Verbs - Imperative (Commands)

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"Imperative" is the form for giving commands, or making requests.  Apparently the same form -- "imperative" -- is used for "Do that!" or "Please do that."  "Imperative" is the form that Professor Tolkien uses when he translates prayers, as well as characters in his books issuing orders, so apparently there is a range of how forceful an imperative sentence can be.

expanded May 16, 2013 to clarify polite requests.

     Add -ë to basic verbs.

     Leave A-stem verbs unchanged.

(This is the same as aorist present tense, the “ simple, unmodified, unlimited meaning of the verb", used for "general, timeless truths.")

     Use á (do it!) or áva (don't!)

          Á tulë!                                   Come here!

          Á lanta, lassë!                     Fall, leaf!

          Á matë ta!                            Eat that!

          Áva matë ta!                       Don't eat that!

          Á hlarë ómai Hínion.   Hear the Voices of your Children.  (from the Invocation at Olwë's healing ritual)

Extra Material for the Geeks:

"Ómai" is an archaic form.   Don't worry about it now.

Practice – Your Turn

Highlight the shaded boxes to see the answers.

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

│           useful vocabulary          │

│ mar-           live (at a location)  │

│ rista-         cut                   │

│ hir–           find                  │

│ not-           count                 │

│ Alqualondessë  in Alqualondë         │

│ orva           apple                 │

│ cirya          ship                  │

│ laupë          shirt, tunic          │

│ mírë           jewel                 │

│ sina           this [adjective]      │

│ tana           that [adjective]      │

│ laica          green                 │

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

Live in Alqualondë!     Á marë Alqualondessë!

Don't live in Alqualondë!     Áva marë Alqualondessë!

Cut these apples!     Á rista sinar orvar!

Don't cut that apple!     Áva rista tana orva!

Count their ships.     Á notë ciryaltar.

Find my green shirt.     Á hirë laica laupenya.

Find jewels!       Á hirë míri.

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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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Verbs - Past Tense

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Don't panic.   This is where the verb chart you downloaded
 http://www.ambar-eldaron.com/english/verbs_chart.html 
earns its keep.

Past Tense always ends in –ë.

Forming Past Tense:

     Basic verbs:  The ending depends on the last letter of the verb:

          –r–           → –rnë

          –m–        → –mnë

          –p–          → –mpë

          –t-            → –ntë

          –c–,–k– → –ncë, –nkë

          –l–           → –llë

               car– (make)    → carnë (made)

               tam– (tap)       → tampë (tapped)

               map– (grasp)  → mampë (grasped)

               quet– (speak)  → quentë (spoke)

               tak– (fasten)   → tankë (fastened)

               qual– (die)      → quallë (died)

     A-stem verbs:  Replace –a (or sometimes –ya) with –anë.

               lanta   (fall) → lantanë   (fell)

There are a number of verbs with “irregular” past tense forms – forms that don't strictly fit the pattern.  For past tense, you probably want to always look up the forms from the chart mentioned above.  The point is that now that you know what a past tense verb usually looks like, you realize that “sendë”, “rëantë” and “lendë,” for example, look (correctly) like past tense forms of something.

     sendë   ←   ser–    (rest)

     rëantë ←   raita– (smile)

     lendë   ←   lelya– (travel)

Aside:

English verbs aren't really much better. Look at the examples above. We have already used the English past tenses make/made, speak/spoke, and fall/fell. Did you think to yourself, "Of course 'tap' becomes 'tapped' and not 'taped'"?

Practice – Your Turn

Highlight the shaded boxes to see the answers.

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

│                    useful vocabulary                    │

│ mar-           live (at a location)  (past tense marnë) │

│ rista-         cut                 (past tense ristanë) │

│ Alqualondessë  in Alqualondë                            │

│ orva           apple                                    │

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

Aldandil lived in Alqualondë.       Aldandil marnë Alqualondessë.

Aldandil and Calanar lived in Alqualondë.       Aldandil ar Calanar marnër Alqualondessë.

Halla cut apples.  (yesterday)     Halla ristanë orvar.

Halla and Narwë cut apples.  (yesterday)     Halla ar Narwë ristanër orvar.

 
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Verbs - Present Tenses

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Quenya has two forms that we would call “present tense”:  Aorist tense and Continuative tense.

Question for the Geeks:

(Is “Aorist” an English word?  It is at least a “linguistics” word.)

Aorist

“Aorist” present tense expresses the simple, unmodified, unlimited meaning of the verb.  Use this form for general, timeless truths.  It is often translated by the English present tense.

Forming Aorist verbs:

Basic verb:  add -ë (or –i– if any other ending is added)

matë     (one person) eats

matir    (several people) eat (Remember adding –r for the plural)

A-Stem:  ends in -a

(That makes aorist present tense for A-stem verbs come out just like their plain ordinary dictionary forms.)

lassë lanta     a leaf falls

lassi lantar    leaves fall

Continuative Present Tense

“Continuative” present tense expresses an action that is happening right now.  It is sometimes translated as “is doing”.  Some situations could appropriately use either Aorist or Continuative.

Forming Continuative verbs:

Basic Verb:  lengthen the vowel (add accent), and add –a

máta     (one person) is eating

mátar   (several people) are eating

lassë lanta         a leaf falls

lassi lantar        leaves fall

A-Stem:  lengthen the vowel, unless it falls before a consonant cluster, (remember, long vowels never occur before a consonant cluster.)

and replace –a with –ëa

(You did download the chart of all the verb forms already worked out, didn't you?   Even your teacher doesn't memorize all this.)

lálaëa       is laughing

lálaëar     are laughing

lassë lantëa       a leaf is falling

lassi lantëar      leaves are falling

added February 15, 2012:

Extra material for the Geeks:

Does it seem strange to change the vowel in a verb?  In English, we have run/ran, get/got, take/took, and other similar verbs.

Examples of timeless truths (Aorist)

"I am a Human."

"Dogs eat meat."

vs.  present actions (Continuative):

"I am wearing a red shirt."

"That dog is eating my dinner!"

Extra material for the Geeks:

The Quenya translations of those sentences (which include some elements we haven't yet learned):

   Nán Atan.

   Huor matir larma.

   Cólan carnë laupë.

   Tana huo máta apsanya!

Practice – Your Turn

Highlight the shaded boxes to see the answers.

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

│          useful vocabulary           │

│ mar-            live (at a location) │

│ rista-          cut                  │

│ Alqualondessë   in Alqualondë        │

│ orva            apple                │

│ ar              and                  │

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

First, which type of verb is mar-, basic or A-stem?   basic

Which type of verb is rista-? A-stem

Aldandil lives in Alqualondë.  (in general)     Aldandil marë Alqualondessë.

Aldandil and Calanar live in Alqualondë.

Aldandil ar Calanar marir Alqualondessë.

Aldandil is living in Alqualondë.  (currently)     Aldandil mára Alqualondessë.
Aldandil and Calanar are living in Alqualondë.

Aldandil ar Calanar márar Alqualondessë.

Halla cuts apples.  (in general)     Halla rista orvar.

Halla and Narwë cut apples.          Halla ar Narwë ristar orvar.
Halla is cutting an apple.  (now)               Halla ristëa orva.
Halla and Narwë are cutting an apple.     Halla ar Narwë ristëar orva.

Implied “Is”

Extra Material for the Geeks:

You can leave out the "is" in a sentence, if it is just joining two nouns or a noun and an adjective.

To say "That table (is) brown and white" in Quenya, you might not bother with the "is"

   Iana sarna varnë ar ninquë.

An ordinary adjective comes before the noun.   If the adjective comes after the noun, it becomes a sentence, “Noun is adjective.”

   calima Anar      the bright Sun

   Anar calima.    The Sun is bright.

You can still use "is" (ná), but you don't need to.

   Tana sarna ná varnë ar ninquë.     That table is brown and white.

   Anar ná calima     The Sun is bright.

Practice – Your Turn

Highlight the shaded boxes to see the answers.

┌───────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────┐

│                  useful vocabulary                  │

│ ar      and                   │ celva  animal       │

│ sina    this [adjective]      │ aiwë   (small) bird │

│ tana    that [adjective]      │ huo    dog          │

│ carnë   red                   │ yaxë   cow          │

│ morë    black                 │ lótë   flower       │

│ helwa   pale blue             │ yávë   fruit        │

│ ninquë  white                 │ orva   apple        │

│ varnë   brown                 │ piucca blackberry   │

│ vanya   beautiful (of looks)  │                     │

│ linda   beautiful (of sound)  │                     │

│ lissë   sweet                 │                     │

│                                                     │

│ -(e)rya   his/hers/its                              │

│ -(e)lta   their (plural)                            │

└───────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────┘

These apples are sweet.  (Hint:  “These” is the plural of “this”.)

Sinë orvar lissi. or Sinë orvar nár lissi.

That flower is pale blue.        Tana lótë helwa.  or Tana lótë ná helwa.

Blackberries are black.        Piuccar mori.  or Piuccar nár mori.

This cow is brown.                Sina yaxë varnë.  or Sina yaxë ná varnë.

Dogs and cows are animals.        Huor ar yaxi celvar.  or Huor ar yaxi nár celvar.

Aiwë linda.                        (A) small bird is sweet-sounding.  In many situations, this would be equivalent to English  "The small bird is sweet-sounding."

Orvar ar piuccar lissi yávi.        Apples and blackberries are sweet fruits.

Her cow is white.                Yaxerya ninquë.  or Yaxerya ná ninquë.

That animal is his dog.        Tana celva huorya.  or Tana celva ná huorya.

Their (a group's) apples are sweet.        Orvaltar lissi.  or Orvaltar nár lissi.

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