Here is the complete st of possessive pronouns.
-(i)nya my
-(e)ngwa our
(includes hearer, 2 of us, you and me)
-(e)mma our
(excludes hearer, 2 of us)
-(e)lva our
(includes hearer, more than 2)
-(e)lma our
(excludes hearer, more than 2)
-(e)lya your
(one person, formal/polite)
-(e)tya your
(one person, informal/familiar)
-(e)sta your
(2 of you)
-(e)lda your
(a group, more than 2)
-(e)rya his/her/its/genderless
singular
-(e)tta their
(2 of them) (Analysts think this
is the right form. It follows the patten, though Tolkien never gave
an example.)
-(e)lta their
(more than 2) (Variant -(e)ntya
is sometimes seen.)
Any case endings are added after the possessive ending.
Some
analysts prefer using -i-
as the connecting vowel for plurals:
-(i)ngwa,
-(i)mma, -(i)lva,
-(i)lma
-(i)sta,
-(i)lda
-(i)tta,
-(i)lta, -(i)ntya
Tolkien
did
not leave
enough
examples for us to know for sure how to form the possessives in all
situations.
In
the first edition of Lord
of the Rings,
Frodo's greeting to Gildor read: "Elen
síla
lúmenn'
omentielmo,
a star shines on the hour of our meeting."
Tolkien
comments (1965-6) on this: "Frodo's
use of omentielmo
was wrong. 'Our' in this case certainly included Gildor's
associates (and also Frodo's companions). He should have used
omentielvo.
In politeness Gildor would of course make no comment."
The
word was corrected in the second edition.
At
least we know that even Frodo sometimes slipped up on subtle points
of Quenya grammar.
Possessive Pronouns As Separate Words
Tolkien
gave two examples of possessive pronouns as separate words. These
are much less common than possessive pronoun endings for nouns.
These
act like adjectives, so they change form (-a →-ë)
when referring to plural nouns.
ninya
corma my ring
ninyë
cormar my rings
Ardalambion
forms the sentences like this:
I
corma ninya ná. "The
ring is mine."
I
cormar ninyë nar. "The rings
are mine."
The
two examples from Tolkien are ninya
(my) and menya
(our). All the other forms give in this section have been
extrapolated by filling in the pattern from those two examples.
ninya
my, mine
ventya
our, ours (includes hearer, 2 of us, you and me)
mentya
our, ours (excludes hearer, 2 of us)
venya
our, ours (includes hearer, more than 2)
mentya
our, ours (excludes hearer, more than 2)
lyenya
your, yours (one person, formal/polite)
tyenya
your, yours (one person, informal/familiar)
lentya
your, yours (2 of you)
lenya
your, yours (a group, more than 2)
senya
his/her/its/genderless singular (living)
sanya
its (non-living)
túnya,
tunya
their, theirs (2 of them)
tenya
their, theirs (more than 2, living)
tanya
their, theirs (more than 2, non-living)
