Verbs - Future Tense, and Wishes

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Future tense is easy!

Future tense always ends in –uva.

     Basic verbs:  add –uva

          matuva               (one person) will eat

          matuvar             (several people) will eat

     A-stem verbs:  replace –a with –uva

          lassë lantuva      a leaf will fall

          lassi lantuvar     leaves will fall

Some situations have some overlap in what tense to use.  For example, “future” may overlap with “aorist (timeless truths)”.

Consider:  “Leaves will fall.”

If you are thinking of the situation as timeless — "leaves always fall in the autumn", then you would use aorist present tense.

If you are thinking of the situation as future — "the leaves will fall next month", then you would use future.

 

Wish

Future tense can be combined with “nai” (which is related to the verb "ná", be) to express a wish.

      nai lassi lantuvar!    may leaves fall!

      Nai Valar tuluvar     May the Valar draw close (from the Invocation at Olwë's healing ritual)

There are also examples of "nai" used with the present tense.  That would express a wish for something right now, rather than in the future.

     Nai Eru lyë mánata.       May Eru be blessing you.

     Nai amanya onnalya     May your child (be) blessed.

Extra Material for the Geeks:

Don't confuse the "may" of a wish with “may” in the sense of “might be”:   “It may rain tomorrow.”

The word for "maybe" is cé (sometimes spelled ce; always pronounced “ke”).

   Aldandil caruva ta.        Aldandil will do that.

   Cé Aldandil caruva ta.   Maybe Aldandil will do that.

The translation of Galadriel's Lament in Fellowship of the Ring is misleading.

"Nai hiruvalyë Valimar" means "may thou find Valimar," "I hope you find Valimar," rather than "maybe thou shalt find Valimar."  It expresses the wish that the hearer will find the land that Galadriel believes she has permanently lost.

(The ending -lyë is the pronoun "thou, you singular.")

Practice – Your Turn

Highlight the shaded boxes to see the answers.

┌──────────────────────────────────────┐

│           useful vocabulary          │

│ mar-           live (at a location)  │

│ rista-         cut                   │

│ hir–           find                  │

│ Alqualondessë  in Alqualondë         │

│ orva           apple                 │

│ mírë           jewel                 │

│ cé             maybe                 │

└──────────────────────────────────────┘

Aldandil will live in Alqualondë.     Aldandil maruva Alqualondessë.

Aldandil and Calanar will live in Alqualondë.     Aldandil ar Calanar maruvar Alqualondessë.

Halla will cut apples.     Halla ristuva orvar.

Halla and Narwë will cut apples.     Halla ar Narwë ristuvar orvar.

May Calanar live in Alqualondë!   Nai Calanar maruva Alqualondessë!

May Halla find jewels!     Nai Halla hiruva míri!

Maybe Aldandil lives in Alqualondë.   Cé Aldandil marë Alqualondessë.

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