Quenya/Pronouns

Personal pronouns

This article can be found on a separate page: Personal pronouns.

Possessive pronouns

This article can be found on a separate page: Possessive pronouns.

Relative pronouns

Neo-Quenya contains two relative pronouns hÍE ya and `B i.

The pronoun `B i cannot be declined, it is only used when it is the subject of the sub-sentence and the antecedent (the noun to which it refers) is a person or a group of persons:

`B `Vm#6 `B 1T65$6 `B 5.DaY6= `Vs$6 `B 1.D7R,R i eldar i tirner i naucor, enger i tauressë "the elves who were looking at the dwarves were in the wood"

By contrast, the number of ya equals the number of the antecedent:

`B 9C6t# hÍE 9B65$j´$= 5~C `Cj1E i harma ya hirnelyë, ná alta "the treasure (that) you found is big"

`B 9C6t#6 hÍE6 9B65$j´$= 5~C6 `Cj1R i harmar yar hirnelyë, nar altë "the treasures (that) you found are big"

`B 9C6t#1 hÍE1 9B65$j´$= 5~C6 `Cj1R i harmat yat hirnelyë, nar altë "both treasures (that) you found are big"

And it can be used to replace both subject and object. So the following sentence has two meanings:

`B `Vm#6 hÍE6 1T65$6 `B 5.DaY6= ººº i eldar yar tirner i naucor, ... "the elves who were looking at the dwarves ... / that the dwarves were looking at ..."

In contrast to `B i, it is never wrong to use hÍE ya although sometimes the context has to be used to decide which meaning is actually intended.

The pronoun hÍE ya is declined depending on the function it has in the sub-sentence. When hÍE ya is used instead of noun in a certain case, it has to be declined in that case:

`B aY`C6 hÍE,R5 t#7Tjt$= 5#6 aD65$ i coar yassen marilmë, nar carnë "the houses in which we live are red"

is decomposed of:

`B aY`C6 5#6 aD65$ i coar nar carnë "the houses are red"

`B aY`C,R5 t#7Tjt$ i coassen marilmë "we live in the houses"

So hÍE ya is used to replace `B aY`C,R5 i coassen, so it becomes hÍE,R5 yassen.

It is declined as a noun on -a:

Case	Singular	Plural		Dual
Nominative	hÍE ya	hÍE6 yar		hÍE1 yat
Genitive	hÍY yo	hÍE7Y5 yaron		hÍE1Y yato
Possessive	hÍEyE yava	hÍlDyE yaiva		hÍE1nE yatwa
Dative	hÍE5 yan	hÍlD5 yain		hÍE4 yant
Ablative	hÍEj°^ yallo	hÍEj°^5 yallon	hÍEj°^6 yallor - (alt.)	hÍEj1Y yalto
Allative	hÍE5:# yanna	hÍE5:#6 yannar		hÍE4# yanta
Locative	hÍE,R yassë	hÍE,R5 yassen		hÍE1R+ yatsë
Instrumental	hÍE5$5 yanen	hÍlD5$5 yainen		hÍE4$5 yanten
Respective	hÍE8 yas	hÍlD8 yais		hÍE1R8 yates

In a relative sub-sentence the word order is not as free as in a normal sentence as the verb always immediately follows the relative pronoun. And so in this case the subject follows its verb:

`B `N81Y hÍE,R t#7R `B 5~V6= ººº i osto yassë marë i nér, ... "the city in which the man lives, ..."

`B 1Yj hÍE5:# a~B7E6 `B aG7ÎD6= ººº i tol yanna círar i ciryar, ... "the island to(wards) which the ships are sailing, ..."

`B 5~N7T hÍEj°^5 1Uj°$6 `B `Nd1E7T= ººº i nóri yallon tuller i ohtari, ... "the countries from which the soldiers came, ..."

The advantage of this is that there is never any confusion between the use of `B i as article and as relative pronoun, as the relative pronoun is always followed by a conjugated verb:

`B 5%,G `B j%2$`C6= ººº i nissi i lindëar, ... "the women who are singing, ..."

The case-ending of hÍE ya can be omitted when the antecedent has the same case in the main sentence as hÍE ya has in the subsentence:

j~Nt%,R hÍE,R aR5:$5Ì$8 lómissë yassë cennenyes = j~Nt%,R hÍE aR5:$5Ì$8 lómissë ya cennenyes "in the night in which I saw it"

Relative pronouns without antecedent

The relative pronoun i can be used without antecedent, it then means "the one(s) who":

`B j%2$`C= 5~C 5~B8 i lindëa, ná nís "the one that is singing is a woman"

`B 9B65$6 `B t#j1E= 5#6 `Cj´$ i hirner i malta, nar alyë "the ones that found the gold are rich"

Such sub-sentences can also appear as direct object of the main verb:

9B7UyE5 `B iUf$6 j%r$5Ì# hiruvan i suncer limpenya "I shall find the ones that drank my wine"

The relative pronoun hÍE ya can also be used in this way, but it means "that which":

`Va~V5%`V5= hÍE 1~Mj# ecénien, ya túla "I have seen that which is coming"

hÍE t$7T5= 5~C j%r$ ya merin, ná limpë "that which I want is wine"

Demonstrative pronouns

Quenya distinguishes three distances: close, away, far away. We also have two demonstrative pronouns that indicate that something is in the past or in the future.

Close: this demonstrative pronoun is iG5# sina "this"

`Vm# iG5# elda sina "this elf"

aY`C iG5# coa sina "this house"

and in the plural:

5%,G iG5$ nissi sinë "these women"

Note: iG5# sina is related to 8~B sí "now" and iG5^t$ sinomë "here"

Away: this demonstrative pronoun is 1E5# tana "that"

5.DaY 1E5# nauco tana "that dwarf"

7Ya;Y 1E5# rocco tana "that horse"

and in the plural:

yR2% 1E5$ vendi tanë "those girls"

Far away/future: this demonstrative pronoun is `V4# enta "yonder", it is also used to denote something in the future:

aY`C `V4# coa enta "yonder house, the next house, the future house"

and in the plural:

aU2&6 `V4$ cundur entë "yonder princes, the next princes, the future princes"

Note: We also have an adverb `V4^ ento that is used with the meaning "next"

`V4^ t#4$5 ento manten "next I ate"

Past: this demonstrative pronoun is hÍE5# yana "former, earlier"

`C7E5 hÍE5# aran yana "the former king, the earlier king"

and in the plural:

`C7E5% hÍE5$ arani yanë "the former kings, the earlier kings"

Note: Words with a demonstrative pronoun don't have the article.

Demonstrative pronouns always follow their noun so the rules of the last declinable word have to be followed:

5~V6 iG5#5$5 nér sinanen "with this man" (instrumental)

5$7T iG5lD5$5 neri sinainen "with these men" (instrumental)

Independant demonstrative pronouns

The pronouns iG5# sina and 1E5# tana can also be used as subject with the accompanying noun:

iG5# aY`C sina coa "this is a house"

1E5# 5~V6 tana nér "that is a man"

These independant forms don't change when used in the plural:

iG5# aY`C6 sina coar "these are houses"

1E5# 5$7T tana neri "those are men"

Interrogative pronouns

In English most interrogative pronouns begin with a "w": who, what, where, when, why, ... In Neo-Quenya they analogously start in t#\ ma-.

So we find that "who" corresponds to t#5 man:

t#5 1T7UyEÀ man tiruva? "who shall look?"

And t#5# "what" corresponds to mana:

t#5# 5~C alYt#8À mana ná coimas? "what is lembas?"

This interrogative pronoun can also be used with the meaning "which", but then it isn't put at the start of the question but follows the noun:

aG7ÎD t#5# aR5%jÀ cirya mana cenil? "which ship do you see?"

The other English interrogative pronouns correspond to the inflected forms of t#5 man and t#5# mana:

	t#5	Who	t#5#	What
Nominative	t#5À Man?	Who?	t#5#À Mana?	What?
Genitive	t#5^À Mano?	Whose?	---	---
Dative	---	---	t#5#5À Manan?	To whom?
Ablative	t#j°^À Mallo?	Wherefrom?	---	---
Allative	t#5:#À Manna?	Whereto?	---	---
Locative	t#,RÀ Massë?	Where?	t#5#,RÀ Manassë?	When?
Instrumental	t#5$5À Manen?	How?	t#5#5$5À Mananen?	With what?
Respective	---	---	t#5#8À Manas?	Whereby?

The final interrogative pronoun t# ma is used to ask yes/no-questions. The word order doesn't change, we just add t# ma to the beginning of the sentence to make it into a yes/no-question:

1Ff$8 `B qE6t# tences i parma "he wrote the book"

t# 1Ff$8 `B qE6t#À ma tences i parma? "did he write the book?"

`V`C t#j1E `B `N7Y4$,F ëa malta i orontessë "there is gold in the mountain"

t# `V`C t#j1E `B `N7Y4$,FÀ ma ëa malta i orontessë? "is there gold in the mountain?"

The verb 5~C ná (or 5#6 nar) is usually dropped when changing the sentence into a yes/no-question:

5~B8 `V4# 5~C `Vm# nís enta ná elda "that woman is an elf"

t# 5~B8 `V4# `Vm#À ma nís enta elda? "is that woman an elf?"

In an interrogative sub-sentence, we also use ma:

`M`C5 `B81E t# `M1~Mj%`V8 uan ista ma utúlies "I don't know whether he has come"

Indefinite pronouns

When you want to be vague about who performs an action we use "one" or "someone" in English. In Neo-Quenya we use the pronoun zR5 quen:

zR5 7Ef$ hÍUjt# quen rancë yulma "someone broke a cup"

Its declination is in all cases except the nominative equal to the declination of the noun z~V5 quén, zR5\ quen- "person":

t#1T`V hÍ~CyR 5~C t~C7E zR5$5 matië yávë ná mára quenen "eating fruit is good for someone"

The pronoun ilya means "each" when used in the singular and "all" in the plural:

`Bj´# qE6t# ilya parma "each book"

`Bj´$ qE6t#6 ilyë parmar "all books"

The pronouns for "many", "much" are:

j%w# limba with adverb j%j lil (used for countable things that do not involve time)

7Tw# rimba with adverb 7Tw#yR rimbavë (used with meaning "frequent, numerous")

`Nj´# olya with adverb `Nj$ \ `Nj1R olë/oltë ("much")

The other indefinite pronouns are:

`BjzR5 ilquen "everyone"

~MzR5 úquen "nobody, none"

zD qua "something"

`BjzD ilqua "everything"

~MzD úqua "nothing, none"

The English indefinite pronouns "some" and "few" do not exist in Quenya as they are rendered by the Partitive Plural (see Nouns).

Reflexive pronouns

The reflexive pronouns are expressed by the prefix in-:

`Bt5$ imnë "myself"

`Btj$ imlë "yourself"

`B5iR insë "himself/herself"

`B5iD insa "itself"

`Bt"$ immë "ourselves" (dual)

`B5nR inwë "ourselves"

`B2$ indë "yourselves"

`B4$ intë "themselves"

There also exists an informal second person: `B4Ì$ intyë.

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