Quenya/Grammar: Difference between revisions
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*The nominative is used mainly to mark the subject of a verb. In spoken Quenya it also functions as the accusative (see below). It is also used with prepositions. | *The nominative is used mainly to mark the subject of a verb. In spoken Quenya it also functions as the accusative (see below). It is also used with prepositions. | ||
*The accusative marks the direct object of a verb. It is not used in spoken Quenya, having been replaced by the nominative, but appears in writing. | *The accusative marks the direct object of a verb. It is not used in spoken Quenya, having been replaced by the nominative after Elves left Aman, but appears in writing. | ||
*The genitive is mainly used to mark origin (e. g. the best smiths ''of'' ''Tirion''). Its usage sometimes overlaps the ablative. | *The genitive is mainly used to mark origin (e. g. the best smiths ''of'' ''Tirion''). Its usage sometimes overlaps the ablative. | ||
*The dative marks the indirect object of a verb. | *The dative marks the indirect object of a verb. |
Revision as of 22:51, 9 January 2013
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Note: these rules apply only to Noldorin Quenya, being the only dialect spoken in Middle-earth.
Quenya was an agglutinative SVO language. It had a relatively free word order since most information was expressed morphologically rather than syntactically. The different word classes of Quenya are explained below.
Nouns
Nouns are declined for ten cases: the nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, instrumental, possessive, locative, allative, ablative, and a tenth "mystery" case sometimes called the "respective".
- The nominative is used mainly to mark the subject of a verb. In spoken Quenya it also functions as the accusative (see below). It is also used with prepositions.
- The accusative marks the direct object of a verb. It is not used in spoken Quenya, having been replaced by the nominative after Elves left Aman, but appears in writing.
- The genitive is mainly used to mark origin (e. g. the best smiths of Tirion). Its usage sometimes overlaps the ablative.
- The dative marks the indirect object of a verb.
- The instrumental marks a noun which is used as a tool or instrument.
- The possessive marks possession or ownership. This usage sometimes overlaps with the genitive.
- The locative expresses location or position.
- The allative expresses motion towards.
- The ablative expresses motion away from.
- The "mystery" or respective case may be a figurative equivalent of the locative case (e.g. "about wolves" or "regarding wolves").
There are four numbers: the singular, dual, plural, and partitive plural.
Vocalic Declension
a-, i-, ie-, o-, and u-stems | e-stems | |||||||
Singular | Dual | Plural | Part. Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | Part. Plural | |
Nominative | yulma | yulmat | yulmar | yulmali | aurë | auret | auri | aureli |
Accusative | yulmá | ?yulmat | yulmai | yulmalí | auré | ?auret | aurí | aurelí; |
Genitive | yulmo | yulmato | yulmaron | yulmalion | aurëo | aureto | aurion | aurelion |
Dative | yulman | yulmant | yulmain | yulmalin | auren | aurent | aurín | aurelín |
Instrumental | yulmanen | yulmanten | yulmainen | yulmalínen | aurenen | aurenten | aurínen | aurelínen |
Possessive | yulmava | yulmatwa | yulmaiva | yulmalíva | aureva | auretwa | auríva | aurelíva |
Locative | yulmassë | yulmatsë | yulmassen | yulmalissë | auressë | auretsë | auressen | aurelissë |
Allative | yulmanna | yulmanta | yulmannar | yulmalinna | aurenna | aurenta | aurennar | aurelinna |
Ablative | yulmallo | yulmalto | yulmallon | yulmalillo | aurello | aurelto | aurellon | aurelillo |
Respective | yulmas | yulmates | yulmais | yulmalis | aures | auretes | aurís | aurelís |
Consonantal Declension
Singular | Dual | Plural | Part. Plural | |
Nominative | nat | natu | nati | nateli |
Accusative | nat | natú | natí | natelí |
Genitive | nato | natuo | nation | natelion |
Dative | naten | natun | natin | natelin |
Instrumental | natenen | natunen | natinen | natelínen |
Possessive | natwa | natuva | nativa | natelíva |
Locative | natsë | natussë | natissen | natelissë |
Allative | natenna | natenta | natinnar | natelinnar |
Ablative | natello | natelto | natillon | natelillo |
Respective | nates | natus | natis | natelis |
Verbs
There are two main types of verbs: basic verbs, those which are formed from the basic verbal base, such as tirë (tiri-) "watch" from *TIR, and derivative verbs, which are formed either by putting verbal suffixes to a base like tulta- "summon", from *TUL "come", or derived from non-verbal bases like cúna- "bend", originally an adjective "bent".
Derivative verbs | Basic verbs | |||||
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
Infinitive | tulta (tulta-) | tirë (tir-) | palo (palu-) | |||
Aorist/Simple present | tulta | tultar | tirë (tiri-) | tirir | palo (palu-) | palur |
Present continuative | tultëa | tultëar | tíra | tírar | pálua | páluar |
Past | tultanë | tultaner | tirnë | tirner | pallë | paller |
Future | tultuva | tultuvar | tiruva | tiruvar | palúva | palúvar |
Perfect | utultië | utultier | itírië | itírier | apálië | apálier |
Pronouns
Pronouns are seen as both independent words and enclitics; however the rules for this are not completely understood, although evidence sugests that independent forms are more emphatic in nature, while enclitics are the forms in use normally. What is known is that for intransitive verbs, the pronoun can appear as either an independent word or an enclitic. The enclitics often come in two different forms, long and short. The following table outlines the different forms attested. Hypothetical or reconstructed forms are indicated by either question marks or asterisks. Those forms that cannot be determined are not included and their absence is indicated by an emdash.
Independent | Enclitic | Independent Example | Enclitic Example | ||||||
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | ||
First Person | Inclusive | ni, inyë | *elvë, *elwë | -n, -nyë | -lvë, -lwë |
inyë tirë | elvë/elwë tirir | tirinyë, tirin | tirilvë, tirilwë |
Exclusive | *elmë | -lmë | elmë tirir | tirilmë | |||||
Second Person | le, elyë | le, ellë | -l, -lyë | ?-llë | elyë tirë | ?ellë tirir, elyë tirir | tiril, tirilyë | ?tirillë, tirilyë | |
Third Person | se | te | -s, -ryë | -t, -ntë |
se tirë | ?entë tirir | tiris, tiriryë | tirit, tirintë |
Aside from inclusive and exclusive modes in the first person plural, there is also a dual mode, denoted by emmë, -mmë. The pronouns can be declined much like the regular nouns; for instance, the dative form of emmë is emmen. This appears to be mostly regular, except for te, "they", which takes the dative form tien.