Pronouns

Sindarin Grammar 1

Course 1 · Chapter 6 · Pronouns

Pronouns are the weakest part of Sindarin. Tolkien left few examples, and the two learner summaries used for this chapter disagree on several forms. So this chapter teaches the shape of the system (free words, endings, possessives) and shows both summaries side by side where they differ.

The idea in a box

Sindarin has two kinds of "I", "you" and "they": a free word that stands alone (for emphasis) and a short ending that attaches to a verb or noun. The ending is the everyday form.

Free Pronouns and Endings

Because a verb ending already says who is acting (Chapter 7), the free pronoun is used mainly for emphasis or to avoid confusion. Two summaries give these forms:

Person	Summary A: free	Summary A: ending	Summary B: free	Summary B: ending
I	im, nin	-n	ni	-(o)n
we	mîn, men	-m	me	-(o)f
you (familiar)	chîn	-ch	ci	-(o)g
you (formal)	le	-l	le	-(o)l
he / she	e	none	te (thin evidence)	none
they	ti, sain	-r	ti	-r

Summary A is the elvish.org summary of the grammar; Summary B is a Real Elvish Academy page that calls its pronoun section "rather speculative". Where they agree, the form is safer: le for a formal "you", and the endings -n "I", -l "you (formal)" and -r "they". Everything else, treat as a proposal.

# reconstructed from the summaries (not quoted from Tolkien)
tirin            I watch            (verb + ending -n)
i adan tîr       the man watches    (no ending for he/she)
ni glassui       I am happy         (free pronoun, verb "to be" left out)

Possessives

"My", "your" and "their" come in two forms: a short ending on the noun, and a separate word after it.

# ending on the noun (from the elvish.org summary)
lammen        my tongue        (lam "tongue" + -n)
guren         my heart         (gûr "heart" + -n; the vowel shifts)

# word after the noun, which softens (Summary B)
i higil nín   my knife         ("the knife my")
i degil dín   his pen          (tín softens to dín)

# Summary A's list of the words
nîn my   mîn our   lîn thy   tîn his/her/their

Both summaries put the possessive after the noun, as with adjectives. Summary A also gives a reflexive ên "his own, her own", for an owner who is also the subject.

Other Small Pronouns

Kind	Words
Demonstrative	sen this, tan that, ent that yonder
Question	man who, ma what
Relative	the article i does the work of "who / that"

# Summary A, offered as an attested name
Dor Gyrth i chuinar        Land of the Dead that Live        (i = "that")

Prepositions and the Mutations They Trigger

A preposition comes before its noun and changes the noun's first consonant (Chapter 4). Summary A groups them by the change:

Change	Prepositions
Soft	ab after, adel behind, am up, be according to, dad down, di under, na to/at/with, nu under, trê through
Nasal	an to/towards, dan against, pen without
Stop	o from, ed out from, ned in
None	bo on, vi in

Some prepositions merge with the article: na + in → nan "to the", nu → nuin "under the", o → uin "from the". Possession can use na(n): megil nan Aragorn "Aragorn's sword".

Prepositions with Pronouns

The "to me" forms are the nearest thing to prepositions with pronoun endings. Summary B lists a dative set built on the preposition an "to":

# Summary B (most of the set is marked as unattested)
annin     to me        ammen    to us
anno annin hîdh        give peace to me
anno hîdh nin          give me peace    (object form nin, no preposition)
tiro nin               watch me

Watch out: the two summaries clash

"You" is -ch in one and -(o)g in the other; "we" is -m in one and -(o)f in the other. Neither is clearly right. Check Eldamo before using any form outside the agreed ones.

Watch out: no neat attested set

Do not expect a complete table of tidy forms. Sindarin pronouns are poorly understood, and many forms in fan courses are gap-fillers built from the few attested ones.

Common myths

"Sindarin has a full set of forms like Latin." It has a handful of attested ones and many proposals.
"You always need a pronoun." The verb ending normally carries the person.
"Prepositions never change the noun." Most trigger a mutation.

Hands-On Exercises

Exercise 1

Using the table, find the forms on which both summaries agree. Then give two forms on which they disagree and say which source you would check.

📄 View solution

Exercise 2

Explain how lammen and i higil nín both mean "my ...", and say which part of each is a noun ending and which is a following word.

📄 View solution

Exercise 3

Using the preposition list, say what mutation an, na and vi trigger, and explain nan and uin.

📄 View solution

Chapter 6 Quick Reference

Free pronoun for emphasis; verb/noun ending for the everyday form
Agreed: le "you (formal)"; endings -n I, -l you, -r they
Possessive: ending (lammen) or word after the noun (i higil nín)
Prepositions trigger soft, nasal or stop change, or none; some merge with the article (nan, nuin, uin)
The summaries disagree: check Eldamo

Coming next

Sindarin Grammar 1, Chapter 7 covers verbs: the infinitive, the present tense, the imperative and "to be".