Practice Exercises for Learning Quenya

[Tuilinde]

INTRODUCTION

These exercises are based on the information in Thorsten Renk's and Helge Fauskanger's Language Courses. So first of all I want to pay honour to all the work they have put into those courses, and thank them for making it possible for so many of us to learn and enjoy using Tolkien's Elven Tongues.

Because they do not always agree in every detail I have made some choices as to which one to follow in certain situations. This may mean that your answers look wrong, when they may just be different. Double check, and make your own choice - that is good practice as well!

This is not a course, on their own these exercises will NOT be enough for you to learn all you need to know but they will provide more practice for those who are using one or both of the courses - found on the Ardalambion website - http://www.uib.no/people/hnohf/ ; and on the Parma Tyelpelassiva website - http://www.phy.duke.edu/~trenk/elvish.
To do these exercises you will especially NEED to use Helge's Quenya - English Wordlist to find words and provide you with extra vocabulary.
Each exercise has a VERY BRIEF summary of the usage on which the exercise is based. More detail will be found in the full courses.
Feel free to ask questions; to make more sentences of your own and post them here; to point out any errors of mine you spot - there are bound to be some!

Answers have been put in a separate topic - so that you can't cheat too easily!!!

Have fun!

Tuilinde

[Tuilinde]

EXERCISE ONE

PLURAL FORMS OF NOUNS

The normal plural is formed by adding r to nouns ending in -a -i -o -u -ie.
If the noun ends in -e the plural ending is usually formed by replacing it with i . Nouns ending in consonants form their plurals with an i.
(The definite article is 'i'. 'and' is 'ar'. )

Form the plurals of the following and translate them into English or your mother tongue:

rocco, aran, vende, pilu, tári, fenna, coa, heru, tirion, quesset, olassie, tavas, indil, istyar, nénu.

Find these nouns in the wordlists and then form their plurals:

a lawn, dale, the land, a shield, the son and the daughter, the singer and the piper, the oak and the beech.

[Tuilinde]

EXERCISE TWO

DUAL ENDINGS

The special plural dual form used for a pair is formed by the endings t or u . The u replaces any final vowel.
The stem form of a word may echo archaic Qenya, and cause unusual changes such as the reappearance of a former final consonant (given in brackets).
(NB Use the word 'two' - 'atta' for unconnected objects which are not a pair.)

Turn these into their dual form and then translate them into English or your mother tongue:

hen(d), alda, mindon, oron(t), má, aiwe.

Find these in the worldists and put them into their dual form:

shoe/a pair of shoes, child/the two children, captain/the two captains, rider/a pair of riders, ship/'sister' ships.

[Tuilinde]

EXERCISE THREE

ADJECTIVES

There is no copula 'is' used with adjectives most of the time. It is used mostly after the adjective when it follows the noun. (See Exercise Seventeen on the verb "to be") Most adjectives end in -a, and some in -ë. Some archaic -ina endings have lost their -a and become -in.
Adjectives agree with their noun, if it is in the plural. -a > -ë; -ëa > -ië; -ë > -i; -in may > -ini.
'ná' = 'is' , and 'are' = 'nar'

Use wordlists to translate these phrases, and if they are singular put them into the plural form, and if plural put into the singular:

Morë rocco. Calimë hendu. Vanya aiwe. I oronti altë nar. I nér ar i nís saila nar. Aran taura. Firin nér. Tári ná taura nís.
Úrin Anar. Senda tumbo. Yanda erume. Arca malle. Telepsa nyelle. Calima calma. Merya aure. Laurea lasse. Finca Casar.

An intensive form and superlative form of adjective are created by the prefixes an- and ar(i)- . Sometimes the n is assimilated to avoid forbidden clusters.

Create intensive and superlative forms for the adjectives used above - omitting firin and telepsa.

Edited 29.1.10

[Tuilinde]

EXERCISE FOUR

PRESENT TENSE: Primary Verbs

Primary verbs have added nothing to their primitive root.
The Present Tense of Primary verbs lengthens the stem vowel and adds -a.
Verbs agree with their subject. The plural form ends in an -r.

Create the Present Tense Singular and Plural forms of the following Primary Verbs, and translate into English or your mother tongue:

suc, mer, sat, cen, tul, lir, mat, sam, cap, ol, tuv, quet, tir,

Translate the following into Quenya using the Present Tense forms:

The lions are eating.
The dwarves are drinking.
The king is speaking.
The warrior is guarding.
The Riders are coming.
The Elves are moving. (intransitive verb)
The queen is resting.
The boys are running.
The Moon is shining.
The tree is growing.

Edited 1.2.10

[Tuilinde]

EXERCISE FIVE

PRESENT TENSE: A-Verbs

A-verbs have added an ending such as -a, -ya, or -ta.
A-verbs lengthen the stem vowel (when not followed by two consonants), and the ending -a becomes -ea .
Verbs agree with their subject. The plural form ends in an -r.

Create the Singular and Plural forms of the Present Tense from these A-Verbs and translate them into English or your mother tongue:

tenya, sapa, lilta, lelya, lenga, ilca, auta, píca, nehta, lala, horya, véla, mapa, et-henta, manca.

Translate the following into Quenya using the Present Tense forms:

The princess is arriving.
The tribes are wandering.
The girls are laughing.
The wind is lessening.
Father is reading aloud.
The leaves are falling.
The demon is cursing.
The craftsmen are trading.
The hound is following.
Friends are seeing/meeting.

Edited 1.2.10

[Tuilinde]

EXERCISE SIX

PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL ENDINGS 1

This is a difficult and thorny area because of the many choices which exist. I am choosing to use the sets of pronouns in Thorsten's most recent course, but that does not negate any other choice you may make; and in any case you will need to be able to recognise sets of pronouns which other writers may choose to use.

Rarely pronouns are used as separate words; in general they are suffixes attached to the end of a verb.

Translate the following into English or your mother tongue:

túlan, liltëas, veryëat, úcarël, hyáman, nyárassë, lastëammë, mahtëattë, nyéranyë, nótatyë.

Translate the following into Quenya using firstly pronominal endings, and then separate pronouns:

I see three lions.
They are running.
Thou art ruling the realm.
We are departing. (use both excl. & incl.)
You are abiding.
She is asking.
They are digging.
He is stooping.
It is shining.

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EXERCISE SEVEN

PUTTING 1 - 6 TOGETHER

This exercise is intended to consolidate what has been done so far by giving you plenty of simple sentences. You will need to know numbers for these, so have them to hand, and remember that in general, numbers follow the noun, although in poetry one can be more flexible in their placement.

Translate these sentences into English or your mother tongue:

I nís lálëa. I artiuca Casarion máta.
I tári tíra i aran. I aralta orontion ná taura.
I nér tultëa i arvanya vendë. I aiwë lindëa.
I Casari mápëar i Eldar canta. I artaura aranion ná saila.

I nís tíra i aralta cirya. I arúmië nerion nar firini.
I Elda mápëa i parma. Neri canta caitëar nu alda.
I arisaila Elda cendëa parma. I aran ar i tári cendëar i parma.
I aiwi lindëar. I Casari tolto tírar aiwë.

I vendë lindëa. I seldo vantëa. I ohtar mahtëa.
I arihalla nerion tíra. I assaila Elda quéta. I anavanya vendë liltëa.
Tíran i rocco. Tíramme i coa. Cáras i hamma.
I anhalla ohtar ná polda. I ampolda Atan ná saila. I assaila tári ná vanya.
I aran tultëa i arpolda ohtarion. I Istar tultëa i arisaila Eldaron. I nís tultëa i arverya seldoron.
I aiwë lindëa. I nís cendëa. I Casar túla. I Istar lelyëa.
I neri mápëar i roccor nerte. I auqui mápëar i vendi atta.(vendu?) I ohtari mápëar i nelda ciryar.
Ni, i assaila nér, ná polda. Ta, i ampolda rocco, ná linta. Sa, i antaura soron, ná saila.

Translate the following sentences into Quenya:


The boy is watching the exceedingly big warrior. The maiden is watching the mightiest king. The man is watching the swiftest horse.
The exceedingly evil barbarians are ugly. The most beautiful flowers are sweet. The more frightening animals are big.
I am seizing the sword. We are following the Elf. They are eating the meat.
Five horses are lying under a tree. Two lions are lying under a rock. Three Elves are sitting between the trees.
The wisest Elf is writing a book. The bravest warrior is making a spear. The younger maiden is singing a song.
The boy and the man are reading the book. The Elf and the wizard are writing the book. The Dwarf and the warrior are following the dragon.
The Dwarves are eating. The maidens are dancing. The women are reading.
The three men are watching a lion. The nine lions are watching a horse. The five boys are watching a ship.

Edited 9 &10.2.10 & 23.2.10

[Tuilinde]

EXERCISE EIGHT

INFINITIVE & MORE USE OF PRONOUNS

The Infinitive form of the verb is not inflected for any tense, but it can be combined with other verbs. When this happens Primary Verbs add an -e.
In A-Verbs the infinitive is identical to the stem.

When two pronominal endings are used in one verb, the longer form is used first:
You see me - cen-a-lye-n = see-present tense-you-me.

From now on the definite article will be used less in the Quenya, to accustom you to this practice. I may occasionally include it in brackets, where it is more likely to be used. The context of a prose passage or poem often indicates the presence of the definite article in English without using it in Quenya.

Translate the following into English or your mother tongue:

Méran lirë. Mérattë norë. Méral lelya.
Túlanyë lirë. Lelyëalmë mahta. Páras tecë.
Mahtëattes. Tíralyes. Roitalmes.

Translate the following into Quenya:

The king is summoning me to come.
The captain is summoning you to guard.
The daughter is compelled to remain. (This verb is impersonal, look it up and be careful!)
The heir is asking to return.
The lions are coming to hunt the animals.
The king is commanding the builder to make new gates. (two, a pair)

Edited 23.2.10

[Tuilinde]

EXERCISE NINE

PAST TENSE OF A-VERBS & VERB TO BE

Our knowledge of the Past Tense keeps developing, and there is no absolute certainty about all forms. I'm using Thorsten's latest edition. Others may do something slightly different.

Transitive A-Verbs usually form the past tense with the ending -në.
Intransitive A-Verbs form the past tense with infixion resulting in the ending -ntë or -nyë.
Verbs containing -ai- change to -ëa- caita > cëantë ; verbs with a consonant before the -ta place the -a- before the ending: tenta > tenantë.
The verb To Be forms the past tense in two ways - né or nánë.

Translate the following sentences into English or your mother tongue:

I hesto tultanë i ciryaqueni otso. Macili yunquë nér/náner andë ar poldë. I cirya linyenwa nuntë.
I Casari mapane peleccor cainen. Nánes Elda nessa ar nindë.
Istyar hostanë neldë parmar. I híni hastaner i apsa. Leltanyes hirë i roccor.
Ávaquentenyet lilta. I Tári nánë vanima.

Translate the following sentences into Quenya:

The six lions lay under the willows.
The moon rose like a silver globe.
She danced and the king smiled.
Summer passed and the trees changed. (NB irregular Past Tense for passed.)
The four children listened and we blessed them.
The walls fell after the wild men arrived.
The carpenter cut a tree and gathered the pieces of wood.
After he hunted a hare, the fox took a rest.