Quenya/Grammar

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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.

Phonology

Quenya was designed to have a Latin-like phonology, with sone of its phonological rules inspired by Finnish.

Letter	IPA	Example	Notes
a	a	Atan	Quenya a is most like a in English father or a in Polish jajo. Either pronunciation is suitable.
á	ä	Fëanáro	Quenya á is pronounced just noticeably longer in duration than Quenya a, but moved to the centre of the mouth cavity. As in English car or nyár in Hungarian.
ai	ai̯}	Ainu	Quenya ai is most like i in English light. Or Italian baita.
au	au, aʊ̯	Aulë	Quenya au is most like ou in English our or like ow in English now. It is never pronounced like au in English cause.
c, k	k	Melkor	Always hard c like in English cake. Never soft c like in English cell.
e, ë	ɛ	Eä'	Quenya e is most like e in English bed or e in Spanish bene. Either pronunciation is suitable, but it never has a y off-glide like in English grey, just like in Sindarin.
é	eː	yén	Quenya é is pronounced just noticeably longer in duration than Sindarin e, and mouthed with the mouth stretched wider. Like in French beauté or German Jäger.
eu	eu, eu̯	ceulë	Quenya eu is most like eu in Finnish leuto or Czech euro. It has no English equivalent.
f	f	Fëanáro	Quenya f is pronounced very similar to English f, as in fire.
h	h	Helcaraxë	Quenya h is pronounced very similarly to English h, as in house.
hw	ʍ	hwesta	Quenya hw is most like the traditional pronunciation of wh in English whale, as it is still heard in Scotland, Ireland and parts of the southern United States. It is also similar to ju in Mexican Spanish Juan. If you fail to pronounce the sound, try pronouncing w while whispering, or just pronouncing it as the usual w.
hr	r̥	hroa	Quenya hr is pronounced like hrafn in Icelandic or Rhagfyr in Welsh. If you fail to pronounce the sound, try pronouncing r while whispering, or just pronouncing it as the usual r.
hl	ɬ	hlócë	Quenya hl is pronounced as Welsh ll in words like Llandudno. If you fail to pronounce the sound, try pronouncing l while whispering, or just pronouncing it as the usual l.
hy	ç	hyarmen	Quenya hy is pronounced like hu in English hue or j in Danish pjaske.
ht	ht	Mahtan	Quenya ht is pronounced as the combination of sounds h and t.
i	i	Tiriron	Quenya i is usually pronounced as the i in sick.
í	iː	Írimë	Quenya í is pronounced noticeably longer in duration than Quenya i, and has a different quality. Quenya í is most like ee in English keen or like í in Spanish víz. Either pronunciation is suitable.
l	l	Laurelin	Quenya l is pronounced very similar to English l, as in laugh.
ll	lː	Singollo	Quenya ll is pronounced for an even longer duration than Quenya l, but otherwise is pronounced the same.
ld	ld	Aldaron
ln	ln
lp	lp	Telperion
ls	ls	'mals'a
lt	lt	Meneltarma
lv	lv	kelva
lw	lw	Elwë
m	m	Manwe
mb	mb	Ambar
mn	mn	Utumno
mp	mp	ampa
ms	ms
mt	mt	camta
mm	mː	Elemmírë	Quenya mm is pronounced for an even longer duration than Quenya m, but otherwise is pronounced the same.
n	n	Námo
nd	nd	Ainulindalë
ñ	ŋ	Ñoldor	Pronounced as ng in English, as seen in king
ng	ŋɡ	ingolmo	Represents [ŋɡ] between two vowels (like ng in English finger), and [ŋ] everywhere else (like ng in English singer). It is never pronounced like ng in English ginger.
nk, nc	nk	Incánus
nn	nː	Annatar	Quenya nn is pronounced for an even longer duration than Quenya n, but otherwise is pronounced the same.
np	np
ns	ns	insa
nt	nt	Atala'n'’ë
nv	nv	Envinyatar
nw	nw	Finwë
ny	ɲ	Quenya	As in Spanish ñ, like in '’español.
o, ö	ɔ	Gorgoroth	Sindarin o is most like o in English hot, but with rounder lips. It can also be pronounced like the o in the Italian word notte. Either pronunciation is suitable, but it never has a w off-glide like ow in English show.
ó	ɔː	Dor-lómin	Sindarin ó is pronounced just noticeably longer in duration than Sindarin o, but otherwise is pronounced the same.
ô	ɔːː		Sindarin ô is pronounced for an even longer duration than Sindarin ó, usually in single-syllable words. But it is permissible to pronounce it the same as ó.
oe	o͡e		Sindarin oe is somewhat like oi in English join. Though this is not completely accurate because oe ends with an off-glide that sounds like Sindarin e, it is a suitable pronunciation because there is no Sindarin oi to contrast with. Alternately, oe is like oe in Hawaiian Aloha ʻOe.
œ	ø	Nírnaeth Arnœdiad	An Archaic Sindarin sound, at one time pronounced like French eu, oe or oeu or like German/Swedish ö or like Danish/Norwegian ø. In the Third Age it is pronounced just like Sindarin e, so it is suitable to pronounce it like e. Mostly found in First Age Sindarin words, and most famously in Nírnaeth Arnœdiad. Lord of the Rings-style Third Age Sindarin spellings do not use œ at all, only e, such as Ered Luin instead of *Œrœd Luin.
p	p	Pengolodh
ph	f, fː	Ephel Dúath	Represents [f] when final, [fː] everywhere else.
r	r	Boromir	Sindarin r is always trilled or at least flapped wherever possible, like in Scottish English. It is not pronounced like General English r, but this is still often a suitable pronunciation because Sindarin has no other rhotic consonant besides rh.
rh	r̥	Rhovanion	There is no parallel for Sindarin rh in English. But it is like Welsh rh, or Quenya hr. If nothing else works, try pronouncing r while whispering.
rr	rː		Sindarin rr is pronounced for an even longer duration than Sindarin r, but otherwise is pronounced the same. For this reason, rr is always trilled, because a flap r cannot be pronounced long.
s	s	Sirion	Sindarin s is always pronounced like s in English safe, and never like s in English ease. There is no z in Sindarin.
ss	sː	Ossiriand	Sindarin ss is pronounced for an even longer duration than Sindarin s, but otherwise is pronounced the same.
t	t	Túrin
th	θ	Ecthelion	Sindarin th is always pronounced th in English think, and never like th in English these—the latter sound is used for the separate Sindarin consonant dh.
u	ʊ	Curufin	Sindarin u is most like u in English put or the vowel sound in the word good. It is never pronounced like u in English gut, or like u in English rude.
ú	uː	Lúthien	Sindarin ú is pronounced just noticeably longer in duration than Sindarin u, and has a different quality. It is pronounced like u in the English word dude or like u in Spanish mundo.
û	uːː	Barad-dûr	Sindarin û is pronounced for an even longer duration than Sindarin ú, usually in single-syllable words. But it is permissible to pronounce it the same as ú.
ui	u͡ɪ	Orodruin	Sindarin ui is most like oo y in English too young, pronounced all in one syllable. ui is always counted as one syllable, and never split into two syllables u i.
v	v	Tinúviel
w	w	Gwaihir
y	y	Emyn Muil	Pronounced like the French u or the German ü. It is also permissible to pronounce it like Sindarin i, if at least because Sindarin i and y become pronounced the same during the Third Age.
ý	yː		Sindarin ý is pronounced just noticeably longer in duration than Sindarin y, but otherwise is pronounced the same.
ŷ	yːː		Sindarin ŷ is pronounced for an even longer duration than Sindarin ý, usually in single-syllable words. But it is permissible to pronounce it the same as ý.

Nouns

Nouns are declined for ten cases: the nominative, accusative, genitive, possessive, dative, instrumental, locative, allative, ablative, and a tenth case sometimes called the respective.

The nominative and accusative cases are almost identically analogous in Quenya. The nominative is used to mark the subject of a verb. In Middle Earth, the nominative took over the accusative case. The accusative marks the direct object of a verb. It is not used in spoken Quenya, but appears in writing. But even in writing, the only difference between the nominative and accusative is the final vowel is lengthened, so in words ending in a consonant, the accusative is not distinguishable from the nominative.

In Quenya there are two cases that are used to express possession: the genitive and the possessive. To be more specific, the genitive is mainly used to mark origin (e. g. the best smiths of Tirion), while the possessive is used to denote ownership. The two cases are very similar and very often overlap.

The dative, ablative, allative, instrumental, and locative cases are the prepositional cases of Quenya. The dative marks the indirect object of the verb, which can often be translated as "to" and "for". The ablative expresses motion away from an object and can be translated with "from" or "out of". The allative case is used when indicating motion towards something, and is translated with an "into", "onto", "against", "to", or "upon". The instrumental case denotes the means of cause of why something happened, often translated with the words "by", "with", "because", and in rare cases "in". The locative case expresses the position of an object, translated by using the words "in" or "on".

There is a tenth case called the respective. The respective case is a mysterious case, because it is not clear for what it is used. The most likely use for the respective is an alternate locative case. Others think the case can be translated with the words "about" or "regarding". Fortunately, the respective case is very rarely used, so it does not pose such a large problem.

There are four numbers in Quenya: the singular, dual, plural, and partitive plural.

In Quenya, there are two ways to denote one of something. The singular refers to one object, and is self-explanatory. The partitive plural is used to denote someone or something out of a larger group.

Quenya has more than one way of denoting more than one of something. The dual refers to two of something. The plural is a bit trickier. To refer to all the members of a specific type or race (so when talking about all of elves) you would use the plural without an article. But when you wish to denote more than one of something, you would use the plural in conjunction with an article.

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.