Possessive Pronouns - Part 2

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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.)

Use the initial vowel with words that end in a consonant.


Any case endings are added after the possessive ending.

Extra Material for the Geeks:

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.

Extra Material for the Geeks:

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."

Extra Material for the Geeks:

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)

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