Bardh
Sindarin Crash Course — by Rínor
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Pronouns are small words that substitute for nouns. Some common pronouns in English are “I”, “you” and “he, she”. When used as objects, though, the English pronouns become “me”, “you” and “him, her”, whereas possessive pronouns become “my”, “your” and “his, her”. For example:
Sindarin pronouns have independent, subject (suffixed to the verb), object, dative and possessive:
| Nominative | Subject Suffixes | Accusative | Dative | Possessive | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st: Singular | *ni “I/me” | -n “I” | nin “me” | annin “to me” | nín “my” |
| 2nd: Singular Familiar | ci “you” | -g “you” | *cin “you” | *echin “to you” | *cín “your” |
| 2nd: Singular Formal | le “you” | -l, †-dh “you” | *len “you” | *allen “to you” | lín “your” |
| 3rd: Singular | *te “he/she” | — “he/she” | *ten “him/her” | *athen “to he/she” | tín “his/her” |
| 1st: Plural Inclusive | *pe “we/us” | -b “we” | *pen “us” | *aphen “to us” | *pín “our” |
| 1st: Plural Exclusive | *me “we/us” | -f “we” | men “us” | ammen “to us” | mín “our” |
| 2nd: Plural Formal | de “you” | -dh, †-dhir “you” | *den “you” | *annen “to you” | *dín “your” |
| 3rd: Plural | ti “they/them” | -r “they” | *tin “them” | *ethin “to them” | *tín “their” |
The suffixed verb and noun forms are written as a single word. However, this course sometimes inserts dashes within Sindarin words to break down their elements for purposes of analysis. This makes it easier to give a literal English translation of the Sindarin form, with parenthesis around the English words that correspond to a single Sindarin element:
One major complication with Sindarin pronouns is that some attested pronouns end in n such as: nin “me”, men “us”, ten “*it”, whereas others do not: ci “you”, le “you”, ti “*they” (with ten and ti only attested in mutated form den and di). One common assumption in descriptions of Neo-Sindarin is that the pronouns without n are nominative forms, and the pronouns with n are accusative or oblique forms. However, most of the attested uses of independent pronouns (both with and without n) are functionally objects.
Example sentences:
As mentioned before nominative pronouns are usually suffixes on the verbs.
For example:
Sindarin has a set of possessive pronouns that seem to be very similar to and possibly based on the forms of independent pronouns. Only a subset of the possible pronominal forms are attested and they are:
If the possessed noun is plural, then the noun undergoes nasal mutation and vowels i-affection.
In the last example you can tell it is plural because of the definite article “in”.
One thing in Sindarin is the reflexive possessive pronoun ín (himself), as seen in the sentence: ar e aníra ennas suilannad mhellyn în phain “and he desires to greet there all his friends.” ✧ AotM/62; SD/129
There is new talk that some think ín cannot be used as a reflexive possessive. If you are on VL it can be found in athrabeth and eldamo
This is how I was using it before these discussions took place.:
Elrond loves his dog.
Who does his refer to? It could be that Elrond loves his own dog, or his friend's dog (Celebrimbor's dog).
Additional examples:
Plural subject examples:
With multiple subjects:
Here is a simplified chart of the pronouns discussed in this chapter.
| Object | Subject | Possessive |
|---|---|---|
| nin “me” | -n “I” | nín “my” |
| len “you” | -l “you” | lín “your” |
| ten “him, her” | - “he, she” | tín “his, her” |