Introduction

Syllabus

Part I

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Part II

Chapter One

Back to Realelvish

Now we are reaching the more difficult parts of Sindarin. Here you will learn how to use "of" and its special qualities, how possessives and "of" tie together, the mysterious verb "to be", and how to use articles (words like "a" and "the") in Sindarin.

"Of"

When speaking of "of", I'm talking about the "of" as in possessives, not "from", "about", or "concerning". There are three words in Sindarin for the concept of "of", but I'll cover those with the other prepositions once lenition is learned.

Often, "of" is understood, which means the word isn't said but its meaning remains. When we make "of" understood in English, we switch the order of the nouns.

a cushion of a chair → a chair cushion

In Sindarin, the word order doesn't switch when taking "of" out.

Fangorn (a beard of a tree)

Possessives

Sindarin doesn't have possessives that are as easily made as ours. We add a "'s" (or an apostrophe if the word is plural) and it's as easy as pie. In Sindarin, there is no way to do that outside of pronouns. Instead, use the Sindarin "of". To do this correctly, write the thing being possessed first, then the thing doing the possessing.

tham aran (a king's hall)

Because of this, Fangorn can also be translated as "a tree's beard".

"To be"

"To be" is often the most difficult verb to use in languages you are not familiar with. However, in Sindarin, it's slightly easier. Remember Lesson 1: "Unlike English, Sindarin modifiers most often go after what they modify." "To be" is going to build on this knowledge.

"To be" and all of its conjugations (am, is, are, was, were, been, being) are understood most of the time.

For an example, I'll use one of the most common errors in the use of Sindarin: mellon nin (a friend [is] me).

When saying something that falls to this pattern: noun [to be] adjective, the adjective doesn't undergo any mutation.

Ni bain (I [am] beautiful)

When a noun is the object of the sentence, following this pattern: noun [to be] noun, the noun undergoes soft mutation.

Le geredir (You [are] a craftsman)

Even though it is hardly ever used, the verb "to be" still exists. Keep this in mind when we start learning how to conjugate verbs in Sindarin.

Articles

Articles are a little more complex in Sindarin than in English. In Sindarin, there are singular and plural articles that take different types of mutation. The articles in Sindarin are:

Singular "the"

i: soft mutation applies.

Example: i dhrambor (the fist)

Plural "the"

in: nasal mutation applies.

in drembyr (the fists)

And there are no indefinite articles (words for "a" or "an"), because they are always understood.

Conjunctions

In English, we have many conjunctions. For, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. In Sindarin, there is only three: "and" (a[r]), "or" (egor), and "but" (dan).

• "For", "and", and "so" can be translated with a[r].
• "But" and "yet" can be translated with dan.
• "Or" and "nor" can be translated with egor.
• In a list, the conjunction is only used between the last two items of the list.

Homework

DOC

PDF

RTF