Learn Elvish! Newsletter
Beginning Sindarin (October 2002)
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Dear Subscriber,

This is a more technical newsletter this time, delving 
into some of the rules in Sindarin regarding sentence 
structure, pronouns, verbs, and conjugation. It may 
sound difficult, but it's not really. I've included some 
small assignments so it'll stick in your mind. I made them 
easy (since this is Beginning Sindarin), so I 
hope you have fun while you learn.


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in this issue
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* Prefixes, Suffixes, and More Pronouns
* Pronouns
* Building Vocabulary




Prefixes, Suffixes, and More Pronouns
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Pronouns are personal nouns such as "I", "you", "he", 
etc. If anyone here is also taking the Quenya course, 
you'll know most pronouns and other types of words are 
not whole words, but are attached to other words in 
the form of prefixes and suffixes. Sindarin has less 
examples of prefixes and suffixes, but they're still there.

The first example I'll give you is "I take". In Sindarin, "I" 
is '-don' and "take" is 'maba'. The suffix '-don' is 
attached to the end of the verb root, so "I take" would 
be maba+don= mabadon. It's that easy. '-thon' makes 
verbs in future tense (ex. will take) so it would 
be "mabathon" for 'will take', and 'I will take' would 
be "mabadonthon". The imperative is giving an order, 
like saying to someone "Take!". You make a verb root 
imperative by adding '-o' onto the end.

Here are some examples to try yourself:
beria (guard,protect) -> "I guard":
map (grasp) -> "will grasp": 
dartha (wait, stay) -> "Wait!": 
fir (die) -> "I will die":
athrada (cross, traverse) -> "will cross":
nor (ride) -> "I ride":
ing (guess, suppose) -> "Guess!":



Pronouns
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As discussed in the Featured Article to the right, 
pronouns are personal nouns, such as "I", "you", "he", 
etc. This article lists the pronouns and will help expand 
your vocabulary in this area.

For the pronoun "I", there are two possible words. The 
first is the suffix "-don" (discussed in the right-hand 
article, used to conjugate verbs) and the second is "im". 
This is a full word in itself, not a prefix or suffix. Sindarin 
differs from Quenya in this sense - Quenyan pronouns 
are always suffixes. The pronoun 'he' is "hon" (this also 
means 'him'), "le" means you (identical to Quenya, 
though in Quenya it is a suffix), "līn" means 'your', and "-
men" (a suffix) means 'we' or 'us'.

For this assignment, I want you to read through the 
sentence in English and decide which pronoun fits best 
in that sentence and put the appropriate Sindarin word 
in place of the blank. For those of you who study 
vocabulary words in depth, this exercise will be helpful, 
because I'm simply giving you sentences without 
explaining precisely what the words are or what the 
grammatical layout is.

1) The power of my people will protect ___.
Tur gwaith nīn beriatha ___.
2) ___ am the swifter rider.
Rochon ellint ___.
3) The ford against ___ will be held.
i athrad dan ___ beriathar aen.



Building Vocabulary
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This small section will list some simpler words for you to 
integrate into what you learned today. For those of you 
who are fast learners, I've also included some 
sentences from the movie in which the vocabulary 
words are used.

Aragorn: Dartho guin Beriain. Rych le ad 
tolthathon.
'Stay with the Hobbits. I will send horses for you.' 
New words:
-"guin" is comprised of "gwa" (together with) and "in" 
(the [plural]);
-"rych" (horses) is the plural of "roch" (horse);
-"ad" (again);
Arwen: Hon mabathon. Rochon ellint im. 
'I will take him. I am the swifter rider.' 
New words:
-"rochon" (rider) compare to the word for 'horse' 
("roch");
-"lint" (swift) and "ellint" (swifter/more swift);
-"delu" (hateful, fell, dangerous), "andelu" (more 
dangerous);
-"i" (the);
-"ven" (road) from "men" (path, road).




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