Quenya/Personal pronouns

Personal pronoun endings

Most personal pronouns are used as endings with a conjugated verb. These can be found on the pages about Verbs and Imperative.

Short pronoun endings

Pronouns	Ending	English
Singular
1st Person	\5 -n	I, me
2nd Person	\j -l	You
3rd Person	\8 -s	He/She/It
Plural
3rd Person	\1 -t	Them

Not much is all too known of the short pronoun endings, as they currently have only 3 attested forms:

• \5 -n

• \8 -s

• \1 -t

Of \j -l, it is theoretically guessed based on the forms of the attested short pronouns, and can be understood by others in usage.

Of what we know, their use in sentences were as a subject pronoun with no object pronouns:

• j#4#5 lantan "I fall"

j#4#\5 - "lanta-n" "fall-I"

• j$2$8 lendes "He/She/It went"

j$2$\8 - "lendë-s" "went-he/she/it"

And as object pronoun endings, following a long subject pronoun form (3rd Pers. Pl. \1 -t seems to only be in this category, as it could be easily mistaken for a dual elsewhere):

• jlD1UyEjt$1 laituvalmet "We shall bless/praise them"

jlD1UyE\jt$\1 "laituva-lmë-t" "praise shall-we(Exc.)-them"

• `M1~MyT`V5Ì$8Á utúvienyes! "I have found it!"

`M1~MyT`V\5Ì$\8 "utúvië-nyë-s" "have found-I-he/she/it".

Long pronoun endings

One special use of these endings exists: they can be added to a preposition. With the preposition `C7E ara "against" as an example:

Pronouns	Quenya	Ending	English
Singular
1st Person	`C7E5Ì$ Aranyë	\5Ì$ -nyë	Against me
2nd Person	`C7Ej´$ Aralyë	\j´$ -lyë	Against you
3rd Person	`C7E8 = `C7EiR Aras / Arasë	\8 = \iR -s / -së	Against him, her, it
Dual
1st Person Inclusive	`C7Ex$ = `C7Ev$ Arangwë / Aranquë	\x$ = \v$ -ngwë / -nquë	Against me and you
1st Person Exclusive	`C7Et"$ Arammë	\t"$ -mmë	Against us two
2nd Person	`C7E81R Arastë	\81R -stë	Against both of you
3rd Person	`C7E1'R Arattë	\1'R -ttë	Against those two
Plural
1st Person Inclusive	`C7EjyR Aralvë	\jyR -lvë	Against us (and you)
1st Person Exclusive	`C7Ejt$ Aralmë	\jt$ -lmë	Against us (not you)
2nd Person	`C7Em$ Araldë	\m$ -ldë	Against you lot, you guys, youse, y'all
3rd Person	`C7E4$ = `C7Ej1R Arantë / Araltë	\4$ = \j1R -ntë / -ltë	Against them

With \8 =\iR -s / -së, it does not distinguish the gender of the 3rd person, and is used for he, she and it. Despite this, the gender of the 3rd person can be found in the context of the sentence, by either name of a being or by what it is.

• `B 5~V6 t#d1E8 t#aGj i nér mahtas macil "The man wields a sword"

• `B 5~B8 t#d1E8 9C1Ej i nís mahtas hatal "The woman wields a spear"

(In the Quenya exemplified in the Lord of the Rings however \t"$ -mmë is the 1st person plural exclusive; \jt$ -lmë the 1st person plural inclusive and \jyR -lvë the 1st person dual — See the Problem of the Canon Middle-earth canon).

When the preposition ends in a consonant we use the connecting vowel `V e (and as with verbs `B i in the first person singular) (`N6 or is a preposition meaning "over, above"):

• `N7T5Ì$ orinyë "over me", `N7Rj´$ orelyë "over you", `N7R4$ orentë "over them", ...

Independent personal pronouns

These are used when no ending is possible or when the personal pronoun has to be in a case other than the nominative, e.g.

• 5%5 `C4#j´$8 nin antalyes "you give it to me"

Here "to me" has to be in the dative case so we use the personal pronoun 5% ni with the dative ending \5 -n.

	1st Prs. Sg.	1st Prs. Pl. (Exc.)	1st Prs. Pl. (Inc.)	1st Prs. Dual (Exc.)	1st Prs. Dual (Inc.)	2nd Prs. Sg.	3rd Prs.Sg. Animate	3rd Prs.Sg. Inanimate	3rd Prs. Pl. Animate	3rd Prs. Pl. Inanimate
Nominative	5Ì$ nyë	t$ më	yR vë	t$1 met	yR1 vet	j´$ lyë	iR se	iD sa	1R te	1E - 1lD ta, tai
Dative	5%5 nin	t$5 men	yR5 ven	t$4 ment	yR4 vent	j´$5 lyen	iR5 sen	iD5 san	1T`V5 tien	1E5 tan
Ablative	5%j°^ nillo	t$j°^ mello	yRj°^ vello	t$j1Y melto	yRj1Y velto	j´$j°^ lyello	iRj°^ sello	iDj°^ sallo	1T`Vj°^ tiello	1Ej°^ tallo
Allative	5%5"# ninna	t$5"# menna	yR5"# venna	t$4# menta	yR4# venta	j´$5"# lyenna	iR5"# senna	iD5"# sanna	1T`V5"# tienna	1E5"# tanna
Locative	5%,R nissë	t$,R messë	yR,R vessë	t$1R+ metsë	yR1R+ vetsë	j´$,R lyessë	iR,R sessë	iD,R sassë	1T`V,R tiessë	1E,R tassë
Instrumental	5%5$5 ninen	t$5$5 menen	yR5$5 venen	t$4$5 menten	yR4$5 venten	j´$5$5 lyenen	iR5$5 senen	iD5$5 sanen	1T`V5$5 tienen	1E5$5 tanen
Respective	5%8 nis	t$8 mes	yR8 ves	t$1R8 metes	yR1R8 vetes	j´$8 lyes	iR8 ses	iD8 sas	1T`V8 ties	1E8 tas

Note: The forms of the 3rd person singular depend on the whether they're animate or inanimate. 3rd person singular does not recognise gender, so it can mean either he or she:

• `N7Yt$ iR5"# j$2$ Oromë senna lendë "Orome went to him/her"

• `N7Yt$ iD5"# j$2$ Oromë sanna lendë "Orome went to it"

The cases of 1E ta cannot be translated literally, i.e. 1Ej°^ tallo isn't translated by "from it" but by "from there", ....

• `N7Yt$ 1E5"# j$2$ Oromë tanna lendë "Orome went (over)there"

• `N7Yt$ 1E,R 9Ct$ Oromë tassë hamë "Orome sits thereupon/therein"

The difference between the 1st person plural and dual is translated by using "both" with the dual:

• `Bw$ t$ imbë me "between us"

• `Bw$ t$1 imbë met "between us both"

The nominative of these independent pronouns is used in the following situations:

1. When the verb has a direct object that is a personal pronoun and a subject that isn't:

• `B j%`V 1R j#1UyE i lië te latuva "the people will bless them"

Note the difference with:

• `B j%`V j#1UyE4$ i lië latuvantë "they will bless the people"

2. When a gerund or an active participle has a personal pronoun as direct object:

• `M1~Mj%`V5 j$ aR5%`V5 utúlien le cenien "I have come to see you"

• t$ a~V5#j# yE5$8 me cénala vánes "while he saw us (seeing us), he left"

• `B `Vm# iR 8lUj#j# i elda se suilala "the elf greets him/her"

3. After prepositions (but in that case we mostly apply the ending to the preposition):

• yR 5Ì$ ve nyë "like me"

4. With the copula 5~C ná the verb can be omitted and replaced by a personal pronoun:

• 5Ì$ `C7E5 nyë aran "I am king"

• j$ 9Cj°# le halla "you are long"

The word order is again quite free, but in principle the nominative always immediately precedes the verb (except of course when used with prepositions). The other cases either immediately precede the verb or immediately follow the verb:

• ~N7R5Ì# z~V1E 5%5 \ ~N7R5Ì# 5%5 z~V1E órenya quéta nin / órenya nin quéta "my heart says me"

Emphatic personal pronouns

Sometimes we want to emphasize the personal pronoun and in that case we don't use endings but separate words.

Let's look at an example, non-emphatic we use endings:

• 9B7UyEj´$8 hiruvalyes "you shall find it"

When we want to emphasize that "you" found it, we change this into:

• `Vj´$ 1E 9B7UyE elyë ta hiruva "even you shall find it"

Note: 1E ta is an ordinary independent pronoun because it cannot stay an object ending if no subject ending is present.

An example in the first person:

• `B5Ì$ 1ÎR t~Vj# inyë tyë méla "even I love you"

These forms can also be used as direct object:

• t~Vj#j´$ `B5Ì$ mélalyë inyë "you love even me"

An overview of the emphatic personal pronouns:

• `B5Ì$ inyë "I, me"

• `Vj´$ elyë "you"

• `V,R- `B,R essë, issë "he/she/it, him/her/it"

• `Bv$ inquë "thou-and-I"

• `Vt"$ emmë "we, us" (dual)

• `Vjt$ elmë "we, us" (excl.)

• `VjyR- `VjnR elvë/elwë "we, us" (incl.)

• `BjaR ilcë "you" (plural)

• `V81Y esto "they, them" (dual)

• `B4$ intë "they, them"

When we use an emphatic pronoun we do not add a personal ending to the verb:

• `Vj´$ j#j# elyë lala "you laugh"

But in the plural we still use the ending -r:

• `Vjt$ j#j#6 elmë lalar "we laugh"

• `Vj´$ t#1R elyë matë "you eat" (singular)

• `BjaR t#1T6 ilcë matir "you eat" (plural)

The negation of a verb with an emphatic pronoun always uses j~C lá (see Verbs):

• `Vj´$ j~C j%2# elyë lá linda "even you don't sing"

Note: The emphatic pronouns can be declined in all cases, e.g.:

• `Vjt$5 elmen "for us" (dative)

• `B5Ì$5"# inyenna "towards me" (allative)

The Informal Second Person

There is a poorly attested form in Quenya that is used for the informal second person singular (in English we see no difference, but some examples of other languages are French "tu", German "du", Dutch "jij"). The normal second person is more neutral, i.e. it can both be informal and formal (French "vous", German "Sie", Dutch "u").

Pronouns	Quenya	Ending	English
Singular
2nd Person Informal	`C7E1ÎR Aratyë	\1ÎR -tyë	Against you
Dual
2nd Person Informal	`C7Ea|R = `C7Ea'R Araxë / Araccë	\a|R = \a'R -xë, -ccë	Against you two
Plural
2nd Person Informal	`C7Ef$ Arancë	\f$ -ncë	Against you lot, you guys, youse, y'all

The informal forms are only used when the person spoken to is very close, a brother, sister or very good friend.

The personal pronoun subject ending is \a'R -ccë:

• t#1Ta'R maticcë "you eat"

The object ending doesn't have an (attested) informal form, so we always use \j -l:

• aR5%5Ì$j ceninyel "I see you"

The independent forms are based on the stem aR\ ce-:

• Dative: aR5 cen

• Ablative: aRj°^ cello

• Allative: aR5"# cenna

• Locative: aR,R cessë

• Instrumental: aR5$5 cenen

• Respective: aR8 ces.

An example with the dative:

• `C4#5 aR5 j~N1R antan cen lótë "I give you a flower"

The nominative has an exceptional form: 1ÎR tyë.

• `C1E6 1ÎR aD5$ atar tyë canë "father commands you"

The emphatic form is:

• `Va'R eccë "even you"

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