Adjectives

Quenya Grammar 1

Course 1 · Chapter 6 · Adjectives

Nouns have number (Quenya Grammar 1, Chapter 3) and case (Chapters 4 and 5). Adjectives, the words that describe nouns, take part in this system in a lighter way: they agree with their noun in number, but not usually in case. This chapter covers the shape of adjectives, agreement, word order, comparison, and how almost any noun can be turned into an adjective.

The idea in a box

A Quenya adjective takes a plural when its noun does, usually goes before the noun, and is compared with a small word, lá "than". Case endings go on the noun, not the adjective, with one exception noted below.

What Adjectives Look Like

The Wikipedia page quotes Tolkien: adjectives end in -a, -e, -o (rare) or -n, and a stem ending in -n is "nearly always" really -nd. The example is melin "dear", with plural melindi. The page also notes that "Quenya adjectives may be freely used as nouns", as English does in "the brave".

Agreement in Number

An adjective agrees with its noun in number but, in general, not in case. The old plural ending was -i. In late Quenya, an adjective ending in -a changes that -a to -ë in the plural.

Adjective	Singular	Plural	Rule
golden	laurëa	laurië	-a becomes -ë
dear	melin	melindi	stem in -nd; plural adds -i

# Attested (the plural adjective agrees with the plural noun)
laurië lantar lassi
  golden fall (the) leaves  (Wikipedia's gloss)
  laurië   golden (plural)
  lantar   fall
  lassi    leaves (plural of lassë, Chapter 3)

# Built by rule: the same sentence with a singular noun (Wikipedia's example)
*laurëa lanta lassë
  golden falls (the) leaf   (starred: not an attested form)

The line is, as I recall, the opening of Namárië, the poem named in Quenya Grammar 1, Chapter 1. It is a good model: the adjective laurië is plural because lassi is plural, and the verb lantar is plural too (Chapters 8 and 9).

Where the Adjective Goes

Wikipedia quotes Tolkien's Common Eldarin grammar: "Adjectives normally preceded the qualified noun, and in attributive use were seldom separated from it." The page adds that an attributive adjective inflects for number only when it comes before the noun; when it comes after, "the situation is reversed". The examples are:

Form	Meaning	Note
Sindar Eldar	Grey Elves	normal order; adjective plural, noun plural
Eldar sindar	Grey Elves	"abnormal order", only in verse
Sinda Eldo	a Grey Elf's	genitive on the noun (Chapter 4)
Sindar Eldaron	Grey Elves'	plural genitive
Eldar sindaron	(abnormal order)	abnormal order, as for Eldar sindar

Numerals, by contrast, usually follow the noun.

Case and Adjectives

Case endings normally go on the noun or the pronoun, not on the adjective. There is one pattern in which the ending can sit on the adjective of a noun-plus-adjective group, from Chapter 4:

Elendil voronda: "Elendil the faithful" (nominative).
Elendil vorondo voronwe: "Elendil the faithful's fidelity", with the genitive -o on voronda.

Comparison

Comparatives are normally made with a preposition, lá "than", "much as in French plus" in Wikipedia's words. The present-tense "is" (ná) may be left out.

# The pattern, as given on the page
A (ná) calima lá B.        A is brighter than B.
A (ná) arya B.             A is better than B.

# Irregular: mára "good"
  comparative   arya          "better"
  superlative   i arya + genitive    "best"

The adjective mára "good" is irregular: its comparative is arya, and its superlative is i arya followed by a genitive. The page gives no regular superlative ending, and no comparative endings such as -ve; this chapter does not teach any.

Turning Nouns into Adjectives

The adjectival case, formed with -va, "describes qualities, and turns almost any noun into an adjective". It also indicates possession (see Chapter 4). The singular forms printed are ciryava, lasseva, ondova, nerwa and carwa, and the plural partitive forms are ciryalíva and lasselíva. So lasseva can mean "of a leaf" or "leafy"; the page does not give a full set of examples.

Watch out: starred forms

The singular version of the poem line, *laurëa lanta lassë, is marked with a star on the page because it is not an attested form. Never quote a starred form as Tolkien's.

Watch out: the order rule is subtle

The statement that an adjective inflects for number only when it comes before the noun is quoted from one page and is not explained by examples beyond the five in the table. Treat the "abnormal" orders as poetry, not as a model.

Not yet verified

All forms and quotations come from a summary of Wikipedia's "Grammar of late Quenya"; I did not read the page itself. The summary reported that the page contains no colour words, no adjective plural in -lis, no comparative marker -ve and no adjective suffixes -ya or -inqua, so this chapter teaches none of them; I have not checked that with another source. My translations "of a leaf" and "leafy" for lasseva are my own, built by rule. That the line opens Namárië is from my own memory, not the summary. Whether the verb lantar is plural because lassi is plural is my explanation; the summary did not say.

Sources for this chapter

Wikipedia, "Grammar of late Quenya" (adjectives, syntax and cases sections), read through a summary.

Hands-On Exercises

Exercise 1

Give the plural of laurëa and of melin, and say what rule produces each. Then build "golden ships" from laurië and cirya, using the plural endings from Chapter 3, and label your answer.

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Exercise 2

Translate "A is better than B" and "A is brighter than B" into Quenya, using the patterns in the chapter. Which of the two uses an irregular adjective?

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Exercise 3

Explain the difference between Sindar Eldar and Eldar sindar, and between Elendil voronda and Elendil vorondo voronwe. Say in which case the case ending falls on the adjective.

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Chapter 6 Quick Reference

Adjective stems end in -a, -e, -o (rare) or -n (really -nd): melin, plural melindi
Plural: -a becomes -ë (laurëa to laurië)
Normal order: adjective before noun; case endings go on the noun (exception: Elendil vorondo voronwe)
Comparison: A (ná) calima lá B; irregular mára to arya "better", superlative i arya + genitive
Noun to adjective: adjectival case -va (lasseva)

Coming next

Quenya Grammar 1, Chapter 7 covers pronouns: the free forms, the endings that attach to verbs and nouns, and the verb "to be".