1.2.6 Conjunctions (conj.) and Subordinate Clauses

• 1.2.6.1 Conjunctions
• 1.2.6.2 Subordinate Clauses
• 1.2.6.3 Distribution of Meaning Among Words
• 1.2.6.4 Section Summary
• Exercise 1.5

Conjunctions are words that join together two or more things in a sentence, like English “and, or, but”. The things joined can be nouns, adjectives, verbs or even two otherwise independent sentences. The equivalent Sindarin conjunctions (ah, egor, ach) behave much like in English. Here are a handful of conjunctions:

• ah conj. “and”
• ach² conj. “but”
• pen² pron. “one, somebody”
• i² pron. “who, that”
• egor conj. “or”
• man pron. “*what, who (Interrogative)”
• lo conj. “while”
• io conj. “when”

This section is the most difficult part of this first chapter, and in it we can only scratch the surface for how complex sentences are assembled. However, you need some understanding of complex sentence structure to have anything resembling normal discourse.

1.2.6.1 Conjunctions: As noted above, conjunctions join elements of a sentence. Some examples of conjunction use:

• en-Edhel ah en·Adan lerir vi e·mâr. “The elf and the man sleep in the house.”
• en·Adan vên n’ e·garas ach en·edhel vên n’ e·daur. “The man is going to the city, but the elf is going to the forest.”

Note ¹: “ah” before vowels, and “a” before consonants. It also causes sibilant mutation, and I must note that Eldamo rates this as a “mostly optional” mutation, in that its effects are minimal and are mentioned only in a single source. It is suggested to restore the h before vowels, but otherwise ignore any other mutational effects. If you do choose to use this mutation, its effects are:

1.2.6.2 Subordinate Clauses:A subordinate clause is a phrase within a sentence that depends on something in the main clause, for example: “I watch the man who runs”. In this sentence, “who runs” is the subordinate clause and refers to the noun “man”. One way to form a subordinate clause in English is to use a relative pronoun like “who”. In Sindarin, the indeclinable relative pronoun i performs a similar function: Tirin en·adan i nôr.

English uses different relative pronouns for people (“who”) versus things (“which”), but in simple subordinate clauses, Sindarin uses the same relative pronoun i for both (but not so when using noun cases, see below). In this respect, the Sindarin indeclinable relative pronoun is more like the English relative pronoun “that”, which in English can be used in subordinate clauses for both people and things: “I am watching the man that is running” and “he finds a tower that has a roof”. Some more examples:

• Hîr vinas i hâf rond. “He/She finds a tower that has a roof”, where hîr = “finds-he”.
• Riston en·aew i aran mâd. “I cut the bird that a king eats”, where risto-n = “(cutting)-I”.

Note ¹: Why hâf and not sâfis an excellent question. The current theory which seems to explain the data we have – which at first glance seems very contradictory. Sindarin distinguishes restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses; non-restrictive clauses use i with no mutation, whereas restrictive clauses use the definite article i/in with soft/nasal mutation (depending on the plurality of the referent). In this case “which has a roof” is necessary information to identify the referent of “tower”, making this a restrictive clause, thus presumably requiring mutation.

• Tirin adan edain i nerir. “I watch men who run.”, alternatively with a participle, Tirin edain norel.
• Hîr vinais i rynd sevir. “He finds towers that have roofs.”
• Riston in·Aew i aran mâd. “I cut the birds that a king eats.”
• Riston en·Aew i erain medir. “I cut the bird that kings eat”

Note ²: A Sindarin enthusiast noted that this is an acceptable canonical word order, which emphasises that the towers have roofs, rather than something else that they might have. With normal word order it would be Hîr vinais i hevir rynd.

Note ³: They also state to further clarify the restrictive/non-restrictive clause theory above – here i erain medir is a restrictive clause necessary to identify the “bird”, therefore the theory predicts that this clause would begin with the definite article (not necessarily attached to any one word, btw, but rather attached to the whole clause – German does the same). BUT, it should not use the plural in, because the clause refers to i·aew, which is singular; the plural erain is not a factor for this. So, the sentence is correct as it stands.

The pronoun i itself does not change for singular vs. plural. The relative pronoun i is called indeclinable because it cannot be modified. It can only be used as a standalone pronoun and cannot (for example) be declined into noun cases.

1.2.6.3 Distribution of Meaning Among Words: The examples in this section illustrate an important fact about Sindarin: the distribution of meaning among words in Sindarin are not necessarily the same as in English. You cannot assume that a given Sindarin word can be used in all the same ways as its English translation. For example, English has two relative pronouns which can be used for persons: “who” and “that”. Sindarin has “i” but used in different circumstances.

1.2.6.4 Section Summary:

• Conjunctions in Sindarin:
  • Sindarin conjunctions, like “ah” (and), “ach” (behind), and “egor” (or), function similarly to their English counterparts, connecting nouns, adjectives, verbs, or complete sentences. For example, “en-Edhel ah en-Adan lerir vi e-mâr. ” translates to “The elf and the man sleep in the house.”
  • Sindarin uses pronoun “i” for both restrictive and non-restrictive clauses, functioning like the English “who” or “that.” For example, “Tirin en·adan i nôr.” means “I watch the man who runs.”
• Complex Sentence Structures and Word Meaning:
  • Sindarin's sentence structure can be complex, with the distribution of meaning among words differing from English. It's important to understand that a Sindarin word may not always be used in the same contexts as its English translation, particularly in the case of relative pronouns and the formation of complex sentences.

Click the phrase to reveal the answer. I have also updated to using PE23's definite article e/en & in.

Exercise 1.5

Translate the following into English:

1. en-Adan ah e·Hadhod sevir vegil. - The man and the dwarf have swords.
2. Megil han ristar yrch sílar luin. - Swords that cut orcs shine blue[ly].

Translate the following into Sindarin:

3. Elves sleep in the forest that orcs cut. - Edhil lerir vi e·daur i yrch ristar.
4. Elves are running from the orcs who cut the forest. - Edhil nerir od in·yrch idh ristar e·daur.