ui

Examples

Aith (spearpoint) = Aith (spearpoints)
Taith (mark) = Taith (marks)

Gwaew (wind) = Gwaew (winds)
Taeg (boundary) = Taeg (boundaries)

Naug (dwarf) = Noeg (dwarves)
Naur (fire) = Noer (fires)
Bauglir (tyrant) = Bauglir (tyrants) - neither the diphthong nor the vowel need to change

Eirien (daisy) = Eirin (daisies)
Feir (mortal) = Fîr (mortals)

iell (daughter) = ill (daughters)
iest (wish) = ist (wishes)

Goe (terror, great fear) = Goe (terrors, great fears)
Goeol (dreadful, terrifying) = Goeyl (dreadful, terrifying when referring to multiple things)

ion (son) = Yn (sons)
Bior (follower, vassal) = Byr (followers, vassals)
Cirion (sailor) = Ciryn (sailors)

Duin (river) = Duin (rivers)

AW

AW is pronounced identically to AU making it a diphthong by pronunciation if not spelling.

When AW appears in a plural, how it changes depends where it appears in the word.
If the word is a single syllable, the AW changes to OE:
Raw (lion) = Roe (lions)
Laws (hair ringlet) = Loes (hair ringlets)
Naw (idea) = Noe (ideas)

But remember not to ever do this to the word Lhaw (pair of ears) as it's already plural!

If the word has more than one syllable, the AW is treated as two separate sounds, and you pluralise the A according to the rules in Lesson 6:
Awarth (abandonment) = Ewerth (abandonments)
Tawar (the material wood, or a forest) = Tewair (some wood, or forests)

Irregular plurals

There are also a few irregular plurals in Sindarin due to how the word was originally formed.
As there are no rules that can be applied to these words, this is here for you to refer to.

Please be aware that two of these words have homonyms (words that are spelt and sound the same but have a different meaning); their plurals are regular. These are Caun = Outcry, Caun = Valour, and Iau = Ravine.

Singular	Plural	Meaning
Ael	Aelin	Pool(s)
Alph	Eilph	Swan(s)
Cair	Cîr	Ship(s)
Caun	Conin	Prince(s)
Cef	Ceif	Soil(s)
Doron	Deren	Oak tree(s)
Drû	Drúin	Wose(s), Wild men
Êl	Elin	Star(s)
Fela	Fili	Cave(s)
Fêr	Ferin	Beech tree(s)
Iau	Iui	Corn
Ôl	Elei	Dream(s)
Orod	Ered	Mountain(s) - also has a regular plural Eryd
Pêl	Peli	Fenced field(s)
Rodon	Rodyn	Vala(r)

Testing your knowledge

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