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 will study when verbs become adjectives.

The Present Participle

For the A-verb, take off the A from the root and add -ol.

Example: From the word "babble" glavra- we get "babbling": glavrol.

For the I-verb, add -el onto the root.

Example: From the word "leap" cab- we get "leaping": cabel.

For I-verbs ending in -ir, add -iel onto the root.

Example: From the word "guard" tir- we get "guarding": tiriel.

With present participles, you must be very careful that you aren't confusing them for gerunds and vice versa. The thing to keep in mind most with these is that they are adjectives. They can become plural.

Examples

The singing man → I venn linnol
The singing men → I minn linnyl

In English, we use active participles to make the passive present tense. This isn't done in Sindarin. If you find yourself translating "[to be] _participle_", you know that you need the present tense verb conjugation.

The Past Participle

For the A-verb, simply conjugate it in the first person past tense.

"insult" → "insulted"
eitha- → eithannen

For the I-verb, add -nen to it, and change the ending consonants the way that you have to for the past tense.

"catch" → "caught"

gad- → gannen

"slay" → "slain"

dag- → dangen

"close" → "closed"

sol- → sollen

"die" → "dead"

fir- → firnen

"lick" → "licked"

laf- → lammen

These participles, like the present participles, are treated like adjectives. They can become plural. Don't use them as verbs. If you find yourself translating "to have/(past tense of) to be _participle_", you know you need the past tense verb conjugation instead.

Examples

The felled stone → I ngond dhannen.
A cloven branch → Golf ristannen
The withered trees → I ngelaidh bellin.

The Perfect Participle

This participle is difficult. The vowels in the roots change, but not as they have before.

For the A-verb, remove the A, add -iel to the root, and change the final vowel this way:

The rest do not change.

Examples

For I-verbs, add -iel. For I-verbs and A-verbs ending in -ia, the vowels change the same way. To understand which letter changes into which, you must look back to Common Eldarin. These vowels, like the I-verbs, will lengthen instead of undergo I-Affection.

For the A-verbs ending in -ia or -uia, remove the A, add -el. For -uia, there are no vowel changes.

To help you understand this, I've made a chart of the historical changes to these vowels.

The rest don't change.

Examples

If the verb was made from a complound, only the core root's vowel is changed.

This participle acts a little like a gerund. It begins dependant clauses and can't be made plural, but there the similarity stops. It can't act like a verb. It can't take the place of the past tense verb in a sentence. Since there are objects to the dependant clauses, the object is mutated.

Examples

Having played with his friends, the boy came home.

Tóliel na vellyn în i iôn odul am mar.

The woman ate well, having labored during the day in the field.

I vess avant vae mydiel ned i aur min barth.

Having slain a balrog, I led the lady home.

Dógiel valrog ydyngin i chiril am mar.

Homework

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