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

Before we get into mutation, we need to learn about one of the things that causes it to take place: prepositions.

You should all know what prepositions are from those grades school English lessons. I still remember the way my English teacher taught me to recognize them, with a little phrase: ___ the airplane. By the airplane, across the airplane… prepositions begin little phrases without verbs, just nouns and their descriptors.

But before we tackle the mighty prepositions, we will touch on a few words that change themselves to flow more easily with the words following them.

Special Words: "From" "With" "And" "About"

Elves like their words to flow. So, after some common words ending in vowels, they add consonants when the word is preceding a word beginning with a vowel to make the first word flow easily into the next. The words are:

A(r) - and
A(h) - with
O(d) - from
O(h) - about/concerning

Examples

Aragorn and Arwen → Aragorn ar Arwen.
A bird and a song → Aew a glîr.

Prepositions

In Sindarin, there are several types of prepositions: your normal, everyday prepositions, prefixed prepositions, prepositions that have the word "the" in them, and prepositions with plural "the" in them.

Normal Prepositions

The way these are used in Sindarin is pretty straight forward. They go at the beginning of their phrase.

With - a(h)
Behind - adel
Up/upon - am
To/towards/for - an
Beyond - athan
According to - be
On - bo
Down - dad
Against - dan
Out of/forth - ed
In/between - mi
In/between - mîn
With/near/by - na
In [referring to time]/during - ned
On this side of - nef
Beneath/under - nu
From/of - o(d)
Concerning/about - o(h)
Over/above - or
Around/about - os
As/like - sui
Through - trî

Examples

Behind a red bird → Adel aew garan
Above a tree that I like → Am orn i melon.
With hope → Ah amdir

Preposition Prefixes

When prepositions are turned into prefixes, they go directly onto the noun, and they turn the noun into an adjective.

After - ab-
With/by - an-
Beside/without/outside - ar-
On both sides/across - ath-
Across - athra-
Beneath/under/sub - di-
Between - min-
In/inside/mid - nedh-
Without - pen-
Across/athwart/over/beyond - thar-
Through - tre-

Examples

Mid-age → Nedh-anrann
Without a prickle → Pen-erch

"The" Prepositions

These prepositions have the word "the" combined into them. The rest of the prepositions have "the" separate from them. Watch out for a(h) and o(h) because they will gain their hidden consonants when i follows them.

To the - anin [in Gondor anin is spelled 'nin, with an apostrophe before the N.]
According to the - ben
Of the - en
Over/upon the - erin
In/between the - min
With/by the - nan
Under the - nuin
From the - uin

Examples

On the mountain → Erin orod
From the city → Uin ost
Beyond the star → Athan i êl
About the smell → Oh i ûl

Plural "The" Prepositions

As you know, in Sindarin, the word "the" is plural or singular to match the noun it accompanies. The plural "the" is "in". Of all of the "the" prepositions, only one changes: en becomes in. For the rest of the normal prepositions, i becomes in as it normally does.

Examples

Of the temptations → In-ýthaes
To the Noldor → 'Nin ódhellim
On this side of the bridges → Nef in iaint

Homework

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