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

I will be brutally honest: the Sindarin pronouns are a sticky, horrid mess. Everyone you go to will have a different theory about how they are to be used and what they are. Even I change my mind about them continuously. This is what I use at the moment. To build this lesson, I used Thorsten's article, Helge Fauskanger's article, the etymologies, and my own theories. Here is a condensed list of all of the pronouns for easy reference.

Reconstructed pronouns are in red.

Nominative Pronouns

Nominative Pronouns are pronouns that act as the subject of a sentence.

Examples

I am cold.

Ni him.

We are trees.

Mí 'elaidh.

You are beloved in the great hall.

Le muin min thamas.

You are my friend.

Ci vellon nîn.

It is a leaf.

Ha lass.

They are Elves.

Hai edhil.

She is gracious.

He fael.

They are fair maidens.

Hi 'wind vain.

He is an animal.

Ho levan.

They are small men.

Hy vind nibin.

Most of the time, there is no use for nominative pronouns in Sindarin. Instead, they are suffixed onto the ends of the verbs. It is possible to use the 3rd person verb conjugations with the nominative pronouns, but as far as we can tell, that is not a common practice, and we only have examples of it in Gondorian-Sindarin, in Aragorn's letter to the hobbits. We will get into verb conjugation in the next lesson. Also, the gender neutral pronouns, (ha) and (hai) are used more often than the third person gender specific pronouns.

Thorsten has an interesting theory that in the King's Letter, there were emphatic pronouns at work. Emphatic is a fancy word for "putting emphasis on something". So, there would be pronouns that put emphasis on who is doing the action. You see something similar in English in sentences like, "I did it myself," or "I, [your name] did it."

When telling one's name, an emphatic pronoun is always used, because it doesn't cause mutation. Use third person conjugations of the verbs.

I am Barawen.

Im Barawen.

You are Thalawest.

Ech Thalawest.

He is Tondir.

E Tondir.

Est Tondir.

We, Barawen and Thalawest, kneaded the dough ourselves.

Im Barawen a Thalawest maeganner i vaeas.

You betrayed us yourself.

Ech ven gweriant.

My son plays the harp well himself.

Iôn nîn e gannada vae.

Iôn nîn est gannada vae.

Accusative Pronouns

Accusative Pronouns are pronouns that act as the object of the sentence. These are placed before the verb (except in orders, then they follow the verb.) and soft mutation applies.

The feminine and masculine third person pronouns are almost never used, in favor of the genderless third person pronouns. Reflexive Pronouns Reflexive Pronouns act as the object of a sentence while referring to the subject of the sentence. [Example: My watch winds itself.] Basically, it means that the one doing the action is also the one being acted on.

Examples

It overshadows me.

Nin gwathra.

It overshadows us.

Ven gwathra.

It overshadows you.

Le gwathra.

Len gwathra.

It overshadows you.

Gen gwathra.

It overshadows it.

Han gwathra.

It overshadows them.

Hain gwathra.

It overshadows her.

Hen gwathra.

It overshadows them.

Hin gwathra.

It overshadows him.

Hon gwathra.

It overshadows them.

Hyn gwathra.

It overshadows itself.

In gwathra.

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive Pronouns. They are treated as adjectives. This means that they don't replace the definate articles, i or in (the) like they do in English.

Examples

My house

I mar nîn

Our house

I mar vîn

Your house

I mar lîn

Your house

I mar gîn

Its house

I mar dîn

Their house

I mar dîn

I gave my own house to her.

Onen i mar în assen.

He gave his own house to her.

Aun i mar în assen.

Possessive Suffix

You can also make possessives by adding pronoun suffix to the end of the noun. Here are the suffixes:

To use these, put them on nouns, never an adjective. If the noun ends in a vowel, then put just put it onto the end of the noun. If the noun ends in a consonant, change the ending consonants the way that you do for the collective plural suffix -ath, and put an -e- between the end of the word and the pronoun suffix.

Examples

The book → My book

I barf → I barven

The thread → Our, not your, thread

I thlê → I thlêm

The footstool → Our, and your, footstool

I tharas → I tharassenc

The jaw → Your jaw

I anc → I angeg

The gift → Y'all's gift

I ant → I annegir

The prison → Your prison

I mand → I mannel

The tongues → Y'all's tongues

I laim → I laimmelir

The claw → His/Her claw

I 'amp → I 'ammed

The reek → Their reek

I osp → I osbent

Dative Pronouns

Dative Pronouns (pronouns acting as the indirect object of the sentence) These are made by prefixing "to" (an) onto the dative pronouns. Nasal mutation is used.

Examples

He or she gives a cloak to me.

Anna goll enni.

He or she gives cloaks to us.

Anna gyll ammen.

He or she gives a cloak to you.

Le anna goll.

Anna goll allen.

He or she gives a cloak to you.

Anna goll achen.

He or she gives a cloak to it.

Anna goll assan.

He or she gives cloaks to them.

Anna gyll assain.

He or she gives a cloak to her.

Anna goll assen.

He or she gives cloaks to them.

Anna gyll essin.

He or she gives a cloak to him.

Anna goll asson.

He or she gives cloaks to them.

Anna gyll assyn.

He or she keeps a cloak for his or herself.

Hêb gyll enin.

Emphatic Dative

As you saw above, emphatic pronouns draw attention to themselves. These are pretty much the same thing, but acting as dative pronouns. They also are Reflexive.

Examples

You babble to yourself like a child.

Glavrog anech sui chên.

I will keep all of the money for myself.

Hebithon i miriain bain anim.

They talk to themselves.

Pedir anest.

Odds and Ends of the Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns point at things. As their name suggests, they demonstrate where something is in relation to the speaker. Don't confuse the demonstrative pronoun "that" with the "that/who" for beginning subordinate clauses.

Example

That is a dog.

Ta chû.

I'm holding this.

Hen gerin.

He walked to those.

Padant assin.

When these are used to describe nouns instead of replace them, the pronoun is treated like an adjective. The accusative form is used. Again, they don't replace the word "the", so they act the same as the possessive pronouns.

Example

Those men spoke to me.

I mind dain pennir enni.

The pronoun for "one/person/somebody/someone" is pen. Use normal lenition rules for it; treat it like a normal noun.

Example

I see someone.

Cenin ben.

The pronoun for "something" is nad. Treat it as a normal noun.

Example

Eat something or die!

Mado nad egor gwanno!

The pronoun for "someplace/somewhere" is sad. Treat it as a normal noun.

Example

I will go to somewhere warm.

Telithon as sad laug.

Homework

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