Quenya/Past Tense

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Contents 1 Regular formation 2 Primitive verbs 2.1 nasal inversion 2.2 vowel lengthening 3 A-stems/U-stems with short central syllable 4 A-stem verbs on -ya 5 Irregular Past Tenses

[edit] Regular formation

The basic ending to form the Past Tense is -në.

Following verbs follow the regular formation:

• A-stem verbs with a long central syllable that do not end on -ya

hauta- "stop" → i elda hautanë "the elf stopped"

lussa- "whisper" → lussanemmë "we both whispered"

móta- "labour" → mótanelyë "you laboured"

• U-stem verbs with a long central syllable:

nurru- "grumble" → nurrunen "I grumbled"

• Primitive verbs on -r, -n or -m:

tir- "watch" → tirnes "he watched"

tam- "tap" → tamnentes "they tapped it"

cen- "see" → cennen i alda "I saw the tree"

[edit] Primitive verbs

[edit] nasal inversion

The primitive verbs that end in -t, -c, -p, -l, -qu undergo the so called nasal inversion because the -n of the past ending is placed before these consonants (the reason is that the clusters: tn, cn, pn, ln, cwn are not allowed in Quenya).

mat- "eat" → mantë "ate"

hat- "break" → hantë "broke"

tac- "fasten" → tancë "fastened"

pequ- "comb" → penquë "combed"

When a primitive verb ends in p Quenya/Phonology demands that np is changed into mp:

top- "cover" → tompë "covered"

and nl changes into ll:

wil- "fly" → willë "flew"

There is one final group that undergoes nasal inversion, these are the verbs on -d.

But in modern Quenya a single d changes into r. So we have to be careful when we meet a primitive verb on -r, because when this r came from a d its past tense changes this into nd (and otherwise the past tense is regular, see above).

Following verbs belong to this group:

har- "sit" → handë "sat"

hyar- "plough" → hyandë "ploughed"

nir- "press" → nindë "pressed"

quir- "stir" → quindë "stirred"

quor- "choke" → quondë "choked"

rar- "peel" → randë "peeled"

rer- "sow" → rendë "sowed"

ser- "rest" → sendë "rested"

sir- "flow" → sindë "flowed"

[edit] vowel lengthening

The primitive verbs that end in -v or -s do not get the regular ending -në, but instead they get -ë and lengthen the central vowel:

tuv- "find" → túvë "found"

tyav- "taste" → tyávë "tasted"

sis- "fry" → sísë "fried"

[edit] A-stems/U-stems with short central syllable

These verbs can be conjugated by the regular formation, but most of the time their final -a or -u is dropped and they are conjugated as if they were primitive verbs:

capa- "jump" → campë "jumped" (or capanë)

cava- "dig" → cávë "dug" (or cavanë)

maca- "forge" → mancë "forged" (or macanë)

lala- "deny" → lallë "denied" (or lalanë) (do not confuse with lala- "laugh")

naqua- "steal" → nanquë "stole" (or naquanë)

hlapu- "blow" → hlampë "blew" (or hlapunë)

lutu- "float" → luntë "floated" (or lutunë)

These two verbs can never be conjugated by the regular ending:

papa- "tremble" → pampë "trembled"

pata- "rap" → pantë "rapped"

The verbs on -wa only apply in this case:

fawa- "smell" → fangwë "smelled" (or fawanë)

rawa- "run" → rangwë "ran" (or rawanë)

And verbs on -ha are always regular:

nyeha- "weep" → nyehanë "wept"

Note: the central syllable in maxa- "cook" and ruxa- "crumble" is long as x is short for the consonant combination cs.

[edit] A-stem verbs on -ya

These verbs have two different past tenses which are used depending on whether it is used transitively or intransitively.

A verb is used transitively when it has a direct object, and intransitively when it doesn't have a direct object.

• when a verb on -ya is used transitively it has a regular past tense,
• when a verb on -ya is used intransitively its past tense is formed by dropping the ending -ya and conjugating it as if it were a primitive verb.

So we have three cases:

• transitive verbs which require a direct object, these are always regular:

harya- "have, possess" → haryanë "had, possessed"

haryanes rocco "he had a horse"

• intransitive verbs (these cannot have a direct object), they are always conjugated as primitive verbs:

lamya- "sound" → lamnë "sounded"

i nyelli lamner "the bells sounded"

• transitive verbs that can be used intransitively, these verbs have two forms in the past tense:

ulya- "pour, overflow" → ulyanë "poured" and ullë "overflowed"

i nís ulyanë nén "the woman poured water"

i sírë ullë "the river overflowed"

yerya- "wear out, get old" → yeryanë "wore out" and yernë "got old"

i nér yeryanë i colla "the man wore the cloak out"

i nér yernë "the man got old"

[edit] Irregular Past Tenses

Some verbs are completely irregular:

anta- "give" → ánë "gave"

caw- "bow" → caunë "bowed"

ista- "know" → sintë "knew"

lala- "laugh" → landë "laughed"

lelya- "go" → lendë "went"

lenna- "go" → lendë "went"

lesta- "leave behind" → lendë "left behind"

lom- "hide" → lombë "hid"

onta- "create" → ónë "created"

serta- "tie" → sérë "tied"

ten- "show" → tengë "showed"

vinta- "fade" → vintë "faded"

Two verbs have both an irregular and a regular form:

atalta- "collapse" → atalantë/ataltanë "collapsed"

orta- "stand, get up" → orontë/ortanë "stood, got up"

The irregularities of some special verbs can be found on a separate page.

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