Quenya/Possessive pronouns

Most of the time we use possessive endings instead of independent possessive pronouns.

These should not be confused with the endings of the possessive case (e.g. "my prince's horse" would become 7Ya;Y aU2&5Ì#yE rocco cundunyava where aU2& cundu both gets a possessive pronoun ending \5Ì# -nya to denote "my" and a possessive case ending \yE -va to denote the English genitive ending).

Possessive endings

They can be formed by changing the final -ë of the subject endings of the verbs (see Verbs) into -a:

Pronoun Ending	Translation	Possessive Ending	Translation
\5Ì$ -nyë	I	\5Ì# -nya	My
\j´$ -lyë	You	\j´# -lya	Your
\jyR -lvë	We (incl.)	\jyE -lva	Our (Incl.)
\jt$ -lmë	We (excl.)	\jt# -lma	Our (Excl.)
\t:$ -mmë	We (dual)	\t:# -mma	Our (Dual)
\7ÎR -ryë	He/She/It	\7ÎD -rya	His/Her/Its
\4$ -ntë	They	\4# -nta	Their

They are used as endings of nouns:

• aY`C5Ì# coanya "my house"

• 7Ya;Yj´# roccolya "your horse"

• 5~N7R4# nórenta "their country"

The different endings for "our" correspond to the different endings for "we":

• aY`CjyE coalva "our house (and also yours)"

• aY`CjtE coalma "our house (but not yours)"

• aY`Ct:# coamma "the house of the two of us"

When a possessive ending and a case ending are added to the same noun we always apply the possessive ending first and only afterwards the case ending:

• `C5#6 aDj&yE 1T`Vj´#5:# Anar caluva tielyanna "the sun will shine towards your path"

So we find 1T`Vj´#5:# tielyanna = 1T`V tië + j´# lya (possessive) + 5:# nna (allative).

In fact is easiest to look upon a noun with a possessive ending as a new noun that is declined according to the rules of the nouns on -a (see Declension Paradigms). Let's e.g. look at sambelya "your room":

Case	Singular	Plural		Dual	Partitive Plural
Nominative	iDw$j´# sambelya	iDw$j´#6 sambelyar		iDw$j´#1 sambelyat	iDw$j´#j% sambelyali
Genitive	iDw$j´^ sambelyo	iDw$j´#7Y5 sambelyaron		iDw$j´#1Y sambelyato	iDw$j´#j%`N5 sambelyalion
Possessive	iDw$j´#yE sambelyava	iDw$j´lDyE sambelyaiva		iDw$j´#1nE sambelyatwa	iDw$j´#j~ByE sambelyalíva
Dative	iDw$j´#5 sambelyan	iDw$j´lD55 sambelyain		iDw$j´#4 sambelyant	iDw$j´#j%5 sambelyalin
Ablative	iDw$j´#j°^ sambelyallo	iDw$j´#j°^5 sambelyallon	iDw$j´#j°^6 sambelyallor	iDw$j´#j1Y sambelyalto	iDw$j´#j%j°^5 sambelyalillon	iDw$j´#j%j°^6 sambelyalillor
Allative	iDw$j´#5:# sambelyanna	iDw$j´#5:#6 sambelyannar		iDw$j´#4# sambelyanta	iDw$j´#j%5:# sambelyalinna	iDw$j´#j%5:#6 sambelyalinnar
Locative	iDw$j´#,R sambelyassë	iDw$j´#,R5 sambelyassen		iDw$j´#1R+ sambelyatsë	iDw$j´#j%,R sambelyalissë	iDw$j´#j%,R5 sambelyalissën
Instrumental	iDw$j´#5$5 sambelyanen	iDw$j´lD5$5 sambelyainen		iDw$j´#4$5 sambelyanten	iDw$j´#j~B5$5 sambelyalínen
Respective	iDw$j´#8 sambelyas	iDw$j´lD8 sambelyais		iDw$j´#1R8 sambelyates	iDw$j´#j%8 sambelyalis

Note:

• the ending \4#-nta is also the ending of the dual allative. So aG7ÎD4# ciryanta can mean "their ship" as well as "towards both ships". Of course "towards both their ships" is aG7ÎD4#4# ciryantanta.
• nouns with possessive endings always have t-duals, never u-duals.
• there is also an informal second person possessive ending: \a;D-cca:

t#aGj$a;D macilecca "your sword"

Adding possessive endings to nouns

When the noun ends in a vowel the endings can be added without any difficulty.

I-stems and U-stems add possessive endings to their stem-forms:

`Cs&j´# angulya "your snake" (nom. ango)

j%x%4#6 lingwintar "their fishes" (nom. lingwë)

Nouns ending in -ë that are not I-stems always add possessive endings to the singular:

j#,R5Ì# lassenya "my leaf" (nom. lassë)

j#,R5Ì#6 lassenyar "my leaves"

When the noun ends on a consonant we have to add an extra vowel before we can add the possessive ending. When the noun has a stem-form we use the stem-form before adding these endings.

We follow these rules:

• in the plural or before \5Ì#-nya this vowel is \`B\ -i-

t#aGj%5Ì# macilinya "my sword" (nom. t#aGj macil)

t#iG5Ì#6 masinyar "my homes" (nom. t#6 mar)

1RaGj%4#6 tecilintar "their pens" (nom. 1RaGj tecil)

• in the singular it is \`V\ -e- (except with \5Ì# -nya)

`C1E7Rj´# atarelya "your father" (nom. `C1E6 atar)

`Ct%j°$4# amillenta "their mother" (nom. `Ct%j amil)

• in the dual it is \`M\ -u- (except with \5Ì# -nya)

t#aGj&7ÎD1 maciluryat "both his/her swords" (nom. t#aGj macil)

eG`N2&jt#1 fiondulmat "both our hawks" (nom. eG`N5 fion)

(but note: `Cm# alda "tree" has `Cm& aldu as dual, but when a possessive ending is added we don't find the \`M\ -u- as it ends in a vowel: `Cm#7ÎD1 aldaryat).

An optional rule is used whenever the noun ends on the same consonant as the first consonant of the possessive ending. In that case no extra vowel is added and the two identical consonants merge into one:

`C7E5Ì#6 aranyar "my kings" (but `C7E5%5Ì#6 araninyar is also acceptable)

t#aGj´# macilya "your sword" (but t#aGj$j´# macilelya is also acceptable)

The expressions "my son", "my daughter" and "my child" have irregular contractions with the ending -nya:

hÎY2^ yondo + 5Ì# nya = hÎY5Ì# yonya "my son"

hÎRm$ yeldë + 5Ì# nya = hÎR5Ì# yenya "my daughter"

9~B5# hína + 5Ì# nya = 9~B5Ì# hínya "my child"

When the possessive endings \5Ì#-nya, \j´#-lya or 7ÎD-rya are applied to 2-letter nouns the final long vowel of these nouns is not shortened as the combinations 5Ì ny, j´ ly and 7Î ry are not seen as double consonants (see Phonology):

t~C7ÎD1 máryat "both his/her hands" (nom. t~C má)

9~N5Ì# hónya "my owl" (nom. 9~N hó)

But the long vowel has to be shortened before the other possessive endings:

qR4#1 pentat "both their lips" (nom. q~V pé)

Infinitives with possessive endings

In the page on verbal forms the long infinitive can be found. It is used when the infinitive has a direct object:

t$7T5 aD7T1E8 merin caritas "I want to do it"

It is also possible to express a different subject for the infinitive by adding a possessive ending:

t$7T5 aD7T1Ej´#8 merin caritalyas "I want you to do it"

t$65$j´$ 1T7T1E5Ì#1 mernelyë tiritanyat "you wanted me to look at them"

This construction can also be used when the direct object is something else than a personal pronoun:

merin tiritalya i seldor "I want you to look at the boys"

Independent Possessive pronouns

When you look at the independent personal pronouns, it is apparent that the possessive and genitive cases are missing.

When the possessive pronoun is not emphasized we use the possessive endings as discussed above, but sometimes we do want to stress these pronouns and in that case we use the independent forms. They are used as adjectives:

j$5Ì# qE6t# lenya parma "your book (and no one else's)"

and can also be used predicatively:

`B qE6t# 5~C j$tÌ# i parma ná lenya "the book is yours"

These pronouns are formed by adding \hÎD -ya to the dative of the independent personal pronouns,

this gives following overview:

Pronoun	Translation
5%5Ì# ninya	Mine
j$5Ì# lenya	Yours
t$5Ì# menya	Ours
t$4Ì# mentya	Ours (Dual)
iR5Ì# senya	His, Hers
iD5Ì# sanya	Its, Thereof
1T`V5Ì# tienya	Theirs (Animate)
1E5Ì# tanya	Theirs (Inatimate)

Note: there also exists an informal second person: aR5Ì# cenya "yours".

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